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Interesting, so for the apps that I've used that open a webview (which specifically says in the menu box "Powered by Firefox", with an option to "Open in Firefo

by Spoom 3y ago

Interesting, so for the apps that I've used that open a webview (which specifically says in the menu box "Powered by Firefox", with an option to "Open in Firefox", which opens in the full browser), they've added the library specifically in the app? To be clear, I don't have a rooted phone. Not trying to be difficult, but I'm seeing this specifically in the Fastmail Android app, and I don't remember ever setting an app-specific setting to use it. I believe I've also seen this "webview" (maybe this isn't what you mean?) in other apps as well. Edit: Bit of research suggests that this may be the "Custom Tab API"[1] which might be something different, perhaps a newer API? 1. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/zkbf8v/enable_firefox_embedded_browser_on_android/ https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/zkbf8v/enable_fire...

noirscape 3y ago
Ah hold on - that's not a webview. That's the custom tabs provider; https://developer.chrome.com/docs/android/custom-tabs/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/android/custom-tabs/ . That one can still be user configured. (As you can see, what Browser gets used on Android when you click a link is just a bit of a mess in general; you have custom tabs, system webview and even bundled webview, which is what Facebook does).
chenxiaolong 3y ago
Yep, what you're referring to (the "Powered by <browser>" screen) is done with the Custom Tabs API. Some folks might also refer to it as the in-app browser. Any browser can implement a CustomTabsService and the whole feature respects the default browser setting. The Fastmail app is actually a good example of something that uses the WebView APIs though. Fastmail's UI is entirely web-based and their whole app is rendered inside of a WebView, provided by the Chromium-based "Android System WebView" app. If I remember correctly, the list of allowed signatures for a WebView provider is baked into the OS, so no third party can provide an implementation without root access.

by Spoom 3y ago

noirscape 3y ago

Ah hold on - that's not a webview. That's the custom tabs provider; https://developer.chrome.com/docs/android/custom-tabs/ https://developer.chrome.com/docs/android/custom-tabs/ . That one can still be user configured. (As you can see, what Browser gets used on Android when you click a link is just a bit of a mess in general; you have custom tabs, system webview and even bundled webview, which is what Facebook does).

chenxiaolong 3y ago

Yep, what you're referring to (the "Powered by <browser>" screen) is done with the Custom Tabs API. Some folks might also refer to it as the in-app browser. Any browser can implement a CustomTabsService and the whole feature respects the default browser setting. The Fastmail app is actually a good example of something that uses the WebView APIs though. Fastmail's UI is entirely web-based and their whole app is rendered inside of a WebView, provided by the Chromium-based "Android System WebView" app. If I remember correctly, the list of allowed signatures for a WebView provider is baked into the OS, so no third party can provide an implementation without root access.