How can I check whether Chrome supports Chrome custom tabs?

Question

I have an activity that loads an external url into a webview within my app. I'd like to use Chrome Custom tabs when it's available but I support devices that might not have a version of Chrome that supports them.

In the case of CustomTabs not being supported I'd like to use my old code but use the CustomTabsIntent.Builder() when they are. The old code loads the content in a WebView contained in an Activity where I can still manage the ActionBar.

I'd like to write a helper method that will tell me if it's supported but I'm not sure how. The info on the developer page is pretty slim: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/android/customtabs

It says if you bind succeeds the custom tabs can be safely used. Is there an easy way to bind to test this?

Like this I assume:

Intent serviceIntent = new Intent("android.support.customtabs.action.CustomTabsService");
serviceIntent.setPackage("com.android.chrome");
boolean customTabsSupported = bindService(serviceIntent, new CustomTabsServiceConnection() {
            @Override
            public void onCustomTabsServiceConnected(final ComponentName componentName, final CustomTabsClient customTabsClient) {}

            @Override
            public void onServiceDisconnected(final ComponentName name) {}
        },
        Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE | Context.BIND_WAIVE_PRIORITY);

if (customTabsSupported) {
    // is supported
}

Answer 1

You can try following code to figure out if you have a browser that supports custom tab:

private static final String TAG = "CustomTabLauncher";
static final String STABLE_PACKAGE = "com.android.chrome";
static final String BETA_PACKAGE = "com.chrome.beta";
static final String DEV_PACKAGE = "com.chrome.dev";
static final String LOCAL_PACKAGE = "com.google.android.apps.chrome";
String mPackageNameToUse;

private String getPackageName(Context context) {
    if (mPackageNameToUse != null) {
        return mPackageNameToUse;
    }

    // Get default VIEW intent handler that can view a web url.
    Intent activityIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://www.test-url.com"));

    // Get all apps that can handle VIEW intents.
    PackageManager pm = context.getPackageManager();
    List<ResolveInfo> resolvedActivityList = pm.queryIntentActivities(activityIntent, 0);
    List<String> packagesSupportingCustomTabs = new ArrayList<>();
    for (ResolveInfo info : resolvedActivityList) {
        Intent serviceIntent = new Intent();
        serviceIntent.setAction(CustomTabsService.ACTION_CUSTOM_TABS_CONNECTION);
        serviceIntent.setPackage(info.activityInfo.packageName);
        if (pm.resolveService(serviceIntent, 0) != null) {
            packagesSupportingCustomTabs.add(info.activityInfo.packageName);
        }
    }

    // Now packagesSupportingCustomTabs contains all apps that can handle both VIEW intents
    // and service calls.
    if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.isEmpty()) {
        mPackageNameToUse = null;
    } else if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.size() == 1) {
        mPackageNameToUse = packagesSupportingCustomTabs.get(0);
    } else if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.contains(STABLE_PACKAGE)) {
        mPackageNameToUse = STABLE_PACKAGE;
    } else if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.contains(BETA_PACKAGE)) {
        mPackageNameToUse = BETA_PACKAGE;
    } else if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.contains(DEV_PACKAGE)) {
        mPackageNameToUse = DEV_PACKAGE;
    } else if (packagesSupportingCustomTabs.contains(LOCAL_PACKAGE)) {
        mPackageNameToUse = LOCAL_PACKAGE;
    }
    return mPackageNameToUse;
}

When calling, you can do something like this:

public void openCustomTab(Uri uri, Activity activity) {
    //If we cant find a package name, it means there's no browser that supports
    //Chrome Custom Tabs installed. So, we fallback to the default browser
    if (getPackageName(activity) == null) {
        activity.startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, uri));
    } else {
        CustomTabsIntent.Builder intentBuilder = new CustomTabsIntent.Builder();
        intentBuilder.enableUrlBarHiding();
        intentBuilder.setToolbarColor(activity.getResources().getColor(R.color.purple_a_01));

        CustomTabsIntent customTabsIntent = intentBuilder.build();
        customTabsIntent.intent.setPackage(mPackageNameToUse);

        customTabsIntent.launchUrl(activity, uri);
    }
}