Extension following links

[merikus]

Describe the bug

Many pages, including Wikipedia, Reddit, and DuckDuckGo, exhibit odd behavior when TracklessLinks is enabled. On Reddit and Wikipedia, links appear to be followed randomly and without user input. On DuckDuckGo, the sidebar menu opens even though I did not click or tap it.

I determined that TracklessLinks is the cause by toggling it off and on. When TracklessLinks is disabled, the problem goes away. When TracklessLinks is enabled, the problem returns.

Steps to reproduce

1. Enable TracklessLinks.
2. Open a website such as Wikipedia, Reddit, or DuckDuckGo.
3. Browse the page normally without clicking or tapping the affected links or menu.
4. Observe that the page behaves as though links or menu buttons have been clicked without user input.

Expected behavior
Pages should not follow links, open menus, or trigger navigation unless the user actually clicks or taps the relevant page element. TracklessLinks should not cause unintended clicks, taps, link-following, menu-opening, or page-navigation behavior.

Screenshots

No screenshots attached at this time.

Device & OS

• Device: iPhone 16 Pro
• OS: iOS 26.5

Additional context

The issue occurs on multiple unrelated websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, and DuckDuckGo. It appears specifically tied to TracklessLinks because disabling TracklessLinks stops the behavior, and re-enabling TracklessLinks causes the behavior to return. The problem appears to involve unintended activation of links or page controls without user input.

[meruff]

Also happens to me. Same sites and additionally YouTube. iPhone 14 Pro iOS 26.5. It does not happen on macOS Safari.

[wrobb-oss]

Happening to me as well. Narrowed it down to the Trackless Links extension. I went through and switched on/off each setting in the app and nothing would fix the webpages going wild. Unfortunately I’ll have to leave it deactivated until it’s fixed.

iPhone 14 Pro
IOS 26.5

If it helps, this specific link was the one I was testing as it 100% always starts redirecting to random pages. https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0FDWHS7JP?smid=A2PGPJL0BBLHLX&tag=pepperegc0f-21&ascsubtag=ppr-de-2356735213

[wrobb-oss]

Just updated to the new version 4.2.2 and it looks like it’s fixed! Thanks to the developer(s) for continuously supporting an amazing app!

[meruff]

I've updated to 4.2.2 and YouTube mobile seems to work again, but Reddit mobile is still sporadically opening links and DuckDuckGo still opens the menu when searching. So not completely fixed.

Edit: it is now happening on the macOS version in Amazon. M4 Pro 26.5.1

[wrobb-oss]

Just tried DuckDuckGo and everything seems to be working fine for me. Do you have the “Trackless Links Pro” extension enabled? I noticed that was new for me after I updated. There’s another option to enable just the normal “Trackless Links” in Safari which I have disabled.

[meruff]

I just noticed this too. I have "Trackless Links Pro" enabled, "Trackless Links" disabled. I notice that with this setup I no longer see options for the extension, and when opening the trackless links app and using the test setup tool it does not strip tracking parameters from the example url. So seems you need both enabled now for it to actually work? Tested this on both iOS and macOS.

[wrobb-oss]

Yeah, it seems if the normal Trackless Links (non-pro) extension is enabled the behavior persists. Also I can confirm what you’re saying about the test link in the app. The redirects also don’t seem to work at all with just the Pro extension enabled (tested with an Instagram link — not redirecting to imginn), but the Tweak to kill cookie banners does seem to work. Really not sure what’s going on…

[aloth]

Hi, thanks for reporting this — I've been able to reproduce and identify the cause.

Workaround for now: Go to Trackless Links settings and disable:

• Enable Copy
• Cookie Banner Handling (or switch to "Hide only")

With these two off, the issue should stop immediately. Everything else (tracker removal, AMP bypass, etc.) is unaffected and safe to keep on.

Fix incoming in version 4.2.3 — will update this issue once it's submitted for review.

[wrobb-oss]

Thanks for the response! With both settings changed (by “Enable Copy” I’m assuming you mean “Allow text selection & copy (bypass site blocks”), everything now works as expected.

Thanks again!

[wrobb-oss]

Just got 4.2.3 installed and we’re all good again! Thanks aloth!