You know how on a Samsung phone, when you tap a link, it asks you which app you want to open that link, you pick an app, it says you have now set the default app for this type of link, and you go “DAMMIT I JUST WANTED TO DO THAT THIS TIME NOT SET A DEFAULT”? This behavior is totally optional!
This is one of those things about Android that Samsung tweaks for no good damn reason. On previous Android phones, I liked being prompted about which app I wanted a particular link to open, and given the choice between setting a default, or doing that app just this one time. Maybe I don’t want to set a default! But Samsung, by default, doesn’t give you the “just this time” option. It was a quirk I learned to tolerate, at best.
Today, I went to sign up for the Nextdoor group for my new neighborhood (which BTW is a handy tool but also you have to be careful when you sign up to hit the little grey SKIP button hiding in the top right when it prompts you to enter your email address so it can access your contacts, those sneaky fuckers), and then it prompted me to install the app, which I did, but then there was one more NEXT button in Chrome. I tapped it, the phone asked me if I wanted to open the link in Chrome or the Nextdoor app, and in this case I just wanted to continue in Chrome, so I did, and then as usual for these Samsung app selection prompts, DEFAULT APP HAS BEEN SELECTED. Fuck, I just installed this app Samsung, maybe at some point I want its links to open in the app, I just didn’t want to do that this time, you bastards!
So I tried to find the default app selection process for Samsung in their reimagining of Android’s settings. The first spot I looked for this was in the usual place, which is to go to Settings > Apps and then pick the app you want, Chrome in this case, scroll down to Set As Default, and then you’re presented with this CLEAR DEFAULTS button.
The problem with this button is there’s no granularity for clearing defaults. It just nukes every default that’s been set to this particular app, which for Chrome can be a lot. But see that App Links section? Well, there’s something you can do with that, with individual apps.
Go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps (it’s in the 3 dots menu in the top right).
That brings you to this screen:
The first thing I noticed about this page is the part where it says Default App Selection > Set default apps automatically. I was like, wait, this whole time I could’ve changed that damn shit? I’ve had this phone for 9 months! So I tapped it and sure enough, it gives the option to ask before setting default apps.
I picked that Ask Before Setting Defaults option right away! Then right below that you see where it says Set As Default? You can pick individual apps and set the behavior for how they are opened by default, or not. You get this Go To Supported URLs option:
And then you can pick wherever you want this app to truly be a default or to ask what to do with its respective links.
And there you have it, how to get normal Android default app selection on a Samsung phone!