In iOS 11, Safari will strip out Google AMP links for shared stories

August 23, 2017 steezy 0 Comments

Anyone haunted by annoying link cruft will be relieved to hear that iOS 11 will transform Google AMP links back into their original forms when sharing a story from Safari. MacStories editor Federico Viticci first spotted the change, which appears to be live in the new iOS 11 beta 7.

Very nice: when sharing AMP pages to iMessage or Reading List, iOS 11 Safari automatically removes AMP’s crap from the URL. Go Apple 👍 pic.twitter.com/aHgSMcofUv
— Federico Viticci (@viticci) August 23, 2017

Google’s fast-loading AMP pages are ideal for platform-agnostic consumers looking for a quick read, but publishers tend to loathe them (with good reason). Pointing users toward Google domains instead of canonical links drains the natural search-driven traffic that was once the bread and butter of the online media world.

Earlier this year, Google announced that AMP links now load twice as fast thanks to image compression improvements and other under the hood tweaks. For the rest of us who favor purity over unbridled speed, this little iOS 11 change is just one more reason to look forward to September.