- emulator (30.3.5) (via Android SDK)
- adb (30.0.5) (via Android SDK)
- apktool (2.5.0) and Java runtime
- zip (3.0)
- unzip (6.0)
Make sure you have JAVA_HOME and ANDROID_HOME environment variables correctly set.
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Create a new Android Virtual Device (AVD) using Android Studio or avdmanager. Here, I created an Android 5.0 device with the following system image:
Path | Version | Description | Location system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86_64 | 32 | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom_64 System Image | system-images/android-21/google_apis/x86_64/
The AVD name is
$ emulator -list-avds Pixel_2_API_21
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Boot the AVD and make its system partition writable:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/tools/emulator @Pixel_2_API_21 -writable-systemAnd the AVD starts, remount its system partition using
adb:$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb remount -
Download the Android System Webview of your desired version from the internet. For example, you may use
Android System WebView 88.0.4324.93 (x86 + x86_64) (Android 5.0+)from apkmirror.com. The package ID iscom.google.android.webview, which is different from the default system webview (com.android.webview). Also, make sure your package has the same ABI as your AVD. -
Extract the webview package using
unzipand push it and the native libraries to the system partition of your AVD:$ unzip <path/to/your/webview.apk> $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell mkdir /system/app/ChromiumWebview $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/your/webview.apk> /system/app/ChromiumWebview/webview.apk $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/your/extracted/webview.apk>/lib /system/app/ChromiumWebview/
After this step is done, you should have the following new files in your AVD:
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell ls -lR /system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib ✔ /system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib: drwxr-xr-x root root 2021-01-27 00:36 x86 drwxr-xr-x root root 2021-01-27 00:36 x86_64 /system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib/x86: -rw-r--r-- root root 43360 1979-12-31 00:00 libchromium_android_linker.so -rw-r--r-- root root 3680 1979-12-31 00:00 libcrashpad_handler_trampoline.so -rw-r--r-- root root 78167008 1979-12-31 00:00 libwebviewchromium.so /system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib/x86_64: -rw-r--r-- root root 44896 1979-12-31 00:00 libchromium_android_linker.so -rw-r--r-- root root 5104 1979-12-31 00:00 libcrashpad_handler_trampoline.so -rw-r--r-- root root 78545528 1979-12-31 00:00 libwebviewchromium.so -
Restart Android services to let the Package Manager pick up our new webview package:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell stop $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell start $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell pm list packages | grep webview package:com.android.webview --> the built-in and outdated webview package:com.google.android.webview --> our new webview
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Check if the package is registered with the Package Manager. Make sure
codePath,nativeLibraryPath, andprimaryCpuAbiare correct:$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell cat /data/system/packages.xml | grep com.google.android.webview <package name="com.google.android.webview" codePath="/system/app/ChromiumWebview" nativeLibraryPath="/system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib" primaryCpuAbi="x86_64" secondaryCpuAbi="x86" flags="...
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As the default webview package name used by the Android OS is hard-coded in older Android OSes (https://android.stackexchange.com/a/139415), you need to modify the Android framework to use the new package name. First, pull
framework-res.apkfrom your AVD and decompile it usingapktool:$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb pull /system/framework/framework-res.apk $ apktool d framework-res.apk -
Update the
<path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/res/values/strings.xmlfile to use your new system webview package name:--- res/values/strings.xml 2021-01-27 00:53:05.000000000 -0500 +++ res/values/strings.xml 2021-01-27 00:54:38.000000000 -0500 @@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ <string name="config_appsAuthorizedForSharedAccounts">;com.android.settings;</string> <string name="config_defaultNetworkScorerPackageName" /> <string name="config_persistentDataPackageName" /> - <string name="config_webViewPackageName">com.android.webview</string> + <string name="config_webViewPackageName">com.google.android.webview</string> <item type="string" name="timepicker_circle_radius_multiplier">0.82</item> <item type="string" name="timepicker_circle_radius_multiplier_24HourMode">0.85</item> <item type="string" name="timepicker_selection_radius_multiplier">0.16</item>
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Repack
framework-res.apkusingapktool.$ apktool b <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>
There might be a few errors you need to fix before the package can be repacked. For example, if you encountered the following error:
Error: String types not allowed (at 'APKTOOL_DUMMY_34e' with value '').you should replace
<drawable name="APKTOOL_DUMMY_..." />with<item type="drawable" name="APKTOOL_DUMMY_..." />in the<path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/res/values-nodpi-v4/drawables.xmlfile and retry. -
The repacked
framework-res.apkis placed under<path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/dist. Extract theresources.arscfile from it and merge it to the originalframework-res.apk:$ unzip <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/dist/framework-res.apk resources.arsc -d . $ zip -0 <path/to/original/framework-res.apk> resources.arsc
The original
framework-res.apkyou pulled from your AVD is now updated. -
Next, replace the
framework-res.apkin your AVD with our updated (merged)framework-res.apkfrom last step and reboot device:$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/original/framework-res.apk> /system/framework/framework-res.apk $ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb reboot
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Finally, check if the webview is switched to the new one:
HelIo! I opened
/res/values/strings.xmland I found no default value forconfig_webViewPackageName(<string name="config_webViewPackageName" />). Will this still work?If the Webview package name is not stored there, then where is it supposed to be? (just wondering).
Edit:
Never mind, that was ApkEditor fault. I used Apktool and I was able to see it there.
Edit2:
It worked! thank you so much!