macOS 13.1: Firefox (or Chrome) no longer possible as default application for link files

[galad]

Well, it's handled, it shows an alert. The alert text can surely be improved.

 

[timelessbeing]

No. It's a bog standard error message. This way, a user has absolutely no idea what the problem is.
If it was handled properly, it would say something like "You need to change the default browser in Sytem Settings".
Or better yet ... it wouldn't even let you attempt to change the default application.
And still even better, the OS would let you set the default browser independently from the default application for opening .webloc files!

 

[Henry V]

I have not yet heard of any workaround to open webloc files in the default browser. I did throw together a web page that will convert a webloc file to an html file that will redirect to the url from the webloc file. The original webloc file will not be modified.

The converter is at https://www.gradekeeper.com/webloc/

You can convert multiple webloc files at a time. The resulting html files will be downloaded to your computer. Double clicking on an html file will open it in your default browser.

I am still hoping this is a bug and that Apple will fix it eventually. But if Apple really intends to open webloc files by default in Safari instead of the default browser, an html file that redirects to the url might be an option until other web browsers can come up with an alternative to webloc.

I downloaded your link, and dragged webloc files into the box, but nothing happened?

 

[Minghold]

I have experienced this as well. It is very annoying and most likely a bug.

It is absolutely not a bug (there's that pernicious Hanlon's Razor again, tempting you into extending the courtesy of incompetence to the big evil corporation); it's a forcible herding of the user-base into the crappy Safari browser, the exact one that support will be withheld for as soon it is deemed your computer is too old. (And you can't even install uBlock Lite now unless you're using Ventura, another purely artificial limitation that will no doubt roll forward in the future.)