Lds.org pages opening in Gospel Library

[Rain]

When I am on my phone and do a search for an lds.org page it opens in my gospel library app instead of just showing the page. It only started doing this in the last year. 

I find this frustrating. Just now when I did that it didn't open because I don't have that particular Ensign issue downloaded. I don't like this because sometimes I am in places where I can't get wifi and don't want to download the whole issue on data. Other times I don't want it to take space on my phone. 

Several times I have wanted to send links to people. To do that I have to go to my computer, open the page, copy the URL, paste into email, send the email to myself. Go to my phone, copy the link in the email and then paste it into text. And sometimes I get that far and for some reason my phone won't let me paste it. 

Does this happen to all of you? Do you know of a way to turn it off?

I have a galaxy s5.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Rain

[ksfisher]

9 hours ago, Rain said:

When I am on my phone and do a search for an lds.org page it opens in my gospel library app instead of just showing the page. It only started doing this in the last year. 

I find this frustrating. Just now when I did that it didn't open because I don't have that particular Ensign issue downloaded. I don't like this because sometimes I am in places where I can't get wifi and don't want to download the whole issue on data. Other times I don't want it to take space on my phone. 

Several times I have wanted to send links to people. To do that I have to go to my computer, open the page, copy the URL, paste into email, send the email to myself. Go to my phone, copy the link in the email and then paste it into text. And sometimes I get that far and for some reason my phone won't let me paste it. 

Does this happen to all of you? Do you know of a way to turn it off?

I have a galaxy s5.

Do you have an example?  I've never had this happen with my iphone or ipad.

[Rain]

6 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

Do you have an example?  I've never had this happen with my iphone or ipad.

If I am on my internet app on the phone and I do a search for "lds bee ballard" I get this page. If I click on the first page it does not take me to the article on the internet app. It opens my Gospel Library app.  If I hadn't downloaded the Oct 2012 conference yet then the article won't open and the app gives me a message that I have to download the conference first. Since I have it takes me right to the article in the app.  What this does is that it doesn't allow me to actually be on an internet page at lds.org where I can copy and paste the url.  Clicking on an lds.org link on my phone never let's me open to the page. 

[Rain]

Huh. If I go to what I just posted and click on the first link and then click on the article I am talking about it takes me to my gospel library app.  However if I click on the second link where I directly posted the article it takes me to the page on my internet app.  So there is something different in clicking the article from a the google search page than from directly clicking on it from MD&D. 

[Rain]

Huh. I just tried Ask, Bing and Dogpile and clicking on link through them all take me to the library app.  

Trying a different direct link to test. Testing 3..2..1..

Ok, that takes me directly to the page in the interent app.

 

So there is something that makes a difference when you are clicking on a link provided by a search engine and when you are not.  

Edited July 24, 2017 by Rain

[deli_llama]

I have tried to replicate your issue Rain, but haven't been able to do so. But I have iOS, so...

To me, if you had an iPhone, I would say it seems like you are clicking on a universal link, or one designed to open a hyperlink in a specific app. I am not sure if the android ecosystems have that functionality. It can be super annoying in some cases in iOS. I dislike clicking an Amazon or kindle search result within search engine results only to have it open the Amazon app, and in the case of a kindle search result, opening the Amazon app and then booting me back out to the web browser. 

I would recommend http://tech.lds.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=101

I (very) briefly look over the android forum and didn't find anything that sounded like your issue, but I have found the team there pretty responsive to feedback and support questions. 

[deli_llama]

5 hours ago, Rain said:

Huh. I just tried Ask, Bing and Dogpile and clicking on link through them all take me to the library app.  

Trying a different direct link to test. Testing 3..2..1..

Ok, that takes me directly to the page in the interent app.

 

So there is something that makes a difference when you are clicking on a link provided by a search engine and when you are not.  

Can you tell if it is attempting to open the LDS.org site first before launching the app? I know you said directly, but looking at the hyperlinks you have shared I don't see anything to indicate that it is anything but a normal link.  I am kinda wondering if LDS.org is forwarding you. 

So, in other words, how directly is "directly"? Just because I can't see. 

[Amulek]

6 hours ago, Rain said:

If I am on my internet app on the phone and I do a search for "lds bee ballard" I get this page. If I click on the first page it does not take me to the article on the internet app. It opens my Gospel Library app.  If I hadn't downloaded the Oct 2012 conference yet then the article won't open and the app gives me a message that I have to download the conference first. Since I have it takes me right to the article in the app.  What this does is that it doesn't allow me to actually be on an internet page at lds.org where I can copy and paste the url.  Clicking on an lds.org link on my phone never let's me open to the page. 

Curious. I'm on Android and I'm not able to reproduce this behavior. 

When you say "internet app," what app are you referring to specifically? Have you tried using a different browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, etc.)?

[Rain]

1 hour ago, deli_llama said:

I have tried to replicate your issue Rain, but haven't been able to do so. But I have iOS, so...

To me, if you had an iPhone, I would say it seems like you are clicking on a universal link, or one designed to open a hyperlink in a specific app. I am not sure if the android ecosystems have that functionality. It can be super annoying in some cases in iOS. I dislike clicking an Amazon or kindle search result within search engine results only to have it open the Amazon app, and in the case of a kindle search result, opening the Amazon app and then booting me back out to the web browser. 

