New Chromium WebView is now updated via Google Play and supports Web Components

The developers of Android 5.0 Lollipop (“Lollipop”) presented the main changes to the WebView component used for displaying HTML5 content in applications. Starting with Android 5.0, the component is updated via Google Play. This means that when Google updates its browser engine, new features also become available to all application developers, regardless of whether the manufacturer of the Android device has released an operating system update or not.

For those applications that are developed using Apache Cordova or Adobe PhoneGap, the new distribution strategy has obvious advantages - end users can get the latest innovations that appear on the Web platform much faster, just like desktop browsers users.

WebView is based on the Chromium project since the version of Android 4.4, but the ability to update the component appeared only from the latest version. As a basis for WebView Android 5.0, the source code for the Chromium M37 is laid out. New features include WebRTC (Real Time Communication), WebAudio and WebGL. The new component also includes the full implementation of the WebComponents specification, that is, you can now use Polymer and material design elements without polyfiles.

The developers also promise to consistently synchronize the component with the current version of Chromium, thereby providing a more predictable environment for running HTML5 applications on various platforms.