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by mwcampbell 1431 days ago
But can JavaScript check whether the protocol handler is installed? Or can it only attempt to use the protocol handler, then give the user if-then-else instructions to manually handle the case where it's not installed? Remember, a remote support product has to assume that the user receiving support doesn't have the knowledge or energy to go through a complex setup process, which is presumably a digression from whatever problem they were having in the first place.
1 comments

It cannot. Enumerating protocol handlers is actually an excellent fingerprinting technique. That’s why platforms like iOS for instance forbid it, or you have to explicitly specify which ones you’ll query (see: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiapplicatio...).