WhatsApp is preparing an integrated browser for its iPhone app. It will let us open any link received in a chat within the application itself, according to WABetaInfo. The feature is still in development and will be optional, fortunately, because it comes with major privacy implications when browsing the web.
A browser inside our conversations that deserves attention
Once the feature is available, in Chat settings we’ll be able to activate the browser, switch back to the default one, and delete cookies and cache. WhatsApp is expanding a feature that until now was reserved for certain commercial links. While WhatsApp works on some chat privacy options, it’s clearly convenient to view a page and return to the chat, but there’s more.
The key question is who controls the browser we use to browse the web. Although WABetaInfo says that the data will be stored locally, Meta officially acknowledges that it can, even though the feature hasn’t launched yet, receive information about certain interactions with links, such as how long they remain open in the browser. An integrated browser can greatly increase the information available to Meta, including the pages visited and any logged-in sessions, depending on how it’s implemented. Safari, meanwhile, has specific protections against tracking, as the company reminded us recently, and several systems that protect our privacy. If privacy matters to us, continuing to open links in Safari seems the best choice. We’ll save a few seconds with WhatsApp’s browser, but preserving the separation between messaging and browsing may be, depending on our preferences, the better choice.
