3.4. Web Compatibility

3.4.1. WebView Compatibility

If device implementations provide a complete implementation of the android.webkit.Webview API, they:

  • [C-1-1] MUST report android.software.webview.
  • [C-1-2] MUST use the Chromium Project build from the upstream Android Open Source Project on the Android ANDROID_VERSION branch for the implementation of the android.webkit.WebView API.
  • [C-1-3] The user agent string reported by the WebView MUST be in this format:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android $(VERSION); \[$(MODEL)\] \[Build/$(BUILD)\]; wv)
AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 $(CHROMIUM_VER) Mobile
Safari/537.36

*   The value of the $(VERSION) string MUST be the same as the value for
    android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE.
*   The $(MODEL) string MAY be empty, but if it is not empty it MUST have
    the same value as android.os.Build.MODEL.
*   "Build/$(BUILD)" MAY be omitted, but if it is present the $(BUILD)
    string MUST be the same as the value for android.os.Build.ID.
*   The value of the $(CHROMIUM_VER) string MUST be the version of Chromium
    in the upstream Android Open Source Project.
*   Device implementations MAY omit Mobile in the user agent string.

  • The WebView component SHOULD include support for as many HTML5 features as possible and if it supports the feature SHOULD conform to the HTML5 specification.

  • [C-1-3] MUST render the provided content or remote URL content in a process that is distinct from the application that instantiates the WebView. Specifically the separate renderer process MUST hold lower privilege, run as a separate user ID, have no access to the app's data directory, have no direct network access, and only have access to the minimum-required system services over Binder. The AOSP implementation of WebView meets this requirement.

Note that if device implementations are 32-bit or declare the feature flag android.hardware.ram.low, they are exempted from C-1-3.

3.4.2. Browser Compatibility

If device implementations include a standalone Browser application for general web browsing, they:

  • [C-1-1] MUST support each of these APIs associated with HTML5: * application cache/offline operation * <video> tag * geolocation
  • [C-1-2] MUST support the HTML5/W3C webstorage API and SHOULD support the HTML5/W3C IndexedDB API. Note that as the web development standards bodies are transitioning to favor IndexedDB over webstorage, IndexedDB is expected to become a required component in a future version of Android.
  • MAY ship a custom user agent string in the standalone Browser application.
  • SHOULD implement support for as much of HTML5 as possible on the standalone Browser application (whether based on the upstream WebKit Browser application or a third-party replacement).

However, If device implementations do not include a standalone Browser application, they:

  • [C-2-1] MUST still support the public intent patterns as described in section 3.2.3.1.