Chrome on Android

At a glance

• Browser class: chromium (the user agent has a Chrome/<number> token); chromium_webview for Android WebView (in-app browsers).
• Excluded components: none.
• Read here but skipped on desktop Chrome: audio_latency (the user agent says Android).
• Likely different from desktop: touch_support, ua_client_hints (mobile, model, form factors), plugins, keyboard_layout.
• Lab sample: none for Android yet.

What works

• Chromium-only components: device_memory (from Chromium 146 with the tag ;c146, buckets 2, 4 or 8 on Android), heap_limit, ua_client_hints and ua_versions read the same APIs as on desktop. In ua_client_hints, mobile=1, the model and the form factors come from the browser’s own answer to getHighEntropyValues(), so they often tell phone models apart better than the user agent string.
• audio_latency: WhiskerJS creates an AudioContext, reads baseLatency, and closes the context at once. Nothing is played. It is outside both ids because it follows the audio output device (headphones, speaker, Bluetooth).
• touch_support: navigator.maxTouchPoints, whether a TouchEvent can be created, and whether ontouchstart exists; a phone typically gives something like points=5,event=1,start=1.
• screen_resolution: the larger side first, so rotating the phone does not change it.
• Graphics, audio rendering, fonts, font preferences, Math, codecs, locale and the display preference queries are read as on any current browser.

What is unavailable or blocked

• keyboard_layout uses navigator.keyboard.getLayoutMap(), an API meant for physical keyboards; expect it to be unavailable on Android. It is outside the ids either way.
• plugins: mobile builds often list no plugins, and then the component reports the plain value none.
• apple_pay and private_click report the plain value none.
• webgpu: availability depends on the Chrome version, the Android version and the GPU; it is unavailable (no_api or no_context) where there is no adapter.
• ua_client_hints and ua_versions report he=blocked when a Permissions Policy refuses the detailed hints.

What WhiskerJS excludes and why

Nothing. The chromium row of the exclusion table is empty. If the browser or an extension adds noise to canvas or WebGL readback, the double render turns canvas or webgl_image into noisy (render_mismatch), and the known-answer probes catch noise that is the same on both reads (seeded_noise, also for audio), instead of letting the noise change the id on every run.

Android WebView

Pages shown inside Android apps run in Android WebView, which is Chromium too. WhiskerJS classes it chromium_webview (since signalsVersion 6) when the user agent’s platform part carries the wv token (kept by the reduced WebView user agent) or navigator.userAgentData has the brand Android WebView. Chrome for Android has neither and stays chromium. The chromium_webview row is empty: WebView randomises nothing, and the class itself tells your server that the visit comes from an in-app browser.

Integrity flags to expect

• headless_markers checks for a missing window.chrome only when the user agent is desktop Chrome: user agents with Mobile or Android are skipped by that part of the check, so normal Android Chrome does not raise it that way. A 0x0 outer window still raises it.
• automation_webdriver when the browser is controlled through WebDriver or a similar protocol, for example in device test farms.
• software_renderer in emulators that render WebGL in software, and vm_renderer in the Android emulator (Android Emulator, OpenGL ES Translator).
• ua_ch_mismatch when the user agent disagrees with Client Hints. “Request desktop site” (a Linux user agent with the platform Android) is accepted, and the check does not run on Android WebView, where apps set their own user agent.
• media_query_mismatch when a coarse pointer is reported with no touch points, or the CSS device size disagrees with screen, as bad mobile emulation does.
• native_tampering and related lie checks if something overrides browser functions.

None of them is a verdict; see Integrity checks.

Early lab observations

There is no lab data for Chrome on Android yet. The early, small sample at signalsVersion 1 covered four pairs only: Mac Chrome, Mac Safari, iPhone Chrome and iPhone Safari. The table below is filled from the code, not from measurements on Android.

Testing it yourself

Open the live demo on the phone, run it a few times, rotate the phone, switch between headphones and the speaker, and watch which components move: screen_resolution should stay the same and audio_latency may change, which is why it is outside the ids. The lab mode copies one line per run for your own records. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Support table for Chrome on Android

Expected status of every component in this browser at signalsVersion 9, from the support matrix (updated 2026-10-26). Basis "code" means expected from the library code and documentation, not yet measured; "lab" means seen in the early lab sample.

Component	Status	Basis	Note
apple_pay	none	code	No ApplePaySession: reports the plain value none.
audio	ok	code	noisy / seeded_noise if the audio known-answer probe sees noise.
audio_latency	ok	code	Read when the user agent says Android.
browser_class	ok	code	Class chromium; chromium_webview in Android WebView (in-app browsers).
canvas	ok	code	noisy / render_mismatch or seeded_noise if an extension or setting adds noise to readback.
canvas_readback	ok	code
color_depth	ok	code
color_gamut	ok	code
content_blockers	ok	code	none, or the bait names a content blocker hid.
cpu_architecture	ok	code
device_memory	ok	code	From Chromium 146 the value carries the tag ;c146 (new buckets).
dynamic_range	ok	code
font_preferences	ok	code
fonts	ok	code
fonts_canvas	ok	code
forced_colors	ok	code
hardware_concurrency	ok	code	Read 16 times; noisy / read_varies if the reads disagree. Some browsers cap or round the value.
heap_limit	ok	code
intl_locale	ok	code
keyboard_layout	varies	code	Chromium API meant for physical keyboards; on Android expect unavailable.
languages	ok	code
math	ok	code
media_codecs	ok	code
noise_profile	ok	code	canvas=exact,webgl=exact,audio=exact on a stock browser; webgl=na without WebGL.
pdf_viewer	ok	code
permissions	ok	code
pixel_ratio	ok	code
platform	ok	code
plugins	varies	code	Mobile builds often list no plugins and then report the plain value none.
prefers_contrast	ok	code
private_click	none	code	No attributionSourceId on anchors: reports the plain value none.
reduced_motion	ok	code
screen_frame	ok	code
screen_resolution	ok	code
speech_voices	ok	code	Digest of the voice list, or none; some browsers fill the list late.
storage	ok	code
time_zone	ok	code
touch_support	ok	code
ua_client_hints	ok	code	he=blocked when a Permissions Policy refuses the detailed hints.
ua_versions	ok	code
vendor	ok	code
vendor_flavors	ok	code
webgl_image	ok	code	noisy / render_mismatch or seeded_noise if an extension or setting adds noise to readback.
webgl_params	ok	code	Where WebGL 1 is available; unavailable / no_context without it.
webgl_renderer	ok	code
webgl_vendor	ok	code
webgpu	varies	code	Depends on browser version, operating system and GPU; needs a secure context. unavailable / no_api without navigator.gpu, no_context without an adapter.

Questions and answers

Related pages