Hello Albert, This is reproducible in the iOS 26.2 & iOS 26.3 official releases, not beta versions. So this seems to be an iOS 26.x bug that I can't seem to be mentioned anywhere. The links I'm talking about are both regular, simple links (think "https://www.apple.com/apple-events/"), the kind that would instantly open in the default browser, as well as universal links, none of them open. No external links seem to open using UIApplication.shared.open(url, options:) when Safari has been removed. If its eases communication, I already filed a feedback ticket FB21867922. I'll link to the app in the ticket there.

Hi Albert, We were also intrigued by this incident and went ahead and called up the customers affected by it. All the clients had installed iOS 26.2.x. With their feedback, we could reproduce the issue: (EU region, iPhone running 26.2.1) Install an alternative browser, such as Chrome Long press on the Safari icon and choose "Remove app" Make the alternative browser default Open an app that does a redirect to an external url -> redirect no longer works Reinstalling Safari fixes the issue again.

We've been receiving reports from customers as well. Our app (2.5M users) is opened through a universal link & after the flow has been completed, calls the partner app with another universal link. I've been receiving numerous reports from users that this redirect isn't working when the default browser is not Safari (not just being deleted).