Detecting a mobile browser

Question

I'm looking for a function that returns a boolean value if the user is using a mobile browser or not.

I know that I can use navigator.userAgent and write that function by using regex, but user-agents are too various for different platforms. I doubt that matching all possible devices would be easy, and I think this problem has been solved many times so there should be some kind of complete solution for such a task.

I was looking at this site, but sadly the script is so cryptic that I have no idea how to use it for my purpose, which is to create a function that returns true/false.

Answer 1

Using Regex (from detectmobilebrowsers.com):

Here's a function that uses an insanely long and comprehensive regex which returns a true or false value depending on whether or not the user is browsing with a mobile.

window.mobileCheck = function() {
  let check = false;
  (function(a){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))) check = true;})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);
  return check;
};

For those wishing to include tablets in this test (though arguably, you shouldn't), you can use the following function:

window.mobileAndTabletCheck = function() {
  let check = false;
  (function(a){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino|android|ipad|playbook|silk/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))) check = true;})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);
  return check;
};

---

Using navigator.userAgentData

You may also use navigator.userAgentData.mobile, but userAgentData is still experimental, so it is not recommended for use in production.

const isMobile = navigator.userAgentData.mobile; //resolves true/false

Compatibility chart for userAgentData

---

The Original Answer

You can do this by simply running through a list of devices and checking if the useragent matches anything like so:

  function detectMob() {
    const toMatch = [
        /Android/i,
        /webOS/i,
        /iPhone/i,
        /iPad/i,
        /iPod/i,
        /BlackBerry/i,
        /Windows Phone/i
    ];
    
    return toMatch.some((toMatchItem) => {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(toMatchItem);
    });
}

However since you believe that this method is unreliable, You could assume that any device that had a resolution of 800x600 or less was a mobile device too, narrowing your target even more (although these days many mobile devices have much greater resolutions than this)

i.e

  function detectMob() {
    return ( ( window.innerWidth <= 800 ) && ( window.innerHeight <= 600 ) );
  }

Reference:

• Detecting Browser and Devices with javascript

Answer 2

How about:

if (typeof screen.orientation !== 'undefined') { ... }

...since smartphones usually support this property and desktop browsers don't. See in MDN.

EDIT 1: As @Gajus pointed out, window.orientation is now deprecated and shouldn't be used.

EDIT 2: You can use the experimental screen.orientation instead of the deprecated window.orientation. See in MDN.

EDIT 3: Changed from window.orientation to screen.orientation

Answer 3

const isMobile = {
    Android: function() {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i);
    },
    BlackBerry: function() {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(/BlackBerry/i);
    },
    iOS: function() {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone|iPad|iPod/i);
    },
    Opera: function() {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(/Opera Mini/i);
    },
    Windows: function() {
        return navigator.userAgent.match(/IEMobile/i) || navigator.userAgent.match(/WPDesktop/i);
    },
    any: function() {
        return (isMobile.Android() || isMobile.BlackBerry() || isMobile.iOS() || isMobile.Opera() || isMobile.Windows());
    }
};

How to use

if( isMobile.any() ) alert('Mobile');

To check to see if the user is on a specific mobile device:

if( isMobile.iOS() ) alert('iOS');

Ref: http://www.abeautifulsite.net/blog/2011/11/detecting-mobile-devices-with-javascript

Enhanced version on github : https://github.com/smali-kazmi/detect-mobile-browser

Answer 4

Here is a simple solution from the source of facebook's slingshot

const isMobile = /iPhone|iPad|iPod|Android/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
if (isMobile) {
  /* your code here */
}

Answer 5

Came here looking for a simple, clean way to detect "touch screens devices", which I class as mobile and tablets. Did not find a clean choice in the current answers but did work out the following which may also help someone.

var touchDevice = ('ontouchstart' in document.documentElement);

Edit: To support desktops with a touch screen and mobiles at the same time you can use the following:

var touchDevice = (navigator.maxTouchPoints || 'ontouchstart' in document.documentElement);

Answer 6

According to MDN's article on Browser detection using the user agent, it is encouraged to avoid this approach if possible and suggest other avenues such as feature detection.

However, if one must use the user agent as a means to detect if the device is mobile, they suggest:

In summary, we recommend looking for the string “Mobi” anywhere in the User Agent to detect a mobile device.

