Mobile/GeckoView

GeckoView is Firefox Quantum's engine, packaged as a reusable Android library.

Mozilla uses GeckoView to power Firefox Reality, Firefox Focus, and more.

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

• JavaDoc API Documentation
• 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

• Android OS version 4.3 (Jelly Bean, API Level 18) or later. (For comparison, Firefox for Android supports 4.1 and later and Firefox Focus supports 5.0 and later.)
• 32-bit ARMv7-A, 64-bit ARMv8-A (aka ARM64), 32-bit x86, or x86_64 CPU
• Mozilla tests GeckoView on a Moto G5 with a 1.4 GHz CPU and 2 GB RAM, but GeckoView can run on lower hardware specs.