Twitter WebView, iOS

Unlike Android, linking to web content on iOS requires you to either prompt to open something in a browser or build a mini-browser window in-app using a WebView.

It can be a little confusing, since you have a number of apps (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc) building their own mini-browsers that are slightly different from Safari/Chrome/whatever someone is familiar with.

I was thinking about what if instead of trying to replicate the browser experience with forward/back buttons, refresh buttons, URL boxes, etc. you created a more consistent experience.

In the case of Twitter, you're most likely coming either from a Tweet or from a link on someone's profile.

Why not show the same tweet chrome and push forward, rather than throwing a modal view? [1]

If you click on a link that wasn't mentioned in a tweet, the Reply, Retweet, and Favorite options become a Compose button. When you press compose, your tweet is prepopulated with a shortened link to the page you were looking at. [2]

My guess is that it would be easier to use, but that there would be an increase in tweets from what is currently a dead-end experience in the iOS app.

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[1] I can't tell you the number of times I hit the X to close the WebView when I just meant to hit back in the browser.

[2] It could get even more interesting if the website you were looking at had Twitter cards in the tags. When you press compose, your tweet could have an @-mention of the site's Twitter account (eg. you're on nytimes.com and you get @nytimes).

It would be one less step than a traditional browser "share" menu to share via Twitter.