How to Use LinkSheet to Fix Android Broken Link Handling

I receive a lot of WhatsApp messages from friends and family every day, many of which are links to other websites, Reddit threads, Instagram Reels, or YouTube videos. Tapping these links opens directly in their native apps, except for the Instagram Reels links, which open in the default browser because I don’t have the Instagram app on my phone.

While this is fine with me most of the time, it is not a perfect system. I don’t always want to open links in the native app as that can influence my algorithm and show similar content that I may not want to see. For a long time, I relied on a workaround to fix this problem. It involved copying the link I received on WhatsApp and opening it in a browser. It was as clumsy as it sounds.

That’s when I decided to give LinkSheet a try. LinkSheet is a free open source app that solves Android broken link handling. Instead of deciding which app to open a link, it lets me choose one. And now it has become one of the first Open source Android apps that I install on all phones..

In older versions of Android (Android 12 or earlier), tapping a link brought up the Open With dialog box, where you could select an app to open that link. For example, if you had the official Reddit app and a third-party Reddit client installed on your phone, every time you tapped on a Reddit link, the dialog box would appear with both apps, so you could choose which one you prefer.

However, with Android 12, Google introduced a new system that automatically opens links in an app if it is verified for that specific domain, unless you don’t have a supported app on your device, in which case it opens it in the default browser. Although Google did this to improve speed and security, for some people, including me, the missing “Open with” message is a deal breaker.

LinkSheet fixes this problem by bringing back the Open With dialog box. The way it works is simple: you set the LinkSheet app as your phone’s default browser. Then, every time you tap a link, it intercepts it and displays the Open With dialog box (with a bunch of supported apps) on your screen, giving you the flexibility to choose an app to open.

Another reason I use LinkSheet (and why I prefer it to other link management apps) is that it allows me to open links directly in my browser’s incognito mode. Thanks to this, I can open links to Reddit threads and YouTube videos that I don’t want to see in their native applications. All I have to do is tap the link and select the incognito mode option next to the browser.

LinkSheet is not available for download on the Google Play Store. To get it, go to LinkSheet nightly repository on GitHub and download the latest APK file. Although it is generally recommended to avoid nightly builds, in this case LinkSheet recommends them because they are updated more frequently. You can download the stable APK file from Releases page if you want to try it for yourself.
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Tap the file you just downloaded. You will now be asked to allow the app to install the APK file. Tap Settings and turn the Allow from this source activate. Once installed, open LinkSheet. At the top of the screen, you’ll see an action card asking you to set the app as your default browser. Touch the Set as default and then select Link Sheet either Link sheet every night in the message and press Set as default.

Now, since I’m dealing with YouTube and Reddit links, I need to prevent both apps from opening verified links to their respective websites. It’s easy to do this. For example, to set up Reddit, you would go to Settings > Applications and select reddit. Then tap Open by default and select In your browser on the next screen.

Doing this tells the Reddit app to open all Reddit links in the browser. Since we have already set LinkSheet as the default browser, we will see the Open with desired dialog box with the option to select our preferred application. Repeat these steps to configure all the apps that you want to prevent from opening your verified links.

That’s all. LinkSheet is now ready to use. However, you can change some settings to get the best experience. However, please note that the steps listed below have been tested on the latest nightly version at the time of writing, so menu labels and locations may vary if you have a later version of the app.

The first thing I do is change the layout style to grid. This reduces the size of the Open With dialog box so that it doesn’t take up much space on the screen. In my case it works because I have very few applications in the list. In the LinkSheet app, tap the gear icon in the top left corner, select fitted sheet low Personalizationand activate the Grid layout option.

Next, I activate the private browsing option, so I can open links directly in Firefox’s private browsing mode. (At the time of writing, this feature is only available for Firefox.) fitted sheet screen, activate the Enable private browsing option under Additional settings section. While I’m here, I also turn off the Don’t show the last selected app section for a cleaner experience and disable the Hide radio buttons option, which hides the Once and Always buttons in the dialog since I never use them.

With LinkSheet configured, using it is easy. Simply tap a link as you normally do and LinkSheet will open the Open With dialog box on your screen. Tap the app you want to open the link in and LinkSheet will redirect you to that app.

If you use Firefox like me, you can tap the shield icon next to Firefox (in list view) or the Firefox icon with the shield (in grid view) to open that link directly in private browsing mode.

LinkSheet can help with a few other things as well.

In addition to resetting the Open With dialog box and letting you choose which app to open links in, LinkSheet can also do a few other things. For example, it offers the Use ClearURL option, which uses the ClearURLs service to remove tracking parameters from URLs, ensuring that links you tap don’t track you as you browse the Internet. Please note that this is currently an experimental feature, so it may not always be effective in clearing URLs.

Then, there is the Enable downloader option. When you turn it on, it adds Discharge to the Open With dialog box when a URL contains a direct download link, which you can tap to download files on that page. Both features are available in the Links menu in LinkSheet settings. You will also find some other features here. Explore them and others to get the most out of LinkSheet.