IOS: URL truncation when opening via external player links with query parameters (= sign)

[mhdzumair]

Description

iOS users are experiencing an issue when using Stremio Web configured with VLC player.

Root Cause Analysis

The MediaFusion URL for RD link resolver follows this pattern:

/streaming_provider/*MASKED*/stream?info_hash=xxxxx

The issue occurs when the URL contains an equals sign (=). When such URLs are sent to VLC, all characters after the = sign are truncated. This problem manifests in two ways:

1. With the *MASKED* user data portion, which is base64-encoded and may contain padding (=). While this can be mitigated through alternative configuration to remove padding, the bigger issue remains.

2. With query parameters, which always contain = signs, making this issue unavoidable with the current implementation.

Additional Context

Users have reported that similar functionality works correctly in Torrentio and Comet, but fails in MediaFusion. This confirms that the issue is specific to how Stremio handles URLs containing the = character. As I noticed, Torrentio uses a URL parameter instead of a query parameter.

[naviln]

thanks @mhdzumair for supporting, debugging and creating this. look forward to a resolution

[mhdzumair]

Seems like this issue is only occurring on IOS stremio web version.
Testing on following devices working fine:

• Stremio Web - Linux, Mac & Windows with open in VLC player
• Stremio Web - Samsung Browser with open in VLC player

[naviln]

Found a workaround, posting for others on iOS that have problems opening Mediafusion videos via Stremio web.

On the stream you want to watch, tap and hold until a popup appears. Options are "Play and "Copy stream link".
Tap on the "Copy stream link" button.

Open VLC, on to the network tab, click on "Open network stream"

Paste the URL here, and you should be able to now play the file.