Android - WebView not playing YouTube videos

Question

I have some WebView code with which I am trying to play YouTube videos on a YouTube channel. But all it is doing is showing the spinner icon on a video and never actually starting the video. Would anyone know how to fix that?

public class YoutubeActivity extends Activity
{
    WebView webview = null;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) 
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);   

        webview = new WebView(this);
        webview.getSettings().setAppCacheEnabled(false);
        webview.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webview.setInitialScale(1);
        webview.getSettings().setPluginState(PluginState.ON);

        webview.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
            @Override
            public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                view.loadUrl(url);
                return true;
            }
        });


        WebSettings webSettings = webview.getSettings();
        webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webSettings.setBuiltInZoomControls(true);
        //webSettings.getMediaPlaybackRequiresUserGesture();
        webSettings.setAllowContentAccess(true);
        webSettings.setEnableSmoothTransition(true);
        webSettings.setLoadsImagesAutomatically(true);
        webSettings.setLoadWithOverviewMode(true);
        webSettings.setSupportZoom(true);
        webSettings.setUseWideViewPort(true);

        setContentView(webview);
        webview.loadUrl("http://www.youtube.com/g33ktalktv");           
    }

    public void onBackPressed ( )
    {
        //Class.forName("com.***.HTML5WebView").getMethod("onPause", (Class[]) null).
        //invoke(html5WebView, (Object[]) null);
        webview.clearView();
    } 

    @Override
    public void onStop()
    {
       super.onStop();
       // your code

       webview.clearView();
    }
}

And this is the manifest setting:

<activity
    android:name="YoutubeActivity"
    android:label="Some string" 
    android:hardwareAccelerated="true"/>

Thannk in advance!

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '13 at 01:57

11

Using WebView to play YouTube videos would require extensive testing and debugging on different Android OS versions due to the difference in functionality and bugs between Android 2.x and 4.x.

A less bug-prone approach that gives you more control is to use YouTube Android Player API to embed a YouTube video into your own app, they have sample app so it shouldn't be too difficult if you follow their steps.

answered Jul 16 '13 at 01:57

Kai

15,284
6
51
82

1

But the problem using Youtuebe Android player is that u need to know the video id and youtube app must be installed in your device. what about my problem ? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18533678/playing-youtube-videos-smoothly-in-web-view – anshul Sep 03 '13 at 12:49
From Android 5, and with the WebChromeClient, everything works fine. But in Android 4 versions, the error can be different. Here i tried to catalog all: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31591010/youtube-iframe-player-wont-show-videos-in-android-4-x-webview/38410424#38410424 – jos Jul 16 '16 at 11:11

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Have you tried using your own WebChromeClient? This question seems relevant. WebView and HTML5 <video>

You'll need to create one of these and implement it yourself, similar to what you're doing for the WebViewClient.

webview.setWebChromeClient(new WebChromeClient() {
    @Override
    public void onShowCustomView(View view, CustomViewCallback callback) {
        super.onShowCustomView(view, callback);
        if (view instanceof FrameLayout) {
            FrameLayout frame = (FrameLayout) view;
            if (frame.getFocusedChild() instanceof VideoView) {
                VideoView video = (VideoView) frame.getFocusedChild();
                frame.removeView(video);
                a.setContentView(video);
                video.setOnCompletionListener(this);
                video.setOnErrorListener(this);
                video.start();
            }
        }
    }
});

Make sure you add webview.getSettings().setPluginsEnabled(true); to your webview settings.

And most importantly, for any webpage to load in a WebView, be sure to have the INTERNET permission in your Manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

can you please explain this line- a.setContentView(video); – SJSSoft Nov 11 '13 at 01:11 — SJSSoft, Nov 11 '13 at 01:11

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '17 at 12:15

0

Use

<application
        android:hardwareAccelerated="true"
        android:allowBackup="true">
</application>

Perfectly working.

answered Apr 15 '17 at 12:15

Shivaram Mahapatro

127
11

Android - WebView not playing YouTube videos

3 Answers3

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