Safari in iOS 11 converts Google’s AMP links back to the original URLs

enlovejoy

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) may have been sold to users on the basis of faster-loading webpages, but the company’s underlying motivation is to lock publishers into Google’s ad network. For users, it makes it harder to see which site you’re being taken to, and trickier to share links to specific pages.
Apple is now addressing the second issue in iOS 11 by having Safari convert AMP links back into the original URLs when shared …
MacStories founder Federico Viticci first spotted this.

Very nice: when sharing AMP pages to iMessage or Reading List, iOS 11 Safari automatically removes AMP’s crap from the URL. Go Apple.

At present, all AMP URLS shared from Safari begin with https://wwww.google.com/amp/.
Hacker News carries a post said to be from AMP’s technical lead stating that Google not only approves of Apple doing this, but actually requested it – and wants other browsers to follow Apple’s lead.

Just wanted to clarify that we specifically requested Apple (and other browser vendors) to do this. AMP’s policy states that platforms should share the canonical URL of an article whenever technically possible. This browser change makes it technically possible in Safari. We cannot wait for other vendors to implement.
It appears Safari implemented a special case. We’d prefer a more generic solution where browsers would share the canonical link by default, but this works for us.

Google added a feature to AMP back in February to provide easier access to the original URL in response to concerns about AMP links. It explained the background to this in a lengthy blog post.