Therefore, this one-liner will suffice:

const isMobileDevice = window.navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().includes("mobi");

[UPDATE]:

As @zenw0lf suggests in the comments, using a Regular Expression would be better:

const isMobileDevice = /Mobi/i.test(window.navigator.userAgent)

Answer 7

As many have stated, relying on the moving target of the user agent data is problematic. The same can be said for counting on screen size.

My approach is borrowed from a CSS technique to determine if the interface is touch:

Using only javascript (support by all modern browsers), a media query match can easily infer whether the device is mobile.

function isMobile() {
    var match = window.matchMedia || window.msMatchMedia;
    if(match) {
        var mq = match("(pointer:coarse)");
        return mq.matches;
    }
    return false;
}

Answer 8

There's no perfect solution for detecting whether JS code is executed on a mobile browser, but the following two options should work in most cases.

Option 1 : browser sniffing

!function(a){var b=/iPhone/i,c=/iPod/i,d=/iPad/i,e=/(?=.*\bAndroid\b)(?=.*\bMobile\b)/i,f=/Android/i,g=/(?=.*\bAndroid\b)(?=.*\bSD4930UR\b)/i,h=/(?=.*\bAndroid\b)(?=.*\b(?:KFOT|KFTT|KFJWI|KFJWA|KFSOWI|KFTHWI|KFTHWA|KFAPWI|KFAPWA|KFARWI|KFASWI|KFSAWI|KFSAWA)\b)/i,i=/IEMobile/i,j=/(?=.*\bWindows\b)(?=.*\bARM\b)/i,k=/BlackBerry/i,l=/BB10/i,m=/Opera Mini/i,n=/(CriOS|Chrome)(?=.*\bMobile\b)/i,o=/(?=.*\bFirefox\b)(?=.*\bMobile\b)/i,p=new RegExp("(?:Nexus 7|BNTV250|Kindle Fire|Silk|GT-P1000)","i"),q=function(a,b){return a.test(b)},r=function(a){var r=a||navigator.userAgent,s=r.split("[FBAN");return"undefined"!=typeof s[1]&&(r=s[0]),s=r.split("Twitter"),"undefined"!=typeof s[1]&&(r=s[0]),this.apple={phone:q(b,r),ipod:q(c,r),tablet:!q(b,r)&&q(d,r),device:q(b,r)||q(c,r)||q(d,r)},this.amazon={phone:q(g,r),tablet:!q(g,r)&&q(h,r),device:q(g,r)||q(h,r)},this.android={phone:q(g,r)||q(e,r),tablet:!q(g,r)&&!q(e,r)&&(q(h,r)||q(f,r)),device:q(g,r)||q(h,r)||q(e,r)||q(f,r)},this.windows={phone:q(i,r),tablet:q(j,r),device:q(i,r)||q(j,r)},this.other={blackberry:q(k,r),blackberry10:q(l,r),opera:q(m,r),firefox:q(o,r),chrome:q(n,r),device:q(k,r)||q(l,r)||q(m,r)||q(o,r)||q(n,r)},this.seven_inch=q(p,r),this.any=this.apple.device||this.android.device||this.windows.device||this.other.device||this.seven_inch,this.phone=this.apple.phone||this.android.phone||this.windows.phone,this.tablet=this.apple.tablet||this.android.tablet||this.windows.tablet,"undefined"==typeof window?this:void 0},s=function(){var a=new r;return a.Class=r,a};"undefined"!=typeof module&&module.exports&&"undefined"==typeof window?module.exports=r:"undefined"!=typeof module&&module.exports&&"undefined"!=typeof window?module.exports=s():"function"==typeof define&&define.amd?define("isMobile",[],a.isMobile=s()):a.isMobile=s()}(this);

alert(isMobile.any ? 'Mobile' : 'Not mobile');

This particular browser sniffing code is that of a library called isMobile.

---

Option 2 : window.orientation

Test if window.orientation is defined :

var isMobile = window.orientation > -1;
alert(isMobile ? 'Mobile' : 'Not mobile');

---

Note

Not all touchscreen devices are mobile and vice versa. So, if you want to implement something specifically for touchscreen, you shouldn't test if your browser is run on a mobile device but rather whether the devices has touchscreen support :

var hasTouchscreen = 'ontouchstart' in window;
alert(hasTouchscreen ? 'has touchscreen' : 'doesn\'t have touchscreen');

Answer 9

Here is a userAgent solution that is more efficent than match...

function _isMobile(){
    // if we want a more complete list use this: http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/
    // str.test() is more efficent than str.match()
    // remember str.test is case sensitive
    var isMobile = (/iphone|ipod|android|ie|blackberry|fennec/).test
         (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase());
    return isMobile;
}

Answer 10

Feature detection is much better than trying to figure out which device you are on and very hard to keep up with new devices coming out all the time, a library like Modernizr lets you know if a particular feature is available or not.

