Published: February 28, 2014, Last updated: December 18, 2024
The WebView component is based on the Chromium open source project. WebView shares the same rendering engine as Chrome for Android, so rendering should be consistent between the WebView and Chrome. Also, WebView has an APK so it can be updated separately from Android.
- If you're want to develop a WebView-based Android application, read the get started guide.
- If you primarily plan to show external web content inside of your app, you should consider Custom Tabs instead.
- For tips on scaling WebView content for mobile devices, see Pixel-Perfect UI in the WebView.
WebView also supports remote debugging using the Chrome DevTools.
WebView updates
WebView auto-updates for mobile devices. To future-proof your app, you can use the Beta WebView to test versions of WebView before it launches.
Chrome for Android and WebView
WebView is built on top of the open source Chromium project, but it doesn't share data with Google Chrome.
In Android 7 (Nougat), 8 (Oreo), and 9 (Pie), WebView is built into Chrome. As they share so much underlying code, this saves space and memory on your device. However, Chrome and WebView don't share any data. You can disable Google Chrome at any time, and WebView will switch to a standalone version that isn't combined with Chrome.
In Android 10 (Q), WebView and Chrome still share most of their code to save space and memory on your device, but now appears as two separate apps. There is no longer any special behavior when disabling Chrome.
Does WebView have feature parity with Chrome for Android?
For the most part, features that work in Chrome for Android should work in a WebView.
Although WebView and Google Chrome share a package in Android 7, 8, and 9, they don't share Google Chrome-specific features. For example, Sync and Data-Saver aren't available inside of WebView.
Hardware sensor API support
Some APIs can be used to access the hardware sensors on an Android device. Chrome for Android supports a few of these APIs but not all of them are enabled in the WebView.
| API | WebView v33 | WebView v55 |
|---|---|---|
Geolocation API (requires android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION or android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permissions) |
✓ | ✓ |
| Device Orientation API | x | ✓ |
| Media Capture and Streams | x | ✓ |
Vibration API (requires android.permission.VIBRATE permission) |
✓ | ✓ |
Should I enable hardware acceleration?
Hardware acceleration is enabled by default.