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I recently had to install the discord app to Windows 10, and now clicking on discord invite links in the browser initially opens the webpage, but then immediately redirects and opens the app on my computer. Why can discord tell if the app is installed on my computer? Is there a way to prevent my browser from telling discord that the app is installed? What are the implications for other websites, ie could superuser.com find a list of apps installed on my device if it wanted to?

I don't think this is caused by saving a cookie. I've tried wiping all discord cookies, disabling all site permissions, and opening in an incognito window. Only disabling javascript stops it from opening the app, but that also completely breaks the site; you just get a white canvas

Update:
Several people have suggested URL handlers. This seems like a promising solution, but I am not finding a discord URL handler that I can remove. This question suggested deleting a line to make chrome stop opening irc links, but I do not know how to translate that into making chrome start opening discord links. (or even if that's the real problem)
An answer that was previously on this question suggested removing Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Discord from regedit, but that did not change anything that I could see when I tried it.
Going through the normal system settings, there is a "Choose default apps by protocol," but I could not find anything mentioning discord here.
Another solution suggested was changing google chrome's appdata, but I could not find any text matching "protocol" "magnet" or "discord"(other than discord.com) in any of the files suggested in the answers here. In the "protocol handlers" listed in my chrome settings, there is only mail and tel links, both of which I use and are unrelated to discord.

guest4308
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    Are you on Windows ? – harrymc Jun 17 '23 at 09:37
  • It registered URL handler. You can disable it by uninstalling Discord – Ramhound Jun 17 '23 at 09:40
  • You are not forced to install the Discord App. That is something you did. – John Jun 17 '23 at 10:23
  • By forced I meant by circumstances, not by limitations of the computer. Maybe "had to" would be more clear? Uninstalling the app is not an option, but I would like to be able to separately use discord in the browser because most of my workflow is in the browser. @Ramhound's comment, What is a URL handler, and is there anything I can do to my browser or os to change how my computer responds to it? – guest4308 Jun 17 '23 at 11:27
  • I just use the browser URL. Nothing is installed. – John Jun 17 '23 at 12:10
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    @John, correct. you do not have to have the app installed for the browser version to work. I, personally, have to have the app installed because other humans in my life require me to have the app be installed on my computer – guest4308 Jun 17 '23 at 12:22
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    Huh, is there some setting, probably? In my case if a URL needs to open an app (Zoom, Discord, Steam), it'll have a dialog box (from the browser) asking me whether I would like to go away from the page and open the Windows app. If in that dialog box I clicked "Cancel", it won't open the app. – justhalf Jun 17 '23 at 17:53
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    You're conflating two things. Yes, there are webscripts that *could* see the applications installed on your computer. A properly secured browser or plugins can prevent this. But, your issue is NOT this. The Discord app registered as a URL handler, and it IS possible to remove such a handler. Depending on your browser, you may also be able to ignore registered protocol handlers at the browser level. – music2myear Jun 17 '23 at 20:21
  • Does this answer your question? [Change protocol handler to desktop app (like mapping URL:IRC to mIRC)](https://superuser.com/questions/984617/change-protocol-handler-to-desktop-app-like-mapping-urlirc-to-mirc) – music2myear Jun 17 '23 at 20:28
  • A note re the duplicate: It tells you where to go to fix this. The difference would just be that you remove the handler for Discord. – music2myear Jun 17 '23 at 20:29
  • I do not know who is doing all the downvoting here, but DO have the courage to post a demonstrably BETTER Answer – John Jun 17 '23 at 20:38
  • Huh, after googling around a bit, I was a bit surprised that protocol handler like this apparently is very hard to configure. I was expecting a simple "go to this settings, change this line", but I guess it's harder than that based on what I've found so far. – justhalf Jun 18 '23 at 02:25

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I'm not using Windows or Chrome, but I believe there are one or more methods to disable this behavior. The problem is that it is honoring "protocol handlers" provided by the host OS. There should be a place to disable them (on a granular level) in Chrome's Preferences - according to information on a related question it was at one time under Settings > Content Settings (under Privacy) > "Manage Handlers...", but that may very well have changed. The linked question also has suggestions on where to find files you may be able to edit to override the behavior.

R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
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  • You should cite and quote the relevant information from the answer or flag this question as a duplicate of the question you believe already answers this question – Ramhound Jun 17 '23 at 18:26
  • @Ramhound: I did cite where the answer said it used to be. The question is not a duplicate because it's asking the opposite, I think - how to allow a protocol handler that was previously blocked. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Jun 18 '23 at 02:31