Yeap, it is already Chromium WebView since 4.4 :) But the performance lags behind bleeding edge Chrome since Google gives its own Chrome a more advanced version of Chromium WebView.
Beginning with version 4.1, WebView is created from a recent snapshot of chromium before every major release. At least that is what Google Engineers said during the Android Fireside chat at Google I/O.
Huh. Where did he say that? WebView is Chromium and it's updated alongside Chrome updates. There are differences because of the process model in apps and some APIs aren't available...
Sort of. Chromium is actually the base for Chrome, and that's true for Android as well. However while Chromium on PC has more or less the complete browser UI, the Chromium for Android does not. All the hard stuff is there in Chromium for Android - blink, V8, graphics, webgl, etc... - but the UI isn't.
In Android 4.4 the WebView sits on top of Chromium, so if an OEM really wanted they could continue to use their own browser skins that sit on top of WebView like they previously shipped and it will now magically use Chromium under the hood. So really there's no story here.
Finally the webview uses Chromium instead of the native android browser. I've been waiting so long for this.
I hope they find a way to roll it to more devices really quickly so more people use the latest version. I guess its a big problem but there's plenty of value to google in finding that solution.
And sadly all android webviews are Chrome (and with a lot of additional effort at least Chromium based). Mozilla should release a webview and fight for signature inclusion.
Implementing a pixel-perfect design in a webview-based Cordova app was a nightmare on Android 4.0—4.3. I'm glad 4.4+ has native Chromium webviews, but I wasn't advocating web-based packaged apps before and I can't see myself doing it again.
Correct. Chrome is a separate project from the AOSP.
That said, Android 4.4 and later use Chromium for their WebViews, the source for which is developed along with Chrome as a part of the Chromium project - it does not live in AOSP.
Presumably the stock browser that is in AOSP 4.4+ wraps Chromium, which more or less means the AOSP browser is Chrome...but not the other way around. :)
trigger.io claim it is possible for their apps on Android 4.4 [1] that uses Chromium as basis for the webview, but I didn't have the chance yet as I am still on 4.3.
Oh, oops, good point! I saw the line "I'm forced to use Chrome instead of Chromium" and made some assumptions! If Google wants to explicitly block a framework that is designed to be a WebView, that seems a bit more reasonable (even if it sucks for the OP).
In the Fireside chat at I/O they said that the JB webview was entirely Chromium based and at parity with Chrome at the time, but would not be updated on Chrome's release cycle.
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