What each part does
width=device-width, initial-scale=1— without it Android lays the page out 980 px wide and shrinks it. The single most important tag.viewport-fit=cover— lets the page extend under the status bar and gesture area on edge-to-edge phones. Pair it withenv(safe-area-inset-*)padding so nothing hides under the camera cut-out.interactive-widget=resizes-content— when the keyboard opens, the layout viewport shrinks so a bottom-pinned input stays visible.maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no— stops pinch-zoom. Use it for games, where a two-finger gesture is input. Avoid it for reading content.theme-color— the browser UI colour on the web; in the app the builder's theme colour sets the status bar, so use the same value for consistency.color-scheme— tells the engine whether form controls and scrollbars should be light or dark.format-detection— stops numbers from being turned into phone links automatically.
Next: make the page feel native with CSS.
Questions people ask
Is the viewport meta tag required for an APK?
Yes, in practice. Without it the WebView renders a desktop-width page scaled down, which looks tiny and is hard to tap.
Should I disable zoom in an HTML app?
Only for games and canvas apps where pinch is a game gesture. For text content, leave zoom on for accessibility.