diff --git a/mobile/packages/expo-mobile-web-shell/ios/MobileWebShellView.swift b/mobile/packages/expo-mobile-web-shell/ios/MobileWebShellView.swift
index d729cadcb0b..077dc6721b9 100644
--- a/mobile/packages/expo-mobile-web-shell/ios/MobileWebShellView.swift
+++ b/mobile/packages/expo-mobile-web-shell/ios/MobileWebShellView.swift
@@ -370,9 +370,8 @@ final class MobileWebShellView: ExpoView, WKNavigationDelegate, WKUIDelegate,
     configuration.websiteDataStore = .nonPersistent()
     configuration.defaultWebpagePreferences.allowsContentJavaScript = true
     configuration.preferences.javaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically = false
-    if #available(iOS 14.0, *) {
-      configuration.limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains = true
-    }
+    // Why: no app-bound domain list is declared, so WebKit's app-bound navigation limit would be
+    // inert; the navigation delegate is the fence (hosted-ios-app-bound-navigation-probe).
     configuration.setURLSchemeHandler(schemeHandler, forURLScheme: mobileWebScheme)
     messageHandler.target = self
     configuration.userContentController.add(messageHandler, name: mobileWebBridgeHandler)
diff --git a/mobile/scripts/hosted-ios-app-bound-navigation-probe.mjs b/mobile/scripts/hosted-ios-app-bound-navigation-probe.mjs
index 1cac07227f3..ee4a71761cf 100644
--- a/mobile/scripts/hosted-ios-app-bound-navigation-probe.mjs
+++ b/mobile/scripts/hosted-ios-app-bound-navigation-probe.mjs
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@ const EXTERNAL_ORIGIN = 'https://example.com/'
 const LOG_PREDICATE =
   'senderImagePath CONTAINS "WebKit" OR process == "Orca" OR process CONTAINS "com.apple.WebKit"'
 
-// The Swift shell sets limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains while app.json declares no
-// WKAppBoundDomains key. The shell's own navigation delegate cancels the same navigations, so the
-// only way to tell which mechanism fires is to watch who reports the refusal: the delegate raises
-// onNavigationBlocked (a native warning banner), while an app-bound refusal fails the provisional
-// navigation inside WebKit with no delegate decision.
+// The shell once set limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains with no WKAppBoundDomains key; an A/B
+// rebuild showed it inert and the flag was removed. This probe stays as the regression check that
+// the shell's own navigation delegate is what refuses external navigation: the delegate raises
+// onNavigationBlocked (a native warning banner), while an app-bound refusal would fail the
+// provisional navigation inside WebKit with no delegate decision.
 export async function probeHostedIosAppBoundNavigation(
   { deviceUdid, emulator, sessionDocument, timeoutMs },
   operations = {}
diff --git a/mobile/src/mobile-web/mobile-web-native-transport-source.test.ts b/mobile/src/mobile-web/mobile-web-native-transport-source.test.ts
index aa4cc29f89b..4358fc73fbc 100644
--- a/mobile/src/mobile-web/mobile-web-native-transport-source.test.ts
+++ b/mobile/src/mobile-web/mobile-web-native-transport-source.test.ts
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ describe('mobile web native bridge transport', () => {
     expect(iosSource).toContain('installMobileWebNetworkBlocker(')
     expect(iosSource).toContain('networkBlockReady')
     expect(iosSource).toContain('networkBlockFailed')
-    expect(iosSource).toContain('configuration.limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains = true')
+    expect(iosSource).not.toContain('limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains')
     expect(iosSource).toContain('Object.defineProperties(globalThis')
     expect(iosSource).toContain('var restrictedNavigator=new Proxy(nativeNavigator')
     expect(iosSource).toContain("if(property==='serviceWorker') return undefined")