Answer 11

To add an extra layer of control I use the HTML5 storage to detect if it is using mobile storage or desktop storage. If the browser does not support storage I have an array of mobile browser names and I compare the user agent with the browsers in the array.

It is pretty simple. Here is the function:

// Used to detect whether the users browser is an mobile browser
function isMobile() {
    ///<summary>Detecting whether the browser is a mobile browser or desktop browser</summary>
    ///<returns>A boolean value indicating whether the browser is a mobile browser or not</returns>

    if (sessionStorage.desktop) // desktop storage 
        return false;
    else if (localStorage.mobile) // mobile storage
        return true;

    // alternative
    var mobile = ['iphone','ipad','android','blackberry','nokia','opera mini','windows mobile','windows phone','iemobile']; 
    for (var i in mobile) if (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf(mobile[i].toLowerCase()) > 0) return true;

    // nothing found.. assume desktop
    return false;
}

Answer 12

How about something like this?

if(
    (screen.width <= 640) || 
    (window.matchMedia && 
     window.matchMedia('only screen and (max-width: 640px)').matches
    )
  ){
   // Do the mobile thing
}

Answer 13

A really good way of detecting mobile or tablet devices is by looking if the browser can create a touch event.

Plain JavaScript Code:

function isMobile() {
   try{ document.createEvent("TouchEvent"); return true; }
   catch(e){ return false; }
}

if (isMobile()) {
   # do whatever you wanna do!
}

This worked for me really well, but there may be a problem with laptop devices which include a touchscreen display.

I am not sure if a touchscreen Laptop will get detected as a mobile device because I haven't tested it yet.

Answer 14

Feature Detection

const isMobile = localStorage.mobile || window.navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1;

WORKS IN CHROME + SAFARI as of 2022-02-07 :: combining feature detections and trying everything in this thread and other sites. The localStorage.mobile works in Chrome mobile; the latter works in Safari mobile. Does not trigger desktop browsers with or w/o the dev-tools open and/or on a mobile simulator. As of writing this, it triggers a real mobile browser but not desktops.

Please consider

I've also tested this on a Lenovo X1 Yoga (keyboard or tablet-mode) on Win10

1. localStorage.mobile is undefined no matter what
2. When the laptop is in keyboard mode:
   window.navigator.maxTouchPoints is 1
   → isMobile is false
3. When the keyboard is flipped back and the laptop is in tablet-mode:
   window.navigator.maxTouchPoints is 10
   → isMobile is true

Answer 15

don't use this method as window.orientation is now deprecated!!!

function isMobile() {
  return (typeof window.orientation !== "undefined") || (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('IEMobile') !== -1);
};

Answer 16

Depends on the use case. All mobile devices require a battery. If what you're after is compute power without draining the battery use the Battery Status API:

navigator.getBattery().then(battery => {
  battery.charging ? 'charging' : 'not charging';
});

If what you're looking for is presentational use matchMedia, which returns a Boolean value:

if (window.matchMedia("(min-width: 400px)").matches) {
  /* the viewport is at least 400 pixels wide */
} else {
  /* the viewport is less than 400 pixels wide */
}

Or combine them for an even better user experience on tablet devices.

Answer 17

Once the element gains focus, you immediately blur it. Bootstrap-datepicker, which is a very popular and well-maintained component with almost 10,000 stars in GitHub, uses this approach:

if (window.navigator.maxTouchPoints || 'ontouchstart' in document) {
    this.input.blur();
}

https://github.com/uxsolutions/bootstrap-datepicker

Thanks to Tigger for assistance.

