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WhatsApp’s in-app browser is still under development for iPhone.
Photo: Pixabay

WhatsApp is reportedly working on an in-app browser for iPhone. It would open any chat link without leaving the app to go to a separate web browser.

Today, WhatsApp can only open certain business links in the app. Everything else you send opens in the device’s default browser, but this change would end that.

WhatsApp’s in-app browser would keep links inside the chat screen

The fewer reasons you have to leave an app, the harder it becomes to leave it at all. With WhatsApp, Meta appears to be taking that idea to heart as it tests an iPhone feature that would open virtually any shared link inside the popular messaging app instead of handing it off to Safari or Chrome.

It sounds like a small convenience, but it reflects a bigger battle over who controls your time online. The apps you use to communicate increasingly want to become the places where you read, browse and do everything else. With more than 3.3 billion monthly users worldwide, WhatsApp already captures a huge audience, but Meta has ambitions to make the messaging app much more than a place to chat.

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The in-app browser would be one more way to keep WhatsApp users in the fold. WABetaInfo wrote Monday that it discovered the feature in WhatsApp beta 26.41.10.72, which is currently available through TestFlight. The in-app browser is still under development and isn’t available to beta testers yet.

“Users will be able to enable the in-app browser from the app settings,” WABetaInfo wrote. “Here, WhatsApp will add a new option called ‘In-app browser’. When users enable this feature, they will be able to open any link they send and receive in the chat screen. When users enable this option for the first time, WhatsApp will show a bottom sheet that explains how the feature works.”

After that, links would automatically open in the chat screen. The browsing session would run separately from the chat, meaning surfing won’t affect the conversation.

Safari stays an option

As mentioned, WhatsApp already allows users to open certain business links in the app. But those links must meet certain technical requirements, like using HTTPS. And while most links people share in chats don’t qualify, the new in-app browser option would remove that restriction.

WhatsApp’s in-app browser seems to be optional. That means you would be able to skip Safari or Chrome to open those chat links. But users could change their minds and switch the setting to open links in their default browser at any time.

WhatsApp also seems to be adding a browser settings screen, which would let you clear cookies and cache.

The in-app browser has no public timeline yet. Still, chances are it will come to select beta testers in a future update.