google photos links sent by email, not working on iPhone

I had shared some google photos albums using the sharing link, which is of the form https://photos.app.goo.gl/<id> and A said that they could not see the album. 

My reply was, 

those links are probably not opening in your iPhone because your phone's Apple Mail is not configured to use Safari or Chrome browser to open links.

It might work if you long press on the link, choose "Copy", and paste the link in Safari or Chrome browser in your phone.

And that seemed to work.