Stop Android links opening in apps instead of your browser
You tap a link in a message and, instead of your browser, the YouTube or Amazon app jumps open. Or the opposite: you want links to open in the app, but they keep opening in Chrome.
How Android decides
Apps can claim web addresses. When a website proves it owns the app (a verified app link), Android opens those links straight in the app, without asking. This changed in Android 12: before, you'd usually see a choice.
Your default browser only gets the links that no app has claimed.
Make links open in your browser
- Open Settings → Apps and choose the app that keeps opening, for example YouTube.
- Tap Open by default (Samsung: Set as default).
- Turn off Open supported links (on some phones: Open in this app).
Links to that site now open in your default browser.
Make links open in the app
- Go to the same Open by default page for the app.
- Turn on Open supported links.
- Tap Add link (or similar) and tick the web addresses you want the app to handle. Unverified links are off unless you add them.
Why this is hard to keep track of
Dozens of apps can claim links, each with its own toggle, and nothing in Settings shows them all together. App updates can add new links an app claims. It's easy to lose track of why a link went where it did.
Test where a link will go before you tap it
Defaultify's deep link inspector shows which installed apps are registered for any web link or scheme like mailto:, tel: or geo:, and which one will open it.