MG4 Browser is a service browser for the MG4 head unit (pre-facelift, AAOS 9 / API 28, 1920×720, landscape). It exists to do four things and nothing else: open a page, read it, get through a captive portal, and download a file — usually an APK — and hand it to the system installer.
That last one is the point. Without Play Services, getting an app into this car is otherwise awkward, and there is no decent browser on board to fetch one with.
It is not a general-purpose browser and does not try to be. There are no tabs, no sync, no profiles, no extensions, no search-engine picker and no settings screen. The interface and palette follow MG4 Simple Launcher, so the two look like they belong to the same car.
The engine is the head unit's system WebView, and on this car it is never updated: without Play Services it stays whatever shipped with the firmware. On the Android 9 emulator that is Chromium 69.0.3497.100, from 2018, and the car is the same generation.
Two consequences, both accepted rather than worked around:
- Modern web apps will not work. That is expected, and no dependency in this project assumes a recent Chromium — AppCompat is the only library.
- The engine has not had a security patch in years. The app says so on its own home screen, with the real version number, rather than leaving you to find out.
That version line doubles as the answer to "which WebView does this car actually have?", which is otherwise awkward to establish from anywhere but the driver's seat.
- One address field that takes an address or a search phrase. Anything that is
not recognisably a host becomes a Google search;
192.168.1.1andnas:5000are treated as addresses,3.14is not. - Back, forward, reload/stop, home as large round targets. Reload and stop share a button — they are never both meaningful at once.
- Favourites as tiles, not a list: a coloured initial, the page title and the
host. Tap to open, long-press to remove. Saved in
SharedPreferences. - Loading progress bar across the full width of the screen. The car's connection is slow enough that "is it doing anything?" is a real question.
- Downloads straight to the installer: a fetched APK is offered for installation as soon as it lands, and Android's "install unknown apps" permission is requested in place if it has not been granted yet.
- Captive portals: cleartext HTTP is allowed (a Wi-Fi login page is HTTP by definition) and a certificate that will not verify raises a prompt rather than a dead end — that case is normal on a portal and a warning sign anywhere else, so the choice is put to the user.
- Day / night, following the system.
- Five languages: English, Italian, German, Spanish, French.
- Dialogs and toasts enlarged by a font-scale override, so the two messages that actually ask you to decide something are legible from the driver's seat.
Open the page the APK is on and start the download as you would anywhere else. The
browser fetches it with the system DownloadManager, into its own private storage,
and offers to install it when it is done.
The first time, Android will not yet allow this browser to install apps. The app says so, sends you to the system screen where you grant it, and picks the install back up when you return — the file is not downloaded twice.
Downloads carry the page's cookies and user agent, so a file behind a login arrives as the file rather than as the login page.
Standard Android project (Java, AGP 8.6, Gradle 8.7, minSdk 28 / targetSdk 34).
./gradlew assembleDebug
The debug APK is produced under app/build/outputs/apk/debug/.
JDK: Gradle 8.7 runs on JDK 17–21 and fails on newer ones with a bare
IllegalArgumentException: <version> from the Kotlin DSL compiler. Recent Android
Studio releases bundle a JBR newer than that, so set Settings → Build Tools →
Gradle → Gradle JDK (or JAVA_HOME on the command line) to a JDK 17 or 21.
Release signing: credentials are read from a git-ignored keystore.properties
at the project root. Without it the project still builds — the release type is
simply left unsigned rather than failing to configure.
This project is provided for study and educational purposes only. It is an experimental, non-commercial project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by SAIC, MG, or any vehicle manufacturer.
The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The author accepts no liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damage of any kind — including but not limited to damage to the vehicle, its infotainment system, software, or data, loss of functionality, or safety-related consequences — arising from the installation or use of this app. You use it entirely at your own risk. Do not interact with the app while driving.
This is worth stating plainly rather than burying. The browser runs on the vehicle's own WebView, which is part of the firmware and receives no updates: on this head unit that is a Chromium from 2018, years behind on security fixes. Treat it as a tool for reaching a known page, a Wi-Fi login or a download — not as somewhere to sign in to anything you care about.
The browser can hand a downloaded APK to the system installer. It cannot tell you whether that APK is safe: there is no signature or checksum to check it against, unlike the launcher's own catalogue. Install what you fetched only if you trust where you fetched it from.
No artwork from the factory SAIC launcher is reproduced here. The app draws its own surfaces as shapes; only the colour values are shared with MG4 Simple Launcher, so the two sit together on the same screen.
Progetto a scopo di studio, sperimentale e non commerciale, non affiliato né supportato da SAIC, MG o altri costruttori. Il software è fornito "così com'è", senza garanzie di alcun tipo: l'autore non risponde di alcun danno diretto o indiretto — al veicolo, al sistema di infotainment, al software o ai dati — derivante dall'installazione o dall'uso dell'app. L'uso è interamente a tuo rischio. Non interagire con l'app durante la guida.
Motore non aggiornato: il browser gira sulla WebView di sistema del veicolo, che fa parte del firmware e non riceve aggiornamenti — su questa testata è un Chromium del 2018, senza patch di sicurezza da anni. Usalo per raggiungere una pagina nota, un portale Wi-Fi o un download, non per accedere a servizi a cui tieni.
Installazione di app: il browser passa l'APK scaricato all'installer di sistema, ma non può dirti se quell'APK è sicuro — non c'è firma né checksum da verificare, a differenza del catalogo del launcher. Installa solo ciò di cui ti fidi.