[BUG] page.screenshot failed on Android devices (flaky screenshots)

Context:

• Playwright Version: 1.23.0 (but this behavior started a long time ago)
• Operating System: Linux and Mac
• Node.js version: 16.15.1
• Browser: Chromium (WebView on android devices)
• Extra: Samsung Galaxy A50 (Android 11), Google Pixel 5 (Android 12)

PW API debug log:

pw:api => page.evaluate started +1ms
pw:api <= page.evaluate succeeded +146ms
pw:api => page.screenshot started +0ms
pw:api taking page screenshot +1ms
pw:api <= page.screenshot failed +5s
pw:api => page.evaluate started +3ms
pw:api <= page.evaluate succeeded +77ms
pw:api => page.screenshot started +0ms
pw:api taking page screenshot +1s
pw:api <= page.screenshot succeeded +2s

Full log in attachment logs.txt

Describe the bug In the test on a real device:

1. Open the webview in the application
2. Take a screenshot using page.screenshot

The problem is that sometimes for some reason the screenshot is not taken, after a few attempts I came up with the idea of immediately repeating the screenshot in such a situation, and it worked. But sometimes I need to repeat the screenshot call several times. Increasing the waiting time for the screenshot does not help (I tried to wait up to 5 minutes)

I understand that working with devices is an experimental feature, but maybe it is possible to add more information to the debug tool to understand what is the reason for such unstable behavior of screenshots?

Thanks for your attention:)

[dgozman]

I looked at the logs. Page.captureScreenshot CDP command is taking more than 5 seconds. Maybe it is hanging, or maybe it’s just slow - we don’t know unfortunately.

Fixing this issue requires debugging chromium on android, with a local repro that includes this specific webview app. This is a lot of setup, so I don’t think we’ll be prioritizing this issue high enough in the nearest future.

For now, I’d suggest to use waitForTimeout() workaround if that makes things work reliably.

[pavelfeldman]

Let’s make sure non-stalling evaluate is not stalling and allow an explicit nowait option that disables caret waiting.