Answer 18

Here is my re-thought solution for the problem. Still not perfect. The only true solution would be if the device manufacturers start to take seriously the "Mobile" and "Tablet" user-agent strings.

window.onload = userAgentDetect;
function userAgentDetect() {
  if(window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Mobile/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/IEMobile/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Windows Phone/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/BlackBerry/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/webOS/i)) {
    document.body.className += ' mobile';
    alert('True - Mobile - ' + navigator.userAgent);
  } else {
    alert('False - Mobile - ' + navigator.userAgent);
  }
  if(window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Tablet/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 7/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 10/i)
  || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/KFAPWI/i)) {
    document.body.className -= ' mobile';
    document.body.className += ' tablet';
    alert('True - Tablet - ' + navigator.userAgent);
  } else {
    alert('False - Tablet - ' + navigator.userAgent);
  }
}

What happens when the Nexus 7 tablet only have the Android UA string? First, the Mobile become true, than later on the Tablet also become true, but Tablet will delete the Mobile UA string from the body tag.

CSS:

body.tablet { background-color: green; }
body.mobile { background-color: red; }

alert lines added for development. Chrome console can emulate many handheld devices. Test there.

EDIT:

Just don't use this, use feature detection instead. There are so many devices and brands out there that targeting a brand NEVER will be the right solution.

Answer 19

Here is a less obfuscated version of the answer by Michael Zaporozhets. It also uses a check to build the regular expressions only on the first call. See this answer for the technique used to build the string from an array of regular expressions.

var gRE = null;
var gRE4 = null;

function PlatformIsMobile()
{
    var e;
    
    if ( gRE == null )
    {
        e =
            [
                /(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo/,
                /bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile/,
                /ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox/,
                /netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker/,
                /pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone/,
                /wap|windows ce|xda|xiino|android|ipad|playbook|silk/
            ];
        
        gRE = new RegExp(
            e.map( function( r ) { return r.source } ).join( "|" ), "i"
        );
    }
    
    if ( gRE4 == null )
    {
        e =
            [
                /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa/,
                /abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)/,
                /aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan/,
                /be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)/,
                /c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw/,
                /da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)/,
                /el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)/,
                /g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)/,
                /haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)/,
                /i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris/,
                /ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)/,
                /le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx/,
                /m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)/,
                /mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]/,
                /n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph/,
                /o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1/,
                /p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g/,
                /qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek/,
                /r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)/,
                /s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)/,
                /sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)/,
                /t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo/,
                /to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst/,
                /v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)/,
                /w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/
            ];
        
        gRE4 = new RegExp(
            e.map( function( r ) { return r.source } ).join( "|" ), "i"
        );
    }
    
    var key = navigator.userAgent || navigator.vendor || window.opera;
    
    return gRE.test( key ) ||
           gRE4.test( key.substr( 0, 4 ) );
}

Answer 20

I advise you check out http://wurfl.io/

In a nutshell, if you import a tiny JS file:

<script type='text/javascript' src="//wurfl.io/wurfl.js"></script>

you will be left with a JSON object that looks like:

{
 "complete_device_name":"Google Nexus 7",
 "is_mobile":true,
 "form_factor":"Tablet"
}

(that's assuming you are using a Nexus 7, of course) and you will be able to do things like:

if(WURFL.form_factor == "Tablet"){
    //dostuff();
}

This is what you are looking for.

Disclaimer: I work for the company that offers this free service. Thanks.

Answer 21

This is just an es6 port of the accepted answer that I'm using in my project. Note that this also includes tablets.

export const isMobile = () => {
  const vendor = navigator.userAgent || navigator.vendor || window.opera;

  return !!(
    /(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino|android|ipad|playbook|silk/i.test(
      vendor
    ) ||
    /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk\/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(
      vendor.substr(0, 4)
    )
  );
};

Answer 22

I have faced some scenarios where above answers dint work for me. So i came up with this. Might be helpful to someone.

if(/iPhone|iPad|iPod|Android|webOS|BlackBerry|Windows Phone/i.test(navigator.userAgent)
 || screen.availWidth < 480){
//code for mobile
}

It depends on your use case. If you focus on screen use screen.availWidth, or you can use document.body.clientWidth if you want to render based on document.

Answer 23

This is what I use. I know userAgent sniffing is frowned upon, but my need happens to be one of the exclusions!

<script>
var brow = navigator.userAgent;
    if (/mobi/i.test(brow)) {
        alert('Mobile Browser');
        // Do something for mobile
    } else {
        alert('Not on Mobile');
        // Do something for non mobile
    }
</script>

Answer 24

UserAgent is not 100% reliable.

window.navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1;

This is just enough! It excludes phone emulators in browser dev console. That was important for me.

Answer 25

The best must be :

var isMobile = (/Mobile/i.test(navigator.userAgent));

But like like Yoav Barnea says...

