WhatsApp is working on a built-in browser that could keep you inside the app when you tap a link on your iPhone. Right now, those taps send you to your default browser, which is usually Safari. The new browser would be optional, so you could switch it on or off.

WABetaInfo spotted the feature in a test version of WhatsApp for iPhone. It isn’t available to testers yet, and WhatsApp plans to offer it to some of them in a future update. WhatsApp hasn’t announced it, so the plan could change or never ship.

What would change for iPhone users

Image credit – WABetaInfo

Most links you tap in a WhatsApp chat today open outside the app. The new browser would open any link sent or received in any chat inside WhatsApp instead. Browsing would run separately from your conversation, so it wouldn’t affect the chat itself.

It would also be optional. WhatsApp’s settings would get a new “In-app browser” option in the Chats section. A short explainer would pop up the first time you turn it on.…