Lately, several Android users started reporting a missing setting in the Facebook app, allowing them to open in-app links in an external browser.

For a long, Facebook, like any other app, allowed users to open a web URL on any third-party browser available in the users’ device of their choice. But now, it seems to have silently pulled down that support and forcing users to open links in its in-app browser by default.

As social media platforms are meant to be connecting people, they let users share any media and text in the form of their respective URLs and not just direct uploads.

Facebook is among those and has let users open any shared links on a third-party browser as desired by the users. Users can choose to open the links in an in-app browser or set some third-party browser as default from their device.

But now, it seems to have changed, at least on Android. Several users are seen reporting on Reddit and Twitter about Facebook removing the option to open links in external browsers.

Twittersphere: anyone know how long since @Facebook app removed the ability to open links in an external browser? I previously set my phone to use my native browser (Brave on Android/Safari on iOS) rather than @Facebook ’s in-app browser, but the option is no longer available. pic.twitter.com/wyv98H69hv — ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) June 23, 2021