In App browser vs Web View vs Embedded browser What's the difference?

user_8383079 0
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Could anyone share an exact definition of In-App Browser, Web View or Embedded browser?

  • Google uses the term, embedded webview or webview.
  • Facebook uses the term, embedded browser.
  • With my knowledge, I have used the term, in-app browser for tiktok/facebook/instagram's custom browser.

I have looked up and it seems like these 3 terms:

  • In App browser
  • Web View
  • Embedded browser

refer to the same thing.

Is there any difference between the 3 terms? or Is it just 3 different words for the same thing.

embedded-browser inappbrowser webview
2 Answers

I was wondering the same thing during a meeting where I was working with embedded browsers on desktop applications, the presenter was working with webviews on mobile, headless browsers and I was wondering what's the difference between all these things. I saw that I am not the only one wondering this. It seems like they're interchangeable/semantic.

I know in the Microsoft documentation it calls these 'embedded browsers' and it seems like on MacOS and mobile they're called 'webviews'.

Over here we can see that Microsoft states:

embedded browser control (also known as a webview)

user_74707460

Also wondering the same thing - come across it for flutter. Still figuring it out but from what I can tell:

  • InAppBrowser
  • InAppWebView
  • HeadlessInAppWebView

Per plugin website documentation:

"The InAppBrowser class represents a native WebView displayed on top of the Flutter App, so it’s not integrated into the Flutter widget tree."

.. would mean a separate distinct browser presented within the app but not controlled or connected to the code. I'm not sure what the advantages or use-case would be.

"InAppWebView is a Flutter Widget for adding an inline native WebView integrated into the flutter widget tree."

.. would mean it embeds the page from url into the app for interactions, so lots of control from the app, which would seem like the whole point of calling a url from an app.

"HeadlessInAppWebView class represents a WebView in headless mode. It can be used to run a WebView in background without attaching an InAppWebView to the widget tree." (https://inappwebview.dev/docs/in-app-browser/basic-usage/). "It can be used to run a WebView in background without attaching an InAppWebView to the widget tree" (https://morioh.com/p/e3f1d830f85b)

user_176720380
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