Our mobile application belongs to hybrid category. That means some core features operates with the help of WebView component which is a wrapper around installed mobile web browser. In a case of Android this is based on Chromium browser.
With newer devices (from Android 7) you should be fine as long as system apps are updated. Depending on Android build and from device to the device one should update one of these apps from Google Play Store.
WebView component comes in three flavors (package names):
- com.android.webview (non-updatable)
- com.google.android.webview (System Web View Updatable from Google Play)
- com.android.chrome (Chrome Browser Updatable from Google Play)
Some Android builds are packaged with com.android.webview. Usually, custom build ROM's as AOSP (Android Open Source Project). By default, they are built with old Chromium library Version 36. This version does not support modern JavaScript constructs and some other missing functionalities breaking our application on such devices.
As this version is not updatable from Google Play, what can we do? Is there a solution?
Well, actually there is.
Solution
It might still not work on some devices so take this workaround with a grain of salt.
The Solution is to manually download custom build com.android.webview apk file and install it on your device. This action will update the default device provided version with a newer library which might enable our application to work on such devices.
Simply download version 66 of Androd System WebView to your mobile device from here. Then click on downloaded file to install it.
Note: On some devices, manual install should be enabled through system settings. More details here. Or you can search the web for the term "android sideload" to find out more information how to do it.
Which WebView version ?
To check which WebView version you have, update Green Screens Mobile Application to at least Version 3.8.0. Build 188. Then go to the Settings, scroll to About where you should see WebView version and package name.
If package name is com.android.webview and version is less than 66, your Android device must be updated manually with apk from here as describe above.