thunderbird / thunderbird/thunderbird-android

Show popup window with URL before clicking link in HTML mail

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#6,093 3 comments 6 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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status: needs design type: enhancement
Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
14k
Forks
2.8k
Avg merge
3d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
57

Description

Checklist
  • I have used the search function to see if someone else has already submitted the same feature request.
  • I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.
  • This issue only contains a request for one single feature, not multiple (related) features.
App version

6.000

Problem you are trying to solve

When reading HTML mail that includes links, these links can have a different text than the URL that is opened when clicking on it.

The following two scenarios may happen:

This is a trick that is often used in phishing mails. When using K9 Mail, users can never be sure about the link destination.

Suggested solution

Open a popup window when clicking on a link that shows the URL. There could be two buttons "Open link" and "Cancel".
(This is what the FairEmail app currently does.)

I would propose that this behavior should become the new default. However, users should be able to disable the popup in the settings.

Screenshots / Drawings / Technical details

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named in the issue. Start by locating the HTML-mail link handling and the settings area for user-configurable behavior. Done means links show their destination with Open link and Cancel actions, with a setting to disable the popup.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
mobile-dev, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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