Exciting News For Developers as Google Announces Chrome for Android Now Almost Entirely Open-Source

Developers at Google recently announced that Chrome for Android is now "almost" entirely open-source. "Almost" because of the fact that it's entire user interface, as well as other aspects, has gone public and can be modified or built from source, by anyone with the inclination, except for some Google service features and media codecs and plugins that have licensing restrictions.

Aurimas Liutikas, Chrome for Android software engineer, revealed that the mobile version of said browser now matches Chrome desktop and that a Chromium browser can now be built using the target chrome_public_apk.

Chrome for Android is a project under Google Developers that aims to allow mobile developers the chance to make use of the very same codes that are being used for the desktop version of Chrome. The intention was to make it as a starting point, where they upload new features and codes for others to make use of.

What this means for mobile tech developers is that Chromium, the open-source version of Google Chrome, can now be used freely as a base for other popular third-party mobile browsers. And it also means more and more mobile aps developers can build all-new mobile browsers with a more dependable source code.

Before the source code became public, developers used to rely on Firefox or the desktop version of Chrome to build mobile web browsers. They base off their work on the desktop version and work their way meticulously to a mobile version, so a lot of these third-party apps are hard to come by, and if it does come, always in two versions - free and premium.

Making the Chrome for Android source code free to use for anyone means we can expect a barrage of new web browser apps over at the Play Store in the coming months, allowing users more choices and even more customization to meet individual browsing needs and preferences.