Steps to reproduce the problem:
1. Load in links and content dynamically through PHP instead of using JavaScript to make requests
2. Click on link on PWA in Android

What is the expected behavior?
PWA will simply redirect user accordingly instead of opening new custom tab.

What went wrong?
Any links that are clicked in the page open the Chrome custom tab and there is no way to prevent the opening of this tab and just have the PWA load the website. All the links used are within the same domain and relative links do not work, either. 

Did this work before? N/A 

Does this work in other browsers? Yes

Chrome version:   Channel: n/a
OS Version: 
Flash Version: 

component:UI>Browser>Mobile>CustomTabs

To be specific, I have created a PWA that helps students track volunteer hours. Once signed in, they can click on the specific entry and edit it. However, this abruptly opes a custom tab and reduces the screen real estate dramatically and ruins the experience. All these links are to the same website but to different parts. 

I am using the service worker and the PWA design very minimally as I created most of the site in PHP so the site does not have a static app shell. I suspect that loading the app shell everytime instead of requesting resources/content is causing this problem. However, I highly request there be a way to prevent Chrome custom tabs from opening.

Safari had this same problem until I added an event listener for all clicks on links, prevented the default, and changed the window.href manually. This solved the problem but chrome must be listening for this as well to open the custom tab.