Google is making Android’s in-app browser safer to use

The Android in-app browser WebView has had a security update in an effort to keep your device safe.

While it may feel like the browser that opens when you click on links in Facebook and the like is Chrome, it’s actually a smaller, simpler version of its big brother called WebView. And unfortunately, being a micro-browser that can fit inside an app means that it isn’t quite as robust as the main Chrome browser.

This causes problems when thinking about the security of your device, as an insecure browser is an obvious vulnerability for those with nefarious intentions looking to gain access to your device.

Safe and simple

Thankfully Google has now upped the level of security, incorporating SafeBrowsing within WebView. What this means is that if an app tries to access a website that is on Google’s phishing and malware databases a warning will display, allowing you to make safer browsing decisions.

Google has also sandboxed WebView’s renderer, meaning that any malicious app that manages to gain access to the renderer won’t be able to permeate any further.

Developers will be able to add the new security developments with a single line of code, and the best news is that the only thing that you as a user have to do to benefit from this increased security is to keep your software up to date.