Android component WebView is causing problems – update now!
If the installed version of WebView is outdated, Cliqz for Android displays false certificate warnings when opening certain HTTPS pages. Further, touch gestures might not be recognized correctly. To solve these issues, update to the latest version of WebView and Cliqz browser.
Some Android users currently receive a warning message about allegedly invalid certificates when they access certain HTTPS sites in the Cliqz browser. This issue is related to Google’s Android component WebView, which is preinstalled as a stand-alone app on devices with Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher. To resolve the problem, users must update “Android System WebView” to the latest version via the Play Store.
Android apps such as Cliqz use WebView to display web content. It is a prerequisite for some website functions to work – similar to Java on the desktop. And just like an outdated Java version, WebView may cause problems or contain security flaws if it is not kept up-to-date. Many users disable automatic updates for Android System WebView because they don’t know what it is used for. This may result in applications that rely on WebView not functioning properly. To avoid this, you should always keep WebView up-to-date.
The certificate warnings displayed in the browser recently are due to an error that prevents the correct validation of SSL certificates issued by Symantec and the associated certification authorities GeoTrust and Thawte. According to Rick Andrews, Senior Technical Director at Symantec, the bug was introduced in WebView version 53 (and also affected Google Chrome). Users should therefore update to the newest version as soon as possible.
Update browser and system components regularly
Aside from the certificate warnings, there is another issue with older versions of Cliqz for Android which is also related to WebView. Early in December 2016, Google modified the way touch events work in Android 5.0 or higher. That broke a JavaScript library called hammer.js which is used by many Android apps including Cliqz. Because of that, the touch input was not detected correctly and scrolling for example was no longer possible. In Cliqz for Android v1.0.4 and above we have fixed these problems.
In order to use Cliqz for Android as planned, you should ensure that both the Android system component WebView and the Cliqz Browser itself are up to date. You can always find the latest version of both Apps in the Google Play Store.
