How to use LinkSheet to fix Android’s broken link management

I receive many 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 them 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 I agree with this most of the time, it’s not a perfect system. I don’t always want to open links in a native app because it can affect my algorithm and show similar content that I don’t want to see. For the longest time I relied on a workaround to solve this problem. This involved copying the link I received on WhatsApp and opening it in the browser. It was as messy as it sounds.

I decided to give LinkSheet a shot. LinkSheet is a free, open source app that fixes Android’s broken link management. Instead of deciding which app to open a link for me, it lets me choose one. And now he has become one of the first few open source Android apps that I install on every phone.

On earlier versions of Android (Android 12 or earlier), when you click a link, an “Open with” dialog box will appear where you can choose an app to open that link. For example, if you have the official Reddit app and a third-party Reddit client installed on your phone, every time you tap a Reddit link, it will interact with both apps, so you can choose which one you prefer.

However, with Android 12, Google introduced a new system that automatically opens links in an app if it’s authenticated for that particular domain — unless your device has a compatible app, in which case it opens it in the default browser. While Google did this to improve speed and security, for some people, including me, the missing Open With command is a deal breaker.

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

Another reason I use LinkSheet – and why I prefer it over other link management software – is that it allows me to open links directly in my browser’s incognito mode. With it, I can open links to Reddit threads and YouTube videos that I don’t want to watch in their native apps. 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. Head over to get it LinkSheet’s 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 here Release 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. hit Parameters and convert Allow from this source turn it on. 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. hit Set as default button, then select LinkSheet or LinkSheet Nightly in the prompt and click Set as default.

Now that 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. For example, you can go here to configure Reddit Settings > Apps and select Reddit. Then click Open by default and select In your browser on the following screen.

Doing so tells the Reddit app to open all Reddit links in the browser. Since we’ve already set LinkSheet as the default browser, we’ll see the desired Open dialog box with the option to select our preferred program. Repeat these steps to configure all the apps you want to prevent from opening their verified links.

About this. LinkSheet is now ready to use. However, you can change a few settings for the best experience. However, note that the steps listed below were tested on the latest nightly version at the time of writing, so menu labels and locations may change if you’re on a later version of the program.

The first thing I do is change the layout style to grid. This shrinks the size of the dialog box so that it does not take up too much screen space. This works in my case because there are very few programs in the list. In the LinkSheet app, tap the gear icon in the upper left corner, select Bottom sheet under Personalizationand change to Network layout choice.

Then I turn on the private browsing option so that I can open links directly in Firefox’s private browsing mode. (At the time of writing, this feature is only available for Firefox.) On Bottom sheet turn on the screen Enable private browsing option at the bottom Additional configuration division. I’m also switching off while here Do not display the last selected program section and off for a cleaner experience Hide option buttons option that hides Once and Always buttons in the dialog box as I never use it.

It is easy to use with LinkSheet configuration. Simply tap a link as you normally would, and LinkSheet will open an Open dialog box on your screen. Tap the app you want to open the link to 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 a shield (in grid view) to open that link directly in private browsing mode.

LinkSheet can help with a few other things as well

Besides restoring the Open dialog box and letting you choose which application to open links in, LinkSheet can do a few other things. For example, it offers Use ClearURLs An option that uses the ClearURLs service to remove tracking settings from URLs ensures that the links you click on while browsing the web do not track you. Note that this is currently an experimental feature, so it may not always be effective at cleaning URLs.

Then, there is Activate the downloader choice. Turning it on adds a Download If the URL has a direct download link that you can click to download the files on that page, click the Open dialog box button with it. Both of these features are available in the Links menu in the LinkSheet settings. Here you will find several other features. Explore them and others to get the most out of your LinkSheet.