Thanks for clarifying. I think we should document the minimum supported WebView version separately from the minimum Android API level.
Would Chrome/WebView 69 be the agreed minimum for cordova-android 15 onward? If so, I would close #2036: the startup issue reproduced with WebView 52–59, but was not observed with WebView 60 or newer in the tested versions. We could document the minimum WebView version in the Android Platform Guide, together with the last WebView versions available for Android 7–9 and the fact that these Android versions no longer receive WebView updates. This would be more useful than stating which Android version currently receives the latest WebView, since that requirement will change over time. That would clarify our existing support expectations while keeping any minimum SDK increase for the next major in a separate discussion. In general it would be good to have some documentation somewhere about it. > Am 05.11.2026 um 17:33 schrieb Norman Breau via dev <[email protected]>: > > the min SDK bump should be another thread to get a buy-in , but I'm also not > sure if we are ready to start targeting the next major yet. A PR could be > made but it would have to sit until we are ready to start developing for the > next major. > > > This would make development much more easier. > > This in itself is not really a valid reason either. We should compile a list > of reasons why upgrading to API 28 is necessary or in what way it will be an > improvement that has value that warrants increasing the minimum API level. > > On 2026-11-05 11:03 a.m., Manuel Beck via dev wrote: >> Yes, you are totally right. Should we make a another discussion for it or >> already vote? I would be for minimum supporting Android 9 (API Level 28). >> This would make development much more easier. >> >>> Am 05.11.2026 um 15:58 schrieb Norman Breau via dev >>> <[email protected]>: >>> >>> Sorry for the spam but -- Google currently uses API 29 >>> (https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:build/config/android/config.gni;l=63) >>> for their minimum API level for the android webview component. Meaning >>> that latest webview releases now is only available for users on Android 10 >>> or later. >>> >>> Not saying we should match that requirement, but it's definitely worth >>> considering bumping our minimum in the next major release. Based on >>> https://apilevels.com/ >>> >>> API 26 - 99.2% usage >>> API 28 - 98.2% usage >>> API 29 - 96.6% usage >>> >>> We'd have to investigate what kind benefits that would yield, but it would >>> also bump our "minimum" webview version probably quite significantly, >>> leading to better JS API support. I'm sure there would be a lot of >>> simplification we could start doing as well in the native code. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
