How do I open an HTML file on Android?

Open the Files app (Files by Google, or My Files on Samsung), tap the .html file and pick Chrome or Samsung Internet from the 'Open with' list. If no browser is offered, long-press the file, choose Open with, and pick the browser explicitly. That renders a single self-contained page; a report that depends on sibling CSS, JavaScript or JSON files will still open unstyled or blank.

Why does my HTML file open as code on Android?

Because the app that received it is showing the source rather than rendering it. Gmail's attachment preview, text editors and most 'HTML Viewer' apps from the Play Store display markup as text. Save the attachment to Downloads first, then open it from the Files app with a browser.

Why does the HTML file open blank or without styles on Android?

Android hands the browser the file through a content:// URI, not a folder path. Relative references such as style.css or data/results.json resolve against that URI, the file provider doesn't serve them, and the page loads with none of its assets. Reports from Playwright, Allure, Sphinx or nbconvert are folders, so they almost always break this way.

Can I type file:///sdcard/Download/report.html into Chrome on Android?

On older Android versions that worked once Chrome had storage permission. Since scoped storage (Android 10 and 11), Chrome generally cannot read shared storage by path, and the attempt ends in ERR_ACCESS_DENIED or ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. Opening the file from the Files app is the supported route.

What is the most reliable way to read an HTML report on an Android phone?

Open it as a URL instead of a file. Whoever has the report on a computer publishes it once — the whole folder, if it is one — and sends the link. Chrome on Android then loads it like any web page, with its styles, scripts and data intact. Comma is free and does this in one drag.

Opening an HTML file on Android

You got report.html in Gmail, Slack or a download. You tap it, and one of four things happens:

You see raw markup — angle brackets and all.
Nothing happens, or Android says no app can open this file.
It opens in a browser but is unstyled — black text, blue links, images missing.
It opens blank.

Each has a different cause. The first two are about which app gets the file. The last two are about the file itself, and no Android setting fixes them.

Step 1: get it into a browser, not a viewer

Android doesn't have one default app for local HTML. Gmail's attachment preview, text editors, and most apps called "HTML Viewer" show the source, not the page. You need a browser.

Save the file. In Gmail, tap the download icon on the attachment, so it lands in Download/.
Open your file manager — Files by Google on Pixel and most phones, My Files on Samsung.
Tap the file and pick Chrome (or Samsung Internet) from the Open with list.
Not offered? Long-press → ⋮ → Open with and choose the browser explicitly. If you previously picked "Always" for a text app, clear it under Settings → Apps → that app → Open by default.

Some phones list a system "HTML Viewer" in that chooser. It is a bare-bones renderer for simple markup — expect scripts and anything interactive not to work. Pick the real browser.

Step 2: if it opens but looks broken

Unstyled, missing images, or blank: it was never one file

Most tools that produce "an HTML report" produce a folder — index.html plus css/, js/, data/ and images. Playwright, Allure, coverage reports (genhtml, coverage.py), Sphinx, nbconvert with external assets and Storybook all do. Send only the .html and every reference in it points at a file that isn't on the phone.

Why even the full folder doesn't help on Android

On a laptop, file:///…/index.html can at least load file:///…/css/style.css next to it. On Android, the Files app hands Chrome the file through a content:// URI — a handle to one file, with no folder behind it. A relative style.css resolves to a content:// address the file provider doesn't serve, so it fails even if you unzipped the whole folder onto the phone.

And reports that fetch their data at view time (fetch('data.json')) hit the same wall that breaks them on a desktop — a local file has an opaque origin, so the request is refused. See the same-origin policy and file:// and CORS error: origin 'null'.

"Can't I just type the path into Chrome?"

file:///sdcard/Download/report.html used to work. Since scoped storage (Android 10 and 11), Chrome generally can't read shared storage by path, and you get ERR_ACCESS_DENIED or ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. Don't spend time on it.

Opens, but tiny

That's the page, not Android — a desktop layout with no viewport tag. See HTML report is tiny on a phone.

The fix that works on every phone: a URL

A browser is very good at opening web pages and very bad at opening local files. So stop sending a file.

Whoever has the report on a computer drags the file — or the whole output folder, or a zip — into Comma and sends the link:

index.html becomes the report, assets upload alongside it, and relative references are rewritten to the uploaded copies — so the CSS, images and data come with it.
Scripts run in a sandboxed iframe, so interactive reports (sortable tables, charts, expandable failures) stay interactive on the phone.
It opens in Chrome on Android exactly like any other page. No download, no Files app, no Open with.

Want to keep it as a file instead? The free HTML inliner folds a report folder into one self-contained .html with the CSS, JavaScript and images embedded — that file survives being attached and opens from the Files app. It can't fix a report that fetches data at runtime; for those, use the link.

Is it safe to open?

An .html file can carry scripts, and opening it in your browser runs them on your device. Treat it like any attachment: only from senders you trust. Comma renders report HTML in a sandboxed iframe with no same-origin access, so a script in a report can't reach your session, cookies or storage — a containment boundary, not a malware scanner.

Try it

Comma is free — unlimited reports, unlimited commenters, unlimited revision history. Readers don't need an account to view a shared link.

Turn the file into a link →

Open an HTML file on iPhone — the iOS version
Someone sent me an HTML file — on a computer
HTML file shows code instead of the page
Why the report lost its CSS
HTML inliner · Email an HTML report