You can install an alternative like chrome or google search (chrome but better UX IMO)
And when you do, anything that opens a page that isn't an embedded webkitview prompts me to pick a browser.
It even suggests chrome which I don't have installed (I guess I installed it once and it remembers the protocol registration)
Ios doesn't support changing default apps. If you get a prompt, it's because that app has independently implemented browser choice. This is also why you can select browsers that aren't installed, because there's no way of checking whether anything's installed.
Were you to use the default mail application, for example, its links would always open in Safari.
You can install an alternative like chrome or google search (chrome but better UX IMO) And when you do, anything that opens a page that isn't an embedded webkitview prompts me to pick a browser. It even suggests chrome which I don't have installed (I guess I installed it once and it remembers the protocol registration)