Mobile/GeckoView

GeckoView wraps Mozilla's Gecko browser engine in a reusable Android library.

Mozilla uses GeckoView to power Firefox Reality, Firefox Focus, and other Android apps. GeckoView serves a similar purpose to Android's built-in WebView, but it has its own APIs and is not a drop in replacement.

Why GeckoView?

While Android offers a built-in WebView, it's not intended for building browsers, and many advanced Web APIs are disabled. Android's WebView is also a moving target: it's impossible know exactly which engine (and what version of that engine) will power a WebView on client devices.

In contrast, GeckoView is:

• Full-Featured: GeckoView is designed to expose the entire power of the Web to applications, including being suitable for building web browsers.
• Self-Contained: Because GeckoView is a standalone library that you bundle with your application, you can be confident that the code you test is the code that will actually run.
• Standards Compliant: Like Firefox, GeckoView offers excellent support for modern Web standards.

Getting Help

Interested in GeckoView? We're here to help!

If you have questions or need assistance, please reach out by:

• Talking to us in the #mobile IRC channel on Mozilla's IRC server "irc.mozilla.org"
• Sending questions to the mobile-firefox-dev mailing list

Get Started

Building a browser? Check out Android Components, our collection of ready-to-use support libraries!

Configure Gradle

You need to add or edit four stanzas inside your module's build.gradle file.

1. Set the GeckoView version

Like Firefox, GeckoView has three release channels: Stable, Beta, and Nightly. Browse the Maven Repository to see currently available builds.

ext {
    geckoviewChannel = "nightly"
    geckoviewVersion = "64.0.20180927100037"
}

2. Add Mozilla's Maven repository

repositories {
    maven {
        url "https://maven.mozilla.org/maven2/"
    }
}

3. Configure build flavors

Note: Until we resolve Bug 1485045, you must configure a separate build variant for each CPU architecture.

android {
    // ...

    // Note: compileOptions is only required for minSdkVersion < 24
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }

    flavorDimensions "abi"

    productFlavors {
        x86     { dimension "abi" }
        x86_64  { dimension "abi" }
        arm     { dimension "abi" }
        aarch64 { dimension "abi" }
    }
}

4. Add GeckoView Implementations

dependencies {
    // ...

    x86Implementation     "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}-x86:${geckoviewVersion}"
    x86_64Implementation  "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}-x86_64:${geckoviewVersion}"
    armImplementation     "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}-armeabi-v7a:${geckoviewVersion}"
    aarch64Implementation "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}-arm64-v8a:${geckoviewVersion}"
}

Add GeckoView to a Layout

Inside a layout .xml file, add the following:

<org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoView
    android:id="@+id/geckoview"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" />

Initialize GeckoView in an Activity

1. Import the GeckoView classes inside an Activity:

import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoRuntime;
import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoSession;
import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoView;

2. In that activity's onCreate function, add the following:

GeckoView view = findViewById(R.id.geckoview);
GeckoSession session = new GeckoSession();
GeckoRuntime runtime = GeckoRuntime.create(this);

session.open(runtime);
view.setSession(session);
session.loadUri("about:buildconfig"); // Or any other URL...

You're done!

Your application should now load and display a webpage inside of GeckoView.

To learn more about GeckoView's capabilities, review GeckoView's JavaDoc or the reference application.

Documentation and Examples

APIs

• GeckoView API Documentation (JavaDoc format)
• Android Components APIs

Building / Contributing

• GeckoView Contributor Quick Start Guide.
• Mobile/Get_Involved
• Mozilla Developer Guide

Bugs

• File a new GeckoView bug
• All GeckoView Bugs
• GeckoView Bug Dashboard 🐛

Products / Examples

• Firefox Reality (GitHub)
• Firefox Focus (GitHub)
• GeckoView Reference Application

Minimum System Requirements

• GeckoView requires Android OS version 4.3 (API Level 18) or later. For comparison, Fennec supports Android 4.1 (API level 16) and later. Fenix and Focus support Android 5.0 (API level 21) and later.
• 32-bit ARMv7-A, 64-bit ARMv8-A (aka ARM64), 32-bit x86, or x86_64 CPU
• Minimum device specs are quad-core 1.2 GHz and 2 GB RAM (like the Moto G4 Play, E4, or E5), though Mozilla's GeckoView test devices are the Moto G5 with an octa-core 1.4 GHz CPU and 2 GB RAM and the Google Pixel 2 with octa-core 1.9 GHz CPU and 4 GB RAM.