Part 1: Prepping the Van (Enabling Debugging on Your Device)
- Open the Settings app of your device
- (For Android 8 and up) Click System
- Scroll to the bottom and click About Phone/Device
- Find and tap Build Number 7 times
- If you don't see Build Number in this menu click Software Info, then find Build Number
- Go back to the settings menu (Android 8 and up go back to the System menu)
- Find and click on Developer Options
- Make sure the very first switch is ON (It should be already).
- Scroll down to the Debugging section and enable USB debugging
For more details about dev options on your Android device checkout this google link: https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options
Now just plug your device into your computer. You will probably see a screen like this (but with your computers fingerprint):
I would tap the "Always allow..." button, but that's my job. So you do what you prefer with that one. Then tap OK. Boom. Now we are ready for Part 2!
Part 2: Fueling up (Chrome's Device Inspector)
To debug your Android web views, you are going to need the Google Chrome browser.
Once you have that, open up Chrome's device inspector: chrome://inspect/#devices
You should see your device listed, and maybe a few others, like this:
Part 3: Hitting The Road (Enabling Debugging in your App)
Open up your NEWSCYCLE app and head on over to the Settings. To enable debugging in your app, scroll down until you find App Version.
Tap it 10 times and you will reveal the Debug Menu option. So click that. Now scroll all the way down and hit the switch to enable WebView Debugging.
We go ahead and re-disable this debug mode after 10 minutes of not using the app, or swipe killing it. So if you pull up the Chrome Device Inspector and don't see anything, come back and make sure we didn't turn this off on you.
Part 4: Getting to Grandma's (Using Chrome's Inspector)
Everything is set up and we can finally start checking out that web view. Go ahead and navigate to the web view in your app that is giving you trouble.
Your Chrome Inspector window should be a little more exciting now. Go through the items and find the one that has your url next to it like this:
Once you've found it, click on inspect underneath. That will pop up another window like this:
On the left side you can see the app's web view as you interact with it and on the right is the inspector window. If this inspector window isn't already on the Console tab, click it. This is where you will see any warnings yellow) or errors (red) that the web view is encountering. With this information you can contact your web or video people to hopefully find a resolution.
Happy travels! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to support!