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Group Link does not work when there is a query string (added by Meta so they can link track) #7155

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galiat opened this issue Feb 5, 2025 · 3 comments · May be fixed by #7161
Open
2 tasks done

Group Link does not work when there is a query string (added by Meta so they can link track) #7155

galiat opened this issue Feb 5, 2025 · 3 comments · May be fixed by #7161

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@galiat
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galiat commented Feb 5, 2025 •
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Using a supported version?

  • I have searched searched open and closed issues for duplicates.
  • I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

Overall summary

If you click on a link to a Signal group from Instagram 'Link in Bio' you get a pop up in Signal that says "Invalid Link - Make sure the entire link is intact and correct before attempting to join." This happens because Instagram "link in bio" feature adds a query string for link tracking and then Signal can't process the URL. While this isn't strictly a concern of Signal it's impeding adoption from Instagram to Signal. Ive been getting reports from 10+ people in my community trying to join a group. It would be nice if the Signal app would use the URLs linked from Meta & other places that add URL tracking

I originally thought this was due to Instagram replacing the "#" with a "%23" but it's actually hidden link tracking.

Originally posted to signalapp/Signal-iOS#5962

Steps to reproduce

Put a group link in your instagram "Link in Bio"
Click on it

Expected result

You join/enter the group

Actual result

A pop up in the app that says "Invalid Link - Make sure the entire link is intact and correct before attempting to join"

Screenshots

Image

Signal version

4.44 (iOS)

Operating system

Code issue is in desktop, but this happened on iPhone

Version of Signal on your phone

iOS 18.1.1

Link to debug log

https://debuglogs.org/ios/7.44.0/eaee53b9ca57a3144d51c1190b5ad6dd17f30141f9aa5d9f4ca3f70412491180.zip
@galiat galiat mentioned this issue Feb 5, 2025
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@ayumi-signal
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This is an interesting case, thanks for bringing it up. It would be nice if they didn't change URLs but it's also possible for us to do something. I'll ask the team what to do about it.

@galiat
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galiat commented Feb 5, 2025

Thanks! I would love to fix it. I looked in the code base and (I think) I understand where to make the changes to the code & tests. It's been 4yrs since ive written code. I burnt out in the pandemic after 10 years working as a developer and became a gardener. Would love to fix it

galiat pushed a commit to galiat/Signal-Desktop that referenced this issue Feb 7, 2025
fixing signalapp#7155. Will remove comments & sqaush after testing
318ea97
@galiat
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galiat commented Feb 7, 2025 •
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This branch works (tested locally) main...galiat:Signal-Desktop:galia-fix-issue-7155-clean

After looking into it the issue with Instagram was not with character encoding, but rather that they add URL tracking via a query string.

galiat pushed a commit to galiat/Signal-Desktop that referenced this issue Feb 9, 2025
signalapp#7155 If a Group Link contains a query string, that is now i…
f01b356 
…gnored. Instagram adds tracking via the Query string which caused Signal to be unable to lookup the group
@galiat galiat linked a pull request Feb 9, 2025 that will close this issue
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galiat added a commit to galiat/Signal-Desktop that referenced this issue Feb 9, 2025
@galiat
signalapp#7155 If a Group Link contains a query string, that is now i…
b6d3b05 
…gnored. Instagram adds tracking via the Query string which caused Signal to be unable to lookup the group
@galiat galiat changed the title Group Link does not work when "#" character is encoded as "%23" Group Link does not work when there is a query string (added by Meta so they can link track) Feb 10, 2025
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#7155 If a Group Link contains a query string, that is now ignored galiat/Signal-Desktop
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@galiat @ayumi-signal