Transforming a Chrome Extension into a Cross-Platform Mobile Application with System-Wide Text Selection Functionality

Introduction

Developing tools that seamlessly bridge desktop and mobile experiences can significantly enhance user productivity and engagement. If you’re working with a Chrome extension built using modern frameworks like TypeScript, React, and Vite, you might wonder how to extend its capabilities into the mobile realm—particularly by adding features such as system-wide text selection context menus.

This article explores strategies for porting a Chrome extension into a mobile application, focusing on reusing existing web code and implementing system-wide global text selection options, similar to those found in apps like WordReference.

Scenario Overview

Consider a Chrome extension that leverages the Chrome API to create custom context menu items for text selection. The core functionality revolves around offering quick access to tools or data when users highlight text. The challenge is to bring this seamless experience to mobile platforms, specifically enabling a global text selection context menu—something that app appears when users select text anywhere on their device.

Key Objectives

• Reuse existing web-based code to minimize development and maintenance efforts.
• Implement a mobile app that can provide a system-wide text selection menu.
• Ensure compatibility with Android devices, with the possibility of supporting iOS later.
• Maintain simplicity while achieving core functionalities without rewriting from scratch.

Approach and Considerations

1. Why Not Use React Native or PWAs?

While React Native, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and other frameworks are popular, they may not fully satisfy specific requirements:

• React Native and similar frameworks often involve creating a native app with platform-specific APIs, which can necessitate maintaining multiple codebases.
• PWAs are limited in their ability to modify system-level features, such as global context menus across the device.

• Therefore, for a single codebase approach, a WebView-based app offers a pragmatic solution.

• Leveraging WebView for Cross-Platform Compatibility

Using a WebView allows you to:

• Embed your existing web app, built with React and TypeScript, into a native container.
• Minimize code duplication by running your web code directly within the mobile app.
• Develop for Android with relative ease, as WebView is well-supported.

• Potentially support iOS later with adjustments, although iOS restrictions may apply.

• Enabling System-Wide Text Selection Context Menus

The main hurdle is adding a global text selection menu accessible across apps, not just within a webview. The options include:

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