Update cadence
This section covers how often users can expect to see each WebView provider updated. The WebView provider can either be distributed with the application users are using, or it can be provided by the operating system.
Android WebView
Android
Android WebView is a library provided by the Android operating system. The API itself is a stable surface but Android WebView is backed by an updatable library. Android WebView is Chromium based and so it mostly follows the same release cycle as Chromium. The schedule for Android WebView releases can be found here. Like Chromium, Android WebView has different release channels that users can opt into for testing purposes. You can find out more here.
WebView2
Windows
WebView2 has two options for updating - Evergreen Runtime or Fixed Runtime. Evergreen runtime is automatically included in recent versions of Windows, and developers can also include a small installer alongside theirs to be confident it’s available. This version is updated automatically with major releases every four weeks, roughly following Chromium’s releases. When using a fixed runtime, the application developer distributes the WebView2 components with their app and chooses when to update to a newer version. Details on the type of runtimes can be found here, and details on evergreen updates can be found here. SDK updates are also every four weeks, and their details are here
ArkWeb
OpenHarmony’s ArkUI (user interface framework) provides the Web an the APIs to control management in the @ohos.web.webview module. This module is distributed as part of the HarmonyOS SDK and updated with every release. It was first released in API 9 (2023) and developers may observe the evolution of the capabilities with explicit notes about the version where the feature has been introduced in the developers documentation. To safeguard user privacy and security, HarmonyOS has a built-in ArkWeb component designed to deliver a secure, reliable, and consistent web browsing experience across all scenarios and platforms.