diff --git a/bifrost/lib/hardNavigate.ts b/bifrost/lib/hardNavigate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..421cfc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bifrost/lib/hardNavigate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+/**
+ * Hard navigate to a URL using `history.pushState` and `window.location.reload` instead of
+ * `window.location.href`. This prevents the mobile apps from opening the URL in a browser tab.
+ */
+export async function hardNavigate(url: string): Promise<never> {
+  history.pushState(null, "", url);
+  window.Turbolinks.controller.viewInvalidated();
+  // stop vike rendering to let navigation happen
+  await new Promise(() => {});
+}
diff --git a/bifrost/lib/hardRedirect.ts b/bifrost/lib/hardRedirect.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index a297af6..0000000
--- a/bifrost/lib/hardRedirect.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Hard redirect (full page reload) that converts same-origin URLs to relative paths.
- * Turbolinks IOS requires relative URLs to open within the mobile app instead of safari.
- */
-export async function hardRedirect(url: string) {
-  if (url.startsWith("/")) {
-    window.location.href = url;
-    await new Promise(() => {});
-    return;
-  }
-
-  const parsedUrl = new URL(url);
-
-  if (window.location.origin === parsedUrl.origin) {
-    // Relative redirect
-    window.location.href = parsedUrl.pathname + parsedUrl.search + parsedUrl.hash;
-  } else {
-    // External redirect
-    window.location.href = url;
-  }
-
-  // stop vike rendering to let navigation happen
-  await new Promise(() => {});
-}
diff --git a/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts b/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
index 681d75f..9c552af 100644
--- a/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
+++ b/bifrost/renderer/wrapped/onBeforeRender.client.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import "../../lib/type";
 import type { PageContextClient } from "vike/types";
 import { redirect } from "vike/abort";
-import { hardRedirect } from "../../lib/hardRedirect";
 import { getElementAttributes } from "../../lib/elementUtils";
+import { hardNavigate } from "../../lib/hardNavigate";
 
 // onBeforeRender runs before changing the browser location, so `throw redirect` works
 // we wait for onBeforeRenderClient to call mergeHead, which runs after browser location change
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ export default async function wrappedOnBeforeRender(
 
     if (!resp) {
       // hard reload. can happen on cors errors when redirected to external page
-      await hardRedirect(pageContext.urlParsed.href);
+      window.location.href = pageContext.urlParsed.href;
+      // stop vike rendering to let navigation happen
+      await new Promise(() => {});
       return;
     }
 
@@ -70,26 +72,21 @@ export default async function wrappedOnBeforeRender(
         throw redirect(parsedUrl.pathname + parsedUrl.search + parsedUrl.hash);
       } else {
         // external redirect
-        await hardRedirect(resp.url);
-        return;
+        throw redirect(resp.url);
       }
     }
-    
     if (!resp.ok) {
-      await hardRedirect(resp.url);
-      return;
+      await hardNavigate(resp.url);
     }
-
     const html = await resp.text();
     const layoutInfo = pageContext.config.getLayout!(
       Object.fromEntries(resp.headers.entries())
     );
     if (!layoutInfo) {
       // Fallback to full reload if layout not found
-      // window.location.href = resp.url;
-      await hardRedirect(resp.url);
+      await hardNavigate(resp.url);
       return;
-    } 
+    }
 
     const parsed = document.createElement("html");
     parsed.innerHTML = html;