// Seem legit
var isMobile = ('DeviceOrientationEvent' in window || 'orientation' in window);
// But with my Chrome on windows, DeviceOrientationEvent == fct()
if (/Windows NT|Macintosh|Mac OS X|Linux/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) isMobile = false;
// My android have "linux" too
if (/Mobile/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) isMobile = true;

After this 3 tests, i hope var isMobile is... ok

Answer 26

Here is he full function

function isMobile(){
    return (/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino|android|ipad|playbook|silk/i.test(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test((navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera).substr(0,4)))
}

jQuery.noConflict();
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    if(isMobile()) alert("Mobile"); else alert("Not Mobile");
});

Answer 27

Here's an ECMAScript 6 solution (TypeScript ready)

public isMobile(): boolean {
  let check = false;
  ((a => {
      if (/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a) || /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0, 4))) check = true;
      }))(navigator.userAgent || navigator.vendor);
  return check;
 }

Answer 28

Note that Most newer-gen mobile devices now have resolutions greater than 600x400. ie, an iPhone 6....

Proof of test: ran the most upvoted and most recent posts here, with an optional check once run like so:

(function(a){
    window.isMobile = (/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4)))
})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);

alert("This browser was found to be a % browser.", window.isMobile ? 'mobile' : 'desktop');

Somehow, the following results were returned on the following Browser Apps. Specs: iPhone 6S, iOS 10.3.1.

Safari (latest): Detected it as a mobile.

Chrome (latest): Did not detect it as a mobile.

SO, i then tested the suggestion from Lanti (https://stackoverflow.com/a/31864119/7183483), and it did return the proper results (mobile for all iOS devices, and desktop for my Mac). Therefore, i proceeded to edit it a little since it would fire twice (for both mobile and Tablet). I then noticed when testing on an iPad, that it also returned as a mobile, which makes sense, since the Parameters that Lanti uses check the OS more than anything. Therefore, i simply moved the tablet IF statement inside the mobile check, which would return mobile is the Tablet check was negative, and tablet otherwise. I then added the else clause for the mobile check to return as desktop/laptop, since both qualify, but then noticed that the browser detects CPU and OS brand. So i added what is returned in there as part of else if statement instead. To cap it, I added a cautionary else statement in case nothing was detected. See bellow, will update with a test on a Windows 10 PC soon.

Oh, and i also added a 'debugMode' variable, to easily switch between debug and normal compiling.

Dislaimer: Full credit to Lanti, also that this was not tested on Windows Tablets... which might return desktop/laptop, since the OS is pure Windows. Will check once I find a friend who uses one.

function userAgentDetect() {
    let debugMode = true;
    if(window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Mobile/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/IEMobile/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Windows Phone/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/BlackBerry/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/webOS/i)) {
        if (window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Tablet/i)
            || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i)
            || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 7/i)
            || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 10/i)
            || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/KFAPWI/i)) {
            window.deviceTypeVar = 'tablet';
            if (debugMode === true) {
                alert('Device is a tablet - ' + navigator.userAgent);
            }
        } else {
            if (debugMode === true) {
                alert('Device is a smartphone - ' + navigator.userAgent);
            };
            window.deviceTypeVar = 'smartphone';
        }
    } else if (window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Intel Mac/i)) {
        if (debugMode === true) {
            alert('Device is a desktop or laptop- ' + navigator.userAgent);
        }
        window.deviceTypeVar = 'desktop_or_laptop';
    } else if (window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 7/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/Nexus 10/i)
        || window.navigator.userAgent.match(/KFAPWI/i)) {
        window.deviceTypeVar = 'tablet';
        if (debugMode === true) {
            alert('Device is a tablet - ' + navigator.userAgent);
        }
    } else {
        if (debugMode === true) {
            alert('Device is unknown- ' + navigator.userAgent);
        }
        window.deviceTypeVar = 'Unknown';
    }
}

Answer 29

Using Regex (from detectmobilebrowsers.com):

/* eslint-disable */
export const IS_MOBILE = (function (a) {
  return (
    /(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i
      .test(
        a.substr(0,4)
      )
  )
  // @ts-ignore
})(navigator.userAgent || navigator.vendor || window.opera)
/* eslint-enable */

Answer 30

Ah yes, the age old question...

It really depends on what you want to do in response to the knowledge.

1. Do you want to change UI so it fits nicely on different screen sizes?

Use media queries.

