Hi
I'm building Pano2VR tours into an app, and I'm running into problems apparently related to WebGL and CSS3D availability in the webview on different versions. My tentative conclusion is so far that I can't build tours into an app that may be running on Android less than Lollipop, but I'm new here so I wonder if more experienced heads can offer any info. I'm in eval mode, so I'm running a trial version of Pano2VR in pro mode, if that could make a difference.
Everything works well using Chrome; this is specifically an Android app webview question.
First, the good news: On an old Nexus 7 model ME370T running Android 5.1, the tour works perfectly. Using weinre remote debugging I see the Pano2VR player reporting:
"Prefix:-webkit, CSS 3D not available, WebGL available"
I'm surprised to see CSS 3D not available, but the tour runs perfectly.
Trouble is, apparently only 3-4% of Android devices are on Lollipop, so I need to support earlier versions.
On a Tesco Hudl 2 running Android 4.4.2 the tour loads a white screen with a visible controller first time round. The second load is better, images appear, but they don't render properly, and no manual navigation is possible. Device heading seems to have some effect, but basically the tour is unusable.
Remote debug using weinre on the first load Pano2VR player reports:
"Prefix:-webkit, CSS 3D not available, WebGL not available."
On the second, semi-succesful load, and all subsequent loads, it reports:
"Prefix:-webkit, CSS 3D available, WebGL not available."
I imagine the 'first vs second' issue is something not having loaded properly, which I can work on.
My main question is whether there is anything I can do to make webview-based tours on common, downlevel android, work properly. Am I seeing what is expected? Can CSS3D do the job, or is WebGL a requirement?
Thanks for any help
John
Android versions and webview issues
Hello John,
I never tried do build an Android app, but I know from iOS that there are switches to enable certain features in the web view, specifically on iOS you could enable WebGL for the web view (iOS 6, I think...), while the build in browser Safari had it turned off until iOS 8.
WebGL is not a requirement, but it makes things much simpler, so if there is a secret switch to enable WebGL in older web views, this would be the route to go.
I never tried do build an Android app, but I know from iOS that there are switches to enable certain features in the web view, specifically on iOS you could enable WebGL for the web view (iOS 6, I think...), while the build in browser Safari had it turned off until iOS 8.
WebGL is not a requirement, but it makes things much simpler, so if there is a secret switch to enable WebGL in older web views, this would be the route to go.
MfG, Thomas