diff --git a/src/HtmlUtils.js b/src/HtmlUtils.js
index 6db2b08fd1..1412112260 100644
--- a/src/HtmlUtils.js
+++ b/src/HtmlUtils.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 var React = require('react');
 var sanitizeHtml = require('sanitize-html');
 var highlight = require('highlight.js');
+var linkifyMatrix = require('./linkify-matrix');
 
 var sanitizeHtmlParams = {
     allowedTags: [
@@ -44,8 +45,17 @@ var sanitizeHtmlParams = {
     allowedSchemesByTag: {},
     
     transformTags: { // custom to matrix
-        // add blank targets to all hyperlinks
-        'a': sanitizeHtml.simpleTransform('a', { target: '_blank'} )
+        // add blank targets to all hyperlinks except vector URLs
+        'a': function(tagName, attribs) {
+            // XXX: use matrix.to instead and deduplicate regexp with linkify-matrix.js
+            var m = attribs.href.match(linkifyMatrix.VECTOR_URL_PATTERN);
+            if (m) {
+                return { tagName: 'a', attribs: { href: m[4] } };
+            }
+            else {
+                return { tagName: 'a', attribs: { href: attribs.href, target: '_blank'} };
+            }
+        },
     },
 };
 
diff --git a/src/linkify-matrix.js b/src/linkify-matrix.js
index 7fb043f800..51e4af044f 100644
--- a/src/linkify-matrix.js
+++ b/src/linkify-matrix.js
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ function matrixLinkify(linkify) {
 matrixLinkify.onUserClick = function(e, userId) { e.preventDefault(); };
 matrixLinkify.onAliasClick = function(e, roomAlias) { e.preventDefault(); };
 
+matrixLinkify.VECTOR_URL_PATTERN = /(https?:\/\/)?(www\.)?vector\.im\/(beta|staging|develop)?\/(#.*)/;
+
 matrixLinkify.options = {
     events: function (href, type) {
         switch (type) {
@@ -118,14 +120,33 @@ matrixLinkify.options = {
 
     formatHref: function (href, type) {
         switch (type) {
-             case 'roomalias':
-                 return '#/room/' + href;
-             case 'userid':
-                 return '#';
-             default:
-                 return href;
+            case 'roomalias':
+                return '#/room/' + href;
+            case 'userid':
+                return '#';
+            case 'url':
+                // intercept vector links directly into the app
+                // FIXME: use matrix.to asap, as this is fragile as sin
+                var m = href.match(matrixLinkify.VECTOR_URL_PATTERN);
+                return m ? m[4] : href;
+            default:
+                return href;
         }
-    }
+    },
+
+    target: function(href, type) {
+        if (type === 'url') {
+            if (href.match(matrixLinkify.VECTOR_URL_PATTERN)) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            else {
+                return '_blank';
+            }
+        }
+        else {
+            return '_blank';
+        }
+    },
 };
 
 module.exports = matrixLinkify;