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@kylebarrow
Created June 23, 2011 06:30
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Prevent links in standalone web apps opening Mobile Safari
<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>Stay Standalone</title>
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
<script src="stay_standalone.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://google.com/">Remote Link (Google)</a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:alert('Awesome script is awesome')">JavaScript Link</a></li>
<li><a href="/">Local Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#amp">Local Anchor</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
// Mobile Safari in standalone mode
if(("standalone" in window.navigator) && window.navigator.standalone){
// If you want to prevent remote links in standalone web apps opening Mobile Safari, change 'remotes' to true
var noddy, remotes = false;
document.addEventListener('click', function(event) {
noddy = event.target;
// Bubble up until we hit link or top HTML element. Warning: BODY element is not compulsory so better to stop on HTML
while(noddy.nodeName !== "A" && noddy.nodeName !== "HTML") {
noddy = noddy.parentNode;
}
if('href' in noddy && noddy.href.indexOf('http') !== -1 && (noddy.href.indexOf(document.location.host) !== -1 || remotes))
{
event.preventDefault();
document.location.href = noddy.href;
}
},false);
}
@aaronhb
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aaronhb commented May 10, 2019

I am trying to find a solution so that i can have it open PDF files or other links open in mobile web browser but all others stay in the PWA. Anyone know how to do this?

I am using the following code

<script>(function(a,b,c){if(c in b&&b[c]){var d,e=a.location,f=/^(a|html)$/i;a.addEventListener("click",function(a){d=a.target;while(!f.test(d.nodeName))d=d.parentNode;"href"in d&&(d.href.indexOf("http")||~d.href.indexOf(e.host))&&(a.preventDefault(),e.href=d.href)},!1)}})(document,window.navigator,"standalone")</script>

@ssfinney
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ssfinney commented Jul 1, 2019

Works for me!

@SarKaa
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SarKaa commented Nov 2, 2019

Is there any way to make this work on iframes. I mean all links opened within the iframe open in the web app?

@justinputney
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This solution appears to launch URLs in a lightbox from the Web App in iOS 13.2. Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

@johnbarratt
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@justinputney Yes, seeing same thing here.

@justinputney
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@johnbarratt Thanks for the confirmation. Let me know if you find a fix where it doesn't trigger a ligthbox.

@johnbarratt
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@justinputney : Just found this, seems to fix it, you just need a bare bones manifest, though it only works for pages added after the manifest was added to the site : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58210991/peculiar-pwa-bug-on-safari-ios-13-1-2

@justinputney
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@johnbarratt Thanks!

@joe182
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joe182 commented Feb 18, 2021

correct me if I'm wrong, but to prevent links from opening in safari, isn't just the scope the only thing you need to add to your manifest? No javascript, no hacks no nothing just a single line in the json file.

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