Android system browser

Update the Android manifest

If you're using the system browser (on by default in MSAL .NET) and the redirection back to your application after sign-in is not occurring, it may be because the android manifest is not configured correctly. Make sure you have these settings in the android manifest, especially note the android:scheme and android:host values:

The AndroidManifest.xml should contain the following values:

<activity android:name="microsoft.identity.client.BrowserTabActivity">
	<intent-filter>
		<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
		<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
		<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
		<data android:scheme="msal{client_id}" android:host="auth" />
         </intent-filter>
</activity>

Custom Tabs

Starting with MSAL.NET 2.4.0-preview, MSAL.NET supports browsers other than Chrome and no longer requires Chrome be installed on the Android device for authentication.

It is recommended to use browsers which support custom tabs, such as the following browsers:

Browsers with custom tabs support	Package Name
Chrome	com.android.chrome
Microsoft Edge	com.microsoft.emmx
Firefox	org.mozilla.firefox
Ecosia	com.ecosia.android
Kiwi	com.kiwibrowser.browser
Brave	com.brave.browser

In addition to browsers with custom tabs support, based on our testing, a few browsers that do not support custom tabs will also work for authentication, such as Opera, Opera Mini, InBrowser, and Maxthon. See table for test results.

Known Issues

• If the user has no browser enabled on the device, MSAL.NET will throw an AndroidActivityNotFound Exception.

  • Mitigation: You need to inform the user that they should enable a browser (preferably one with custom tabs support) on their device.

• If authentication fails (ex. authentication launches with DuckDuckGo), MSAL.NET will return an AuthenticationCanceled MsalClientException.

  • Root Problem: A browser with custom tabs support was not enabled on the device. Authentication launched with an alternate browser, which was not able to complete authentication.
  • Mitigation: You need to inform the user that they should install a browser (preferably one with custom tab support) on their device.

Devices and browsers tested

	Browser*	Result
Huawei/One+	Chrome*	Pass
Huawei/One+	Edge*	Pass
Huawei/One+	Firefox*	Pass
Huawei/One+	Brave*	Pass
One+	Ecosia*	Pass
One+	Kiwi*	Pass
Huawei/One+	Opera	Pass
Huawei	OperaMini	Pass
Huawei/One+	InBrowser	Pass
One+	Maxthon	Pass
Huawei/One+	DuckDuckGo	User cancelled auth
Huawei/One+	UC Browser	User cancelled auth
One+	Dolphin	User cancelled auth
One+	CM browser	User cancelled auth
Huawei/One+	none installed	AndroidActivityNotFound ex

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Supports Custom Tabs*

Getting started

See this guide with code snippets and additional information on using system browser with Xamarin Android.