Is com.google.android.webview mandatory for IMA-SDK on Android?

[ChangIL Yoon]

Hello,

I see that the following webview process begins to run whenever I run the BasicExample of Google Ads IMA Android Examples

• com.google.android.webview:sandboxed_process0:org.chromium.content.app.Sand

The webview process seems to be mantatory to use IMA-SDK on Android.
Is it correct?
If it is wrong, can you please let me know how to run the BasicExample without webview?

Sincerely
Changil

[IMA SDK]

Hi Changil,

Thank you for contacting the IMA SDK support team.

Based on the information I can confirm that the platform is Android, can you please confirm if the integration type is client side or server side (DAI)?

Yes, the Google IMA SDK on Android does utilize a WebView internally to render HTML5 ads. I ran a basicExample from client side and basicExample from server side with the IMA SDK v3.36.0 in the emulator Pixel 9 Pro XL API 35 and the reported issue "com.google.android.webview:sandboxed_process0:org.chromium.content.app.Sand" is not replicating. Can you confirm if the reported issue is replicating in our Google basicExamples mentioned above? If yes, Kindly provide the below details for further investigation so that we can check, find the root cause and may provide the solution: 

• Steps to reproduce
• SDK version being used
• Device affected if any
• Sample project reproducing the issue (if possible)

You can provide the following details via reply privately to the author option or directly provide it to this link.

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

Feedback
How was our support today?

               
[2025-03-10 18:43:50Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH8H9:ref" (ADR-00293131)

[ChangIL Yoon]

Hello,

I'm implementing a client side app on Android.

I can see the number of webview:sandboxed_process0 increase when I run basicexample on Androd device (emulator Pixel 8 Pro API 35)

• Steps to reproduce
  • Build
    • download basicexample from https://github.com/googleads/googleads-ima-android
    • Build with Android Studio Koala | 2024.1.1
    • create the emulator Pixel 8 Pro API 35
  • Check the number of webview:sandboxed_process before running 
    • Only one webview:sandboxed_process0 exists
    • emu64xa16k:/ $ ps -ef | grep Sand
    • u0_i9007     12039  1041 0 06:50:41 ?     00:00:00 com.google.android.webview:sandboxed_process0:org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0:0
  • Check the number of webview:sandboxed_process while running 
    • Two webview:sandboxed_process0 exist
    • emu64xa16k:/ $ ps -ef | grep Sand
    • u0_i9007     12039  1041 0 06:50:41 ?     00:00:00 com.google.android.webview:sandboxed_process0:org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0:0
    • u0_i9008     12765  1041 6 06:53:25 ?     00:00:00 com.google.android.webview:sandboxed_process0:org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0:0
  • SDK version being used
    •  com.google.ads.interactivemedia.v3:interactivemedia:3.36.0
  • Device affected if any
    • Pixel 8 Pro API 34
    • Galaxy Note9, Android 10,  API 29

Sincerely

2025년 3월 11일 화요일 오전 3시 43분 59초 UTC+9에 IMA SDK님이 작성:

[IMA SDK]

Hi Changil,

Thank you for contacting the IMA SDK support team.

I’ve checked a sample project and was able to see multiple sandbox web view related logs. Maybe SDK is creating this as it sometimes has a companion ad or some internal logic.

Are you facing any ads rendering issues with this ? If yes please specify your issue in detail.

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

Feedback
How was our support today?

               

[2025-03-17 13:57:03Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH8H9:ref" (ADR-00293131)

[ChangIL Yoon]

Hello, 

I'm experiencing a low memory issue because my app, which uses the IMA SDK, runs on an Android device with limited memory. 

I noticed that the sandbox WebView is created and consumes a lot of memory. 

I'm looking for a way to use the IMA SDK without the sandbox WebView, but it seems to be mandatory on Android. 

Is that correct? 

Sincerely

2025년 3월 17일 월요일 오후 10시 57분 11초 UTC+9에 IMA SDK님이 작성:

[IMA SDK]

Hi,

Thank you for providing required information

We will be sharing this concern to the wider team and one of our teammates will get back to you once we have an update on this. Meanwhile your patience is appreciated.
 

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

Feedback
How was our support today?

               

[2025-03-18 23:32:59Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH8H9:ref" (ADR-00293131)

[IMA SDK]

Hi,

We have tested this using the same mentioned setup and observed the same issue. However, after restarting the emulator or force-stopping the WebView and restarting the test app, only one WebView process was present. It seems like that the extra WebView process may have been created by another app, rather than our test app. We have double-checked our SDK and can confirm that we are only using one WebView.

Thanks,
 

IMA SDK Team

Feedback
How was our support today?

               

[2025-05-16 08:43:32Z GMT] This message is in relation to case "ref:!00D1U01174p.!5004Q02vH8H9:ref" (ADR-00293131)