Is `shouldOverrideUrlLoading` really deprecated? What can I use instead?

Question

Is "shouldOverrideUrlLoading" really deprecated? If so, what can I use instead?

It seems like shouldOverrideUrlLoading is deprecated targeting Android N and I need to make an app work since API 19 until the latest right now which is Android N (beta), I use some features that are new in Android N (like Data Saver), so targeting Marshmallow will not help with the issue since I need to use those new features, here is the part of the code I use:

public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView webview, String url) {
    if (url.startsWith("http:") || url.startsWith("https:")) {
        ...
    } else if (url.startsWith("sms:")) {
        ...
    }
    ...
}

And this is the message Android Studio gave me:

Overrides deprecated method in 'android.webkit.WebViewClient' This inspection reports where deprecated code is used in the specified inspection scope.

Google says nothing about that deprecation.

I wonder if using @SuppressWarnings("deprecation") will let me work on all devices since the API 19 until the latest Android N Beta (and its final version when it gets released), I can't test it myself, I never used that and I need to be sure that it works, so, anyone can tell?

Answer 1

The version I'm using I think is the good one, since is the exact same as the Android Developer Docs, except for the name of the string, they used "view" and I used "webview", for the rest is the same

No, it is not.

The one that is new to the N Developer Preview has this method signature:

public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, WebResourceRequest request)

The one that is supported by all Android versions, including N, has this method signature:

public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url)

So why should I do to make it work on all versions?

Override the deprecated one, the one that takes a String as the second parameter.