#WebApps#Privacy#Cybersecurity#OpenWeb: "The problem with in-app browsers is that they play by a different set of rules from standalone browsers. As noted by OWA in its 62-page submission [PDF] to regulators:
They override the user's choice of default browser
They raise tangible security and privacy harms
They stop the user from using their ad-blockers and tracker blockers
Their default browsers privacy and security settings are not shared
They are typically missing web features
They typically have many unique bugs and issues
The user's session state is not shared so they are booted out of websites they have logged into in their default browser
-They provide little benefit to users
They create significant work and often break third-party websites
They don't compete as browsers
They confuse users and today function as dark patterns
Since around 2016, software engineers involved in web application development started voicing concerns about in-app browsers at some of the companies using them. But it wasn't until around 2019 when Google engineer Thomas Steiner published a blog post about Facebook's use of in-app browsers in its iOS and Android apps that the privacy and choice impact of in-app browsers began to register with a wider audience." https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/27/inapp_browsers/
