Getting started
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The first step for a Custom Tabs integration is adding the AndroidX Browser Library to your project. Open the app/build.gradle file and add the browser library to the dependencies section.
dependencies {
…
implementation 'androidx.browser:browser:1.5.0'
}
Checkout the Android Custom Tab Sample app on Github for a working example.
Open a link in a custom tab
With the androidx.browser/browser
library installed, you can use the CustomTabsIntent.Builder
to create a CustomTabsIntent
and launch the Custom Tab by calling launchUrl()
and passing an Uri:
String url = "https://developers.android.com";
CustomTabsIntent intent = new CustomTabsIntent.Builder()
.build();
intent.launchUrl(MainActivity.this, Uri.parse(url));
This will open a fullscreen Custom Tab activity as seen on the following screenshot.

What happens if the user's default browser does not support Custom Tabs? Custom Tabs are supported by most Android browsers, but if no browser that supports Custom Tabs is installed, the CustomTabIntent
will open the user's default browser instead. This works, as the CustomTabsIntent
uses the ACTION\_VIEW
Intent with Extras
key to customize the UI.
Next up: learn how to customize the look and feel of your Custom Tab..
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