Android Browsing history leaving out some sites only

Question

Using the function below I am trying to get the LAST url that the user visited from Chrome Browser on their Android Phone. This function works very well for most sites, but does not work for "www.reddit.com".

The url variable below updates if I go to "www.google.com", "www.hulu.com" or "www.kayak.com" but will not update if I go to "www.reddit.com".

It does update if I go to "m.reddit.com". Same problem with facebook, detects m.facebook.com but not www.facebook.com.

I don't understand What's the difference between "www.reddit.com" and "m.reddit.com" that Android records one but not the other.

What change do I need in the code to detect ALL URL ACCESSES?

public String returnLastChromeURL(int browserCode) {
    String[] proj = new String[] { Browser.BookmarkColumns.DATE,
            Browser.BookmarkColumns.TITLE, Browser.BookmarkColumns.URL };

    String dateTime;
    Uri uriCustom = Uri
            .parse("content://com.android.chrome.browser/bookmarks");
    String sel = Browser.BookmarkColumns.BOOKMARK + " = 0"; // 0 = history,
                                                            // 1 = bookmark
    try {
    Cursor mCur = mContext.getContentResolver().query(uriCustom, proj, sel,
            null, BookmarkColumns.DATE + " ASC");
    mCur.moveToFirst();
    mCur.moveToLast();

        dateTime = mCur.getString(mCur
                .getColumnIndex(Browser.BookmarkColumns.DATE));
        title = mCur.getString(mCur
                .getColumnIndex(Browser.BookmarkColumns.TITLE));
        url = mCur.getString(mCur
                .getColumnIndex(Browser.BookmarkColumns.URL));

        mCur.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        dateTime = String.valueOf(System.currentTimeMillis());
        title = "";
        url = "empty_list";
    }

    return url;
}

Some more info from my debug:

• When I try this on a Genymotion Emulator, all websites (including sites like www.reddit.com get detected ok). On a real phone www.reddit.com does not get detected.
• Sites the code will detect OK: www.kayak.com' (redirects towww.kayak.com/mn),www.hulu.com(loads mobile version of site though url stays www.hulu.com),www.google.com` (same story as the hulu).

Seems like that the sites that load the pure desktop version of the site, do not get detected

Answer 1

This is because you never visit the desktop domain on your mobile , actually each time you visit facebook on your mobile ( or any other website that detects your navigator ) it will automatically redirects you to the mobile website , redirections will not be saved in history unless page loads , which never happens.

Check the following screenshot taken from my true N7100 galaxy note2 and my windows browser :

if you are using chrome browser you can request desktop website ( which is not a reliable solution as user will have to do this manually ).

another solution is to override redirection method which will not work due to XSS policy.

so a better solution is to fake your browser and convince the server that you are using a desktop browser check this answer .

The simulator on desktop uses device user agent which will count as desktop browser.