2. Do you want to show/hide things or change functionality based on mouse vs touch?

This answer above will do however there could be cases where a user has both and switches around. In that scenario you can toggle some JS variable and/or add a class to the document body when you detect mouse or touch events

  window.addEventListener("mousemove", function () {
    isTouch = false;
    document.body.classList.add("canHover");
  });
  window.addEventListener("touchstart", function () {
    isTouch = true;
    document.body.classList.remove("canHover");
  });

body.canHover #aButtonOrSomething:hover {
  //css attributes
}

  document
    .getElementById("aButtonOrSomething")
    .addEventListener("mouseover", showTooltip);
  document
    .getElementById("aButtonOrSomething")
    .addEventListener("click", function () {
      if (isTouch) showTooltip();
    });

3. Do you want to do something specific knowing exactly what device they have?

Use the accepted answer.

Answer 31

what about using "window.screen.width" ?

if (window.screen.width < 800) {
// do something
}

or

if($(window).width() < 800) {
//do something
}

I guess this is the best way because there is a new mobile device every day !

(although I think it's not that supported in old browsers, but give it a try :) )

Answer 32

return 'ontouchstart' in window && window.screen.availWidth < 768

How about this, it expands on answer above but also checks the screen size

Answer 33

This is how you can find out, which device is user using.

if (/ipad|tablet/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) {
    console.log("it's a Ipad"); // your code here
}
else if (/mobile/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) {
     console.log("it's a Mobile");
} else {
     console.log("it's a Desktop");
}

Answer 34

  function isMobile() {
    if ('maxTouchPoints' in navigator) return navigator.maxTouchPoints > 0;

    const mQ = matchMedia?.('(pointer:coarse)');
    if (mQ?.media === '(pointer:coarse)') return !!mQ.matches;
    
    if ('orientation' in window) return true;
    
    return /\b(BlackBerry|webOS|iPhone|IEMobile)\b/i.test(navigator.userAgent) ||
      /\b(Android|Windows Phone|iPad|iPod)\b/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
  }

navigator.userAgent sniffing is not recommended since it's not reliable and heavily varies. As you can see here: https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/useragents/explore/ the navigator.userAgent strings can vary greatly between versions of the same browser.

This MDN article can back this statement: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Browser_detection_using_the_user_agent#avoiding_user_agent_detection.

The answer above is a refactor of the suggested solution for mobile detection from the noted MDN article. It relies on feature checks first and then fallbacks as a last resort to navigator.userAgent sniffing.

Happy coding! <3

Answer 35

I think this is the real protecting soltution.

Testet on Chrome & Firefox, Mobile and on Desktop.

var ___isMobileDevice;
const isMobileDeviceCheck = () => {
    const mobileOsRegExp = "(Android|webOS|iPhone|iPod)";
    if(screen.width < 500 || navigator.userAgent.match('/'+mobileOsRegExp+'/i')) {
        ___isMobileDevice = true;
    }
    if (___isMobileDevice) {
        if (typeof window.orientation === "undefined") {
            ___isMobileDevice = false; 
        }
    }
    if (typeof navigator.userAgentData != "undefined" && !navigator.userAgentData.mobile) {
        ___isMobileDevice = false; 
    }
    if ( typeof window.orientation !== "undefined" && ___isMobileDevice ) {
        if (window.navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1 && (navigator.userAgentData.mobile || localStorage.mobile || 'ontouchstart' in document)) {
            // mobile device found
            console.log('Is mobile device!'); 
        }
    }
}
window.onresize = () => {
    isMobileDeviceCheck();
}
isMobileDeviceCheck();

PS: A Useragent switcher as a browser extension cannot fool you with this code.

Answer 36

By mutually-exclusive feature-detection

const hasCoarsePointer = () => window.matchMedia("(pointer: coarse)").matches
const hasMobileWidth = (maxWidth = 639) =>
  window.matchMedia(`(max-width: ${maxWidth}px)`).matches
const hasMultipleTouchPoints = () => navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1
const hasTouchEvents = () => "ontouchstart" in document.documentElement

export const isMobile = ({ maxWidth } = {}) => {
  return (
    hasCoarsePointer() &&
    hasMultipleTouchPoints() &&
    hasMobileWidth() &&
    hasTouchEvents()
  )
}

joined

export const isMobile = ({ maxWidth = 639 } = {}) => {
  return (
    window.matchMedia("(pointer: coarse)").matches &&
    navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1 &&
    window.matchMedia(`(max-width: ${maxWidth}px)`).matches &&
    "ontouchstart" in document.documentElement
  )
}

*May 5, 2023: window.matchMedia is currently a W3C Working Draft, maxTouchPoints and ontouchstart are in a W3C Editor's Draft. Use with caution.

