I’ve seen conflicted info about this around the internet.
Well, if you can see the full URL, you may be able to decipher whether it not it redirects you or see any tracking elements within to learn if it will track you or “ID” you opening it, if you open it. And that could be helpful to know.
It depends on the app.
If it is an app like Signal where the link previews are generated by the sender, then the privacy impact is minimal. Signal will connect to the URL you’re sending to generate the preview, but since you’re the one sending the URL it’s pretty likely you’ve already connected to that URL before, so who cares? Maybe there is a danger if your browser is going through a VPN but your Signal app isn’t though, or something.
If it is an app that generates previews on the receiver side then yes. I can’t think of any examples that do this off the top of my head but I’m sure there are some.
Most XMPP clients do receive side link preview generation, and should hopefully be off by default.
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man I love Mysk. thank you, this explains it very well