Q3 Android WebView statistics

Once more Scientia Mobile sent me their Android WebView stats over the third quarter. I edited them slightly and put them online.

There’s not much news to report: the majority of Android devices runs the latest or latest-but-one Chromium for their WebView. The September data shows the move from 52 to 53 is underway, but not yet completed.

Android WebView shares, September 2016
Engine Share
Android WebKit 10%
Chromium 18-39 2%
Chromium 40-50 14%
Chromium 51 5%
Chromium 52 49%
Chromium 53 20%

Android WebKit has dropped to 10% share; clearly the replacement of old phones is proceeding. (Then again, remember these stats have a Western bias. I’m not saying the same is happening in developing countries.)

The only thing that somewhat surprises me is that the long tail of older Chromium WebViews keeps on getting longer. They don’t have a lot of market share, but I expected oldies such as Chromium 18 to disappear completely. As of right now that hasn’t happened yet.

Anyway, I do not expect serious surprises here. Google’s promise of an evergreen Chromium-based WebView is being kept, and there’s no reason to assume that the move to newer and newer versions will stop any time soon.

This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer. You can also follow him on Twitter or Mastodon.
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