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I've noticed that almost all links in emails I receive in Gmail for Android, redirect through a Google link first.

I just checked and though click-and-hold shows the real link, if I tap to open, it actually opens "https://www.google.com/url?q=<original link>" in my browser.

EDIT: This happens for both Workspace and normal "free" accounts.

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Is that redirect to avoid sending a referer header to server though? In other words, doesn't it actually prevent tracking?

Native apps don't produce referer headers when opening a link in a browser.

But that wouldn't prevent tracking anyway. It would just mean all the tracking is done by Google.

But that could be done by other, less obvious means, if desired. Does this redirect add any new tracking abilities?

Yeah, it only prevents taking for non Google and gives them all of the tracking instead.

This is a huge annoyance. If you long press and select "Open in browser", this redirect doesn't seem to happen.

I'd love for a Firefox Android extension to remove this, alas it doesn't seem to have been 'blessed by Mozilla' to be available on mobile.

This shouldn't even be necessary. I get that Google already has the link cause it's in Gmail.

They do, but there's a different level of importance in tracking for just any link and a link you click.

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