We all know the problems that developers have had in the past building for WebView: Limited HTML5 features, no debugging tools, no build tools. With the introduction of a Chromium powered WebView in Android 4.4 (KitKat) developers now have a huge range of new tools at their disposal to build great native apps using the WebView.
The WebView supports full remote debugging with the same tools you use for Chrome. You can also take your trusted web development workflow with Grunt and integrate that into your native stack tooling via Gradle. Further merging worlds, there's a clever trick to use the Chrome DevTools to test your native code from JavaScript.
[null,null,["Last updated 2024-08-06 UTC."],[[["Android 4.4 introduces a Chromium-powered WebView, providing developers with a powerful toolset for building native apps using web technologies."],["The new WebView enables full remote debugging using Chrome DevTools, streamlining the development workflow."],["Developers can integrate familiar web development tools like Grunt into their native stack using Gradle."],["It is recommended to leverage native implementations for specific features when appropriate to optimize app performance and user experience."]]],["Android 4.4 (KitKat) introduced a Chromium-powered WebView, providing developers with new tools for building native apps. Key actions include using remote debugging with familiar Chrome tools and integrating web development workflows like Grunt into native builds via Gradle. The Chrome DevTools can also test native code from JavaScript. Effective development involves leveraging improved tooling for workflow speed, avoiding native UI emulation, and opting for native features (e.g., DownloadManager) when appropriate.\n"]]
