Error: WebView.destroy() called while still attached

Question

I am getting this error when the device changes orientation:

Error: WebView.destroy() called while still attached

With this code:

protected void onDestroy()
{
    if (adView != null)
    {
        adView.destroy();
    }
}

What is the reason for this? How do I avoid this error?

Before calling destroy you need to remove the WebView from the views system See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView.html#destroy() Thanks — ebtokyo, Aug 22 '12 at 01:12

score 54 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 13 '12 at 14:34

54

You first need to detach the Webview:

webViewPlaceholder.removeView(myWebView);
myWebView.removeAllViews();
myWebView.destroy();

That did it for me.

answered Sep 13 '12 at 14:34

user1668939

564
4
3

Thanks. This error suddenly started to appear, no issues prior. This fixed it again. – Warpzit Dec 19 '13 at 10:41
1

Wandering why this answer marked as correct answer. It has no relation to initial question. Real correct answer is from Matthew – Ernest Poletaev Feb 13 '14 at 10:26
1

The `myParentView.removeView(myWebView);` is what does the trick, actually. – caw Apr 22 '15 at 22:47
Wow. It seems like this actually fixed [a long-standing memory leak in my app](https://github.com/vickychijwani/quill/issues/75). Thank you! – Vicky Chijwani May 22 '16 at 21:27
@Ernest, `AdView` is just a specialized `WebView`, which is why this answer is marked correct. Replace `myWebView` in the example with the name of the `AdView`. – Soren Stoutner Nov 05 '16 at 18:15
@user1668939 what is this declared `webViewPlaceholder` – TheCoderGuy Jul 13 '19 at 20:05
Where do I need to add this code? Can you provide a full example widget? – Caspar Bm Sep 27 '22 at 15:07

score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 08 '12 at 17:44

31

To avoid the error you just need to remove all views before you destroy the ad.

@Override
public void onDestroy()
{
    if (adView != null)
    {
        adView.removeAllViews();
        adView.destroy();
    }
    super.onDestroy();
}

answered Sep 08 '12 at 17:44

Matthew

3,411
2
28
28

3

I don't wanna disappoint you, but this doesn't work. I have the same problem with my WebView and I always close my WebView like this and the error exists nevertheless. – Leandros Sep 08 '12 at 17:56
2

This works for me. The official admob doc should add adView.removeAllViews(); I don't want the ad still consumes resources after the activity is destroyed. – Vince Yuan Jul 08 '13 at 04:09
1

It don't solve the problem completely. I also meet it, app still crash although use this code – BaDo Feb 28 '14 at 09:07

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered May 16 '13 at 02:54

10

 @Override
public void onDetachedFromWindow() {
    super.onDetachedFromWindow();
    if (mWebView != null) {
        mWebView.destroy();
    }
}

answered May 16 '13 at 02:54

Meng

181
2
6

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 19 '13 at 10:55

According to my tests, this issue is revealed in AdMob SDK v6.4.1 and at least on Android v4.2.2+. When testing the AdMob sample application referred to at https://developers.google.com/mobile-ads-sdk/docs/admob/fundamentals#android (direct link is http://google-mobile-dev.googlecode.com/files/Android_XML.zip), the issue occurs when closing the sample screen.

My work-around is rather:

 @Override
  public void onDestroy()
  {
    // Destroy the AdView.
    if (adView != null)
    {
      final ViewGroup viewGroup = (ViewGroup) adView.getParent();
      if (viewGroup != null)
      {
        viewGroup.removeView(adView);
      }
      adView.destroy();
    }

    super.onDestroy();
  }

Hope that helps other people, and that the AdMob will very soon fix that annoying issue.

who knew ! done with the nasty leak. Merci beaucoup. – YvesLeBorg Dec 27 '17 at 14:52 — YvesLeBorg, Dec 27 '17 at 14:52
Great answer! Works even now! Thank you :) – Dhruvam Sharma Jul 15 '19 at 12:15 — Dhruvam Sharma, Jul 15 '19 at 12:15

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 19 '12 at 11:15

For you don't get this error you need to have a parent layout, e.g. : RelativeLayout and remove the WebView component, that might had been defined on you layoutWebView.xml.

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:id="@+id/webviewRelativeLayout"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">

<WebView
    android:id="@+id/webView1"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_below="@+id/headerAlarmsWebViewTxt"
    android:layout_marginBottom="0dip"
    android:hapticFeedbackEnabled="true"
    android:overScrollMode="never"
    android:scrollbarAlwaysDrawVerticalTrack="false"
    android:scrollbars="none" />

 </RelativeLayout>

Then you assign it to an instance variable e.g. :

_layout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.webviewRelativeLayout);
webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView1);

and on Destroy do something like this:

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    _layout.removeView(webView);
    webView.setFocusable(true);
    webView.removeAllViews();
    webView.clearHistory();
    webView.destroy();
}

Almost 10 years later this answer still helping people (me)! — spartygw, Feb 08 '22 at 17:18

Error: WebView.destroy() called while still attached

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