How can I force any links clicked within a WebView to open in Safari?

Question

I have a WebView in my application and I would like any links clicked within the WebView to open in Safari (instead of the WebView itself).

I am developing the application in Swift.

What is the best method to do this?

Answer 1

This is done essentially the same way in Swift as in Obj-C:

First, declare that your view controller conforms to UIWebViewDelegate

class MyViewController: UIWebViewDelegate

Then implement webViewShouldStartLoadingWithRequest:navigationType: in your View Controller:

// Swift 1 & 2
func webView(webView: UIWebView, shouldStartLoadWithRequest request: NSURLRequest, navigationType: UIWebViewNavigationType) -> Bool {
    switch navigationType {
    case .LinkClicked:
        // Open links in Safari
        UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(request.URL)
        return false
    default:
        // Handle other navigation types...
        return true
    }
}

// Swift 3
func webView(_ webView: UIWebView, shouldStartLoadWith request: URLRequest, navigationType: UIWebViewNavigationType) -> Bool {
    switch navigationType {
    case .linkClicked:
        // Open links in Safari
        guard let url = request.url else { return true }

        if #available(iOS 10.0, *) {
            UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
        } else {
            // openURL(_:) is deprecated in iOS 10+.
            UIApplication.shared.openURL(url)
        }
        return false
    default:
        // Handle other navigation types...
        return true
    }
}

Finally, set your UIWebView's delegate, e.g., in viewDidLoad or in your Storyboard:

webView.delegate = self