Detect MacOS, iOS, Windows, Android and Linux OS with JS

Question

How to detect MacOS X, iOS, Windows, Android and Linux operating system with JavaScript?

score 207 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '22 at 17:53

207

I learnt a lot about window.navigator object and its properties: platform, appVersion and userAgent. To my mind, it's almost impossible to detect user's OