What is the Android WebView app – If your smartphone is running any version of Android higher or equal to 5.0 Lollipop, it has installed itself (independently) the Android Webview system.
Today we bring a detailed article showing you, the user, what the function of this application and how it can affect your performance cell.
According to the page Google Play with the application information, the Webview can be described as:
Android WebView is a Google Chrome technology system component that allows Android apps to display web content. This component is pre-installed on the device and should be kept up to date to ensure you receive the latest security updates and other fixes bugs.
But what does it all mean?
Android Webview functions
The Webview is a component of an Android-based project called Chromium and basically, comes up a compact web browser with open source Google.
Starting with version 5.0 of the system he began to be distributed as a separate application and can be updated independently of the smartphone operating system form.
The Webview, explaining in a simple way, allows applications to open windows internally browser, without having to ‘call’ the browser externally, and thus opening another application, consuming more resources smartphone.
This functionality is extremely important for the applications that are used frequently and that have many links being shared / available to you such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networks.
Practically, is one tab that opens when you click a link on Facebook, showing the page to be accessed, but without requiring a Chrome instance (or native browser) opens.
An example of this is that it can make a clear distinction between the content that will be opened from other sources in your timeline, avoiding those ‘gagging’ higher while navigation is performed.
Considerations
However, after Google’s strategic decision in 2015, the devices with Android versions below 4.3 have lost access to the resource, since it contained about 11 ‘holes’ security (found by independent researchers), being compared by experts iT as the ‘ Internet Explorer Android ‘, one of the main entry points for attacks. The controversy surrounding this issue was regarding the exclusion of users with versions below 4.3, which at the time were 60% of users.
In its latest version (7.0 nougat), Android has just using Chrome itself instead of a disconnected application because just evaluating the memory usage in this release (as well as the devices that have received) is optimized enough to be able to render more effectively through Chrome itself, without the need for an external application.
In conclusion, we can say that for users (with Androids 4-6), it is important to keep the Android Webview to date, because it avoids loopholes in system security, helps to access web content faster way. Already, developers, it is recommended to use the feature when creating their applications that consume web page content for performance reasons the system, as many smartphones still have versions prior to 7.0 Nougat.
