Updated version (79) of Google Chrome for Android is catastrophic
Google recently released Chrome 79 - the latest version of its browser for Android - with predictive phishing protections and the handy ability to warn about compromised passwords. The features are incredibly useful, but some users reported that the same release has wiped the data of other Android apps on their devices. Here's all you need to know about it.
Issue associated with Android WebView framework
Currently, a number of apps use Android WebView, a pre-installed Chrome-powered system component, to display web pages seamlessly. The framework is regularly updated with the browser, but this time, when the latest release started rolling out, WebView and the apps reliant on it went haywire. Multiple developers using the component claimed that their apps began losing data just as users updated to Chrome 79.
Loss of data removed in-app progress for users
As soon as the data loss issue started surfacing, the affected WebView-reliant apps dialed back to zero. This means they were just as good as being downloaded for the first time - all the in-app progress or logged in account information were lost. Many who lost their in-app data due to this detailed the bug on Chromium's bug tracker, describing it as a 'catastrophe'.
No word on how many apps have been affected
At the core, the WebView issue isn't wiping the data but is blocking the apps' access to it, which essentially has the same impact as data loss, Engadget reports. It remains unclear how many apps have been affected by this glitch, but there are plenty of apps on the Play Store that use the WebView component to display web pages.
Google has halted Chrome 79 roll-out, working on fix
Following the complaints, Google apologized for the issue and attributed it to "profile layout changes" where "local storage was missed off the list of files migrated." The company said that Chrome 79's roll-out has been halted and it is exploring ways to fix the glitch for those who have already installed the buggy version. However, the release timeline of the patch still remains unclear.
