Mobile/GeckoView

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

Mozilla uses GeckoView to power Firefox for Android, 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 #geckoview Matrix room
• Sending questions to the firefox-android-team@mozilla.com group mailing list

Get Started

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

Configure Gradle

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 = "70.0.20190712095934"
}

2. Add Mozilla's Maven repository

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

3. Configure Java 8 support

android {
    // ...

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

4. Add GeckoView Implementations

dependencies {
    // ...
    implementation "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}:${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 Preview (GitHub)
• Firefox Reality (GitHub)
• Firefox Focus (GitHub)
• GeckoView Reference Application

Minimum System Requirements

• GeckoView requires Android OS version 4.1 (API Level 16) or 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 an octa-core 1.9 GHz CPU and 4 GB RAM.