Debugging android browser

March 8, 2015 7:29 AM

A website that I'm working on has developed and issue on Android devices using the standard android browser. How can I debug the problem?

I suspect that the issue is a javascript problem but without access to even error messages, let alone basic debugging tools, I'm stumped as to how to proceed. All my googling for android browser debugging just tells me to install chrome and the ADB plugin but the problem doesn't exist in chrome for android, it only exists in the default android browser (which as far as I can tell doesn't have a name other than android browser so finding specific solutions is difficult)

posted by missmagenta to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Overkill but it may be an option is to install eclipse with the android development environment and run the debugger. No overkill. I'd probably first try to replicate it on a dev version of the site and start inserting alerts. Or chopping out chunks of html to isolate the problem area. Kinda depends on the actual problem.
posted by sammyo at 8:24 AM on March 8, 2015

I've used logentries.com for getting debugging messages out of web apps on embedded systems, should work just as well for the Android browser (free for that kind of usage).

Weinre is another option.

You could also build a simple native android app and run your site in a webview to get JS logging out via ADT/Android Studio/ADB. [Edit: Sounds like console.log might go straight to ADB output even without a wrapper app - worth a try.]
posted by dickasso at 8:27 AM on March 8, 2015