Answer 37

This could also be a solution.

var isMobile = false; //initiate as false

  // device detection
  if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|ipad|iris|kindle|Android|Silk|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino/i.test(navigator.userAgent) 
  || /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(navigator.userAgent.substr(0,4))) isMobile = true;

  console.log('Mobile device:'+isMobile);

  var doc_h = $(document).height(); // returns height of HTML document
  var doc_w = $(document).width(); // returns width of HTML document
  console.log('Height: '+doc_h);
  console.log('width: '+doc_w);

  var iPadVertical = window.matchMedia("(width: 768px) and (height: 1024px) and (orientation: portrait)");
  var iPadHoricontal = window.matchMedia("(width: 1024px) and (height: 767px) and (orientation: landscape)");

  console.log('Height: '+doc_h);
  console.log('width: '+doc_w);

  if (iPadVertical.matches) {
      console.log('Ipad vertical detected');
  }else if (iPadHoricontal.matches){
      console.log('Ipad horicontal detected');
  }else {
      console.log('No Ipad');
  }

If you use both methods, you will get a perfect way to detect different devices.

Answer 38

//true / false
function isMobile()
{
   return (/Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|iPod|BlackBerry/i.test(navigator.userAgent) ); 
}

also you can follow this tutorial to detect a specific mobile. Click here.

Answer 39

In any case, checking for type of device must be called just ONE TIME: your phone can't surprisingly stay a desktop in a moment :)

So, code for checking by userAgent, suggested here sometime ago, have to be look like that:

(function(a){window.isMobile = (/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4)))})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);

console.info('This is %s device', window.isMoblie ? 'mobile' : 'desktop');

Answer 40

There is simple trick to detect whether it is a mobile device or not. Just check if the ontouchstart event exist:

function isMobile()
{
    return "ontouchstart" in window;
}

Answer 41

// Function returns true if current device is phone
function isMobile() {

    // regex from http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/mobile
    return /(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(navigator.userAgent) || /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(navigator.userAgent)
}

console.log({
    isMobile: isMobile()
});

Answer 42

I haven't seen anyone suggested:

window.navigator.connection.type

this only exists on mobile, but not on desktop browsers. It is simpler to just check the existence of that property, i.e. if(window && window.navigator && window.navigator.connection && window.navigator.connection.type) => then it is mobile

NOTE: this is experimental

EDIT (07.2022): The feature is being deemed as a potential tracking exploit, so it is being removed from latest versions. In other words, don't use this!

Answer 43

I searched Replit's code ( because it had errors all over the website ) , until I saw:

(function (isTouchDevice) {
      if (!isTouchDevice) return;
      var isTouchClass = 'is-touch-device';
      var docElement = document.documentElement;
      docElement.className = docElement.className ? [docElement.className, isTouchClass].join(' ') : isTouchClass;
    })(('ontouchstart' in window) || window.DocumentTouch && document instanceof DocumentTouch);

so I modified it into something like this:

function isTouchDevice() {
    if (!(("ontouchstart" in window) || (window.DocumentTouch && document instanceof DocumentTouch))) {
        return false
    }
    return true
}

Values from different user agents:

• Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/103.0.0.0 Safari/537.36: false
• Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; Mi A2) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/105.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36: true

Answer 44

The touchscreen and orientation solutions won't work on some PCs.

Some laptops have a touchscreen and hopefully more in the future. Also while I can't test it myself, some graphical tablets that work as a screen are a touchscreen capable.

Detecting orientation wouldn't work either. Some PCs like the Microsoft Surface Books have a detachable screen making it work like a tablet, including orientation support. Yet it is still a real PC.

If you have to detect and differentiate between PC and mobile, just read the user agent.
I don't like it either but it remains the best way.

Answer 45

This is the best way ive found nto work in all cases.

const deviceMotionAvailable = Array.isArray(navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i) || navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i))

Answer 46

I usually find that the simpler approach of checking the visibility of a particular element (say burger icon) that is only visible on mobile views works well and is far safer than relying on a very complicated regex. That would be difficult to test works 100%.

function isHidden(el) {
   return (el.offsetParent === null);
}