How to Use WebView in Android?

Last Updated : 28 Jan, 2025

WebView is a view that displays web pages as a part of the application layout. It is used to embed a complete website into an app.

public class WebView extends AbsoluteLayout implements 
    ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalFocusChangeListener, 
    ViewGroup.OnHierarchyChangeListener

Class Hierarchy:

java.lang.Object
   ↳  android.view.View
        ↳  android.view.ViewGroup
             ↳  android.widget.AbsoluteLayout
                  ↳  android.webkit.WebView

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio.

Note: The code for that has been given in both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.

Step 2: Adding Permissions to the AndroidManifest.xml File

In AndroidManifest.xml, one needs to include the below permission, in order to access the Internet.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

Step 3: Working with the MainActivity File

Go to the MainActivity File and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity File. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

MainActivity:

Java

import android.os.Bundle; import android.webkit.WebView; import android.webkit.WebViewClient; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);          // Find the WebView by its unique ID         WebView webView = findViewById(R.id.web);          // loading https://www.geeksforgeeks.org url in the WebView.         webView.loadUrl("https://write.geeksforgeeks.org");          // this will enable the javascript.         webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);          // WebViewClient allows you to handle          // onPageFinished and override Url loading.         webView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient());     } }

Kotlin

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo  import android.os.Bundle import android.webkit.WebView import android.webkit.WebViewClient import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity  class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {      override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)          // Find the WebView by its unique ID         val webView = findViewById<WebView>(R.id.web)          // loading http://www.google.com url in the WebView.         webView.loadUrl("https://write.geeksforgeeks.org")          // this will enable the javascript.         webView.settings.javaScriptEnabled = true          // WebViewClient allows you to handle         // onPageFinished and override Url loading.         webView.webViewClient = WebViewClient()     } }

Step 4: Working with the XML Files

Next, go to the activity_main.xml file, which represents the UI of the project. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

activity_main.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <WebView         android:id="@+id/web"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:layout_height="match_parent"         app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"/> </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>