ChatGPT & Codex + link handling
On the web, a link to Stripe, Google login, WhatsApp or your help center just works. Inside an app every link needs a destination: the app itself, an in-app browser tab, Safari or Chrome, or another app such as Mail, Phone or WhatsApp. Get it wrong and users end up stranded on a third-party page with no back button, logged in in the wrong place, or paying in a browser while the app waits.
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| Link | Best destination | Why | How in WebViewGold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own domain | The app (main WebView) | This is your app | Internal links stay in the app |
| Stripe Checkout, payment links, 3-D Secure, PayPal | The app (main WebView) | The success URL returns to your domain with the session intact | Keep external links in the app (option 0), or list these hosts as never-browser exceptions (safariblacklist, BROWSER_BLACKLIST) |
| Google and Facebook login | Social Login Helper | Google blocks embedded WebViews; the helper runs that step in an accepted login window and returns | google_login_helper_triggers / GOOGLE_LOGIN_HELPER_TRIGGERS; Android also offers the googlelogin:// prefix for a Chrome Custom Tab |
| Terms, help center, docs, blog on other domains | In-app tab | Address bar and close button; the app stays underneath | alwaysOpenInInAppTab / ALWAYS_OPEN_IN_INAPP_TAB, or target="_blank" with the special-link option set to 1 |
| WhatsApp (wa.me), Instagram, YouTube, X, TikTok | Their app or the system browser | Users are logged in there, not in your WebView | safariwhitelist / BROWSER_WHITELIST |
mailto:, tel:, sms: | Mail, Phone, Messages | System schemes, handled by the phone | Use standard links; WebViewGold hands them to the system |
| App Store and Google Play links | The store app | Updates, ratings, your other apps | apps.apple.com and play.google.com on the always-external list |
Paste this into ChatGPT & Codex to implement the web-app side. Review the result, publish, then test inside the WebViewGold app.
This web app runs inside the WebViewGold native wrapper (its user agent contains "WebViewGold"). Open a pull request that: 1. renders every link inside AI answers (markdown, citations, sources) with target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" so the app can show it in its in-app browser tab; 2. never turns links to our own domain into new tabs; 3. starts checkout and login with same-window navigation (window.location.href or server redirects) instead of window.open; 4. renders contact actions as mailto:, tel: and https://wa.me/ links; 5. hides digital-subscription checkout links when the user agent contains "WebViewGold"; 6. adds a list of all external hosts to docs/links.md and the link policy to AGENTS.md.
Great work! Never coded anything but managed to work with this. Easy and fast! Also with great help from the creators!
Same domain as your configured host. They load in the main WebView, which is why the start URL should be your production domain. Test the subdomains you use for auth, checkout or the API explicitly; whether they count as internal depends on the host you configured.
Every other domain. Option 0 keeps them in the app. iOS can send them to Safari with externalLinkHandlingOptions = 2; Android adds 1 (in-app tab) and 2 (system browser) for EXTERNAL_LINK_HANDLING_OPTIONS. Per-host lists override the default: safariwhitelist, safariblacklist and alwaysOpenInInAppTab on iOS, BROWSER_WHITELIST, BROWSER_BLACKLIST and ALWAYS_OPEN_IN_INAPP_TAB on Android.
Links with target="_blank" (on Android also links ending in #). specialLinkHandlingOptions and SPECIAL_LINK_HANDLING_OPTIONS: 0 main WebView, 1 in-app tab, 2 browser. On Android a newtab: prefix forces a single link into that behavior. For links that are special and external, Android follows the special-link setting, while on iOS externalLinkHandlingOptions = 2 still sends them to Safari, so keep it at 0 if you want the in-app tab.
About 15 minutes with a link inventory, then a test on real phones.
Click through or search the code: checkout and billing portal, login providers, social profiles, support chat, legal pages, store badges, mailto: and tel: links, maps. Note the destination for each using the table above.
For most apps: keep external links in the app (option 0 on both platforms) and route the exceptions. Sending all external links to the browser breaks payment and login redirects that must come back to the app.
Social apps, WhatsApp and store links to safariwhitelist (iOS) and BROWSER_WHITELIST (Android); terms, docs and the help center to alwaysOpenInInAppTab and ALWAYS_OPEN_IN_INAPP_TAB; payment and auth hosts to the never-browser lists if your default is the browser. Enter hosts exactly as you link to them, without https://.
Add https://accounts.google.com to google_login_helper_triggers (iOS) and GOOGLE_LOGIN_HELPER_TRIGGERS (Android). Do not simply send Google to Safari: the session would end up in Safari, not in the app (the disallowed_useragent fix).
Stripe for physical goods and real-world services can stay in the app. For subscriptions or credits used inside the app, Apple expects In-App Purchase (Guideline 3.1.1) and Google expects Play Billing, outside the regional exceptions, so hide that checkout inside the app (Stripe vs In-App Purchase).
Load https://www.webviewgold.com/demo/testlinks.php as a temporary start URL to see how each kind of link behaves, then tap every outbound link of your real app on an iPhone and an Android phone, including a full test payment.
Values only: keep the syntax that the lines in your Config.swift and Config.java already use. On Android, ALWAYS_OPEN_IN_INAPP_TAB takes URL prefixes; the other lists take hosts.
// Config.swift (iOS)
externalLinkHandlingOptions = 0 // external links stay in the app
specialLinkHandlingOptions = 1 // target="_blank" opens the in-app tab
safariwhitelist = ["wa.me", "api.whatsapp.com", "www.instagram.com", "apps.apple.com"]
alwaysOpenInInAppTab = ["help.yourdomain.com", "docs.yourdomain.com"]
google_login_helper_triggers = ["https://accounts.google.com"]
// Config.java (Android)
EXTERNAL_LINK_HANDLING_OPTIONS = 0
SPECIAL_LINK_HANDLING_OPTIONS = 1
BROWSER_WHITELIST = ["wa.me", "api.whatsapp.com", "www.instagram.com", "play.google.com"]
ALWAYS_OPEN_IN_INAPP_TAB = {"https://help.yourdomain.com", "https://docs.yourdomain.com"}
GOOGLE_LOGIN_HELPER_TRIGGERS = {"https://accounts.google.com"}window.open or target="_blank" becomes a special link, so the success page loads in the in-app tab instead of the app. Navigate with window.location.href instead.Usually because checkout opened in Safari or Chrome: the payment works, but the success URL loads in the browser, where the user is not logged in. Keep checkout.stripe.com in the main WebView (option 0 for external links) and navigate with window.location.href, so the redirect lands back in the app.
mailto:, tel: and sms: links are handed to Mail, the phone app and Messages. For WhatsApp, add wa.me and api.whatsapp.com to the always-external list (safariwhitelist, BROWSER_WHITELIST) so the WhatsApp app opens instead of the WhatsApp website inside your app. Test each on a real phone.
A browser view that opens over your app with an address bar and navigation buttons. Users read the page and close it to return exactly where they were. It is the right place for terms, help articles and other third-party content.
You can (externalLinkHandlingOptions = 2 on iOS, EXTERNAL_LINK_HANDLING_OPTIONS = 2 on Android), but then add every payment, login and API host to the never-browser exceptions (safariblacklist, BROWSER_BLACKLIST), or redirects meant for your app will land in the browser.
For digital goods, Apple generally does not allow buttons or links to external purchases. Exceptions exist for specific regions, such as the US storefront after the 2025 court order and the EU alternative terms, and they change. Check the current text of Guideline 3.1.1 in App Store Connect before relying on one.
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