I would recommend http://tech.lds.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=101

I (very) briefly look over the android forum and didn't find anything that sounded like your issue, but I have found the team there pretty responsive to feedback and support questions. 

Thanks.  I'll take a look there.

[Rain]

1 hour ago, deli_llama said:

Can you tell if it is attempting to open the LDS.org site first before launching the app? I know you said directly, but looking at the hyperlinks you have shared I don't see anything to indicate that it is anything but a normal link.  I am kinda wondering if LDS.org is forwarding you. 

So, in other words, how directly is "directly"? Just because I can't see. 

It does not look like it is attempting to open the link - when I go back to the internet app it is still on the search page.  It is somehow giving a signal to open the app when I click on the link from a search page. 

37 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Curious. I'm on Android and I'm not able to reproduce this behavior. 

When you say "internet app," what app are you referring to specifically? Have you tried using a different browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, etc.)?

The app called "Internet" on my S5.  However, with your post I tried it with Chrome and it is doing it there as well. 

[ksfisher]

33 minutes ago, Rain said:

It does not look like it is attempting to open the link - when I go back to the internet app it is still on the search page.  It is somehow giving a signal to open the app when I click on the link from a search page. 

The app called "Internet" on my S5.  However, with your post I tried it with Chrome and it is doing it there as well. 

If nothing else I would use the send  feedback button in gospel library and let them know what is going on.  They may have a fix,  maybe not.  If it is a bug I've seen things I've reported get fixed (but that does take awhile).

[deli_llama]

I am curious, I noticed that the android version of the app was updated July 6, did your phone recently update your Gospel Library app?  Or maybe it updated  then but you just noticed?

I was able to find a thread from a couple of year back for the iOS version where it started acting like what you are describing, only sometimes locking up as well, after a software update.  

The reason I asked about the update is this: from the web version of the google play store, the recent reviews have people giving low stars and complaining that the app isn't working properly after this update.  I can't actually see more than previews to the reviews, no dates or anything, but it seems these are the most recent reviews.  Maybe that might help too.

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by deli_llama
Because I have fat thumbs.

[Amulek]

21 hours ago, Rain said:

The app called "Internet" on my S5.  However, with your post I tried it with Chrome and it is doing it there as well. 

Interesting. I wish my wife still had her S5, so I could be of more help.

If it were me, here is what I would try next:

Idea the First: Power the phone down completely and then turn it back on again. Then check to see if the issue persists. I know this seems dumb but it really does work for a surprising number of things.

Idea the Second: Assume the issue is with the Gospel Library App. Open the app list in your settings menu; do a Force Stop and then Uninstall the Gospel Library App completely. After that finishes, restart your phone and check to see if the issue persists. If the links won't go to the website, well, we'll tackle that bridge if it happens. If the links work as expected, then go ahead and try to install the app again and see if it persists. 

 

[Rain]

22 hours ago, ksfisher said:

If nothing else I would use the send  feedback button in gospel library and let them know what is going on.  They may have a fix,  maybe not.  If it is a bug I've seen things I've reported get fixed (but that does take awhile).

I appreciate this knowedge for the next time I have a problem. 

20 hours ago, deli_llama said:

I am curious, I noticed that the android version of the app was updated July 6, did your phone recently update your Gospel Library app?  Or maybe it updated  then but you just noticed?

I was able to find a thread from a couple of year back for the iOS version where it started acting like what you are describing, only sometimes locking up as well, after a software update.  

The reason I asked about the update is this: from the web version of the google play store, the recent reviews have people giving low stars and complaining that the app isn't working properly after this update.  I can't actually see more than previews to the reviews, no dates or anything, but it seems these are the most recent reviews.  Maybe that might help too.

 

It has been doing this for a few months now.  Two or 3?  It's just that twice now this week I have wanted to send a link to someone so I was frustrated enough to do something about it. 

55 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Interesting. I wish my wife still had her S5, so I could be of more help.

If it were me, here is what I would try next:

Idea the First: Power the phone down completely and then turn it back on again. Then check to see if the issue persists. I know this seems dumb but it really does work for a surprising number of things.

Idea the Second: Assume the issue is with the Gospel Library App. Open the app list in your settings menu; do a Force Stop and then Uninstall the Gospel Library App completely. After that finishes, restart your phone and check to see if the issue persists. If the links won't go to the website, well, we'll tackle that bridge if it happens. If the links work as expected, then go ahead and try to install the app again and see if it persists. 

 

The second one worked!  When I tried opening the article, it gave me a choice of opening either with the library app or the internet app.  When I clicked on Internet, it asked if I wanted that as the default.  So it seems that at some point I clicked the library app as default somehow.  

Thanks everyone!

[Amulek]

2 hours ago, Rain said:

The second one worked!  When I tried opening the article, it gave me a choice of opening either with the library app or the internet app.  When I clicked on Internet, it asked if I wanted that as the default.  So it seems that at some point I clicked the library app as default somehow.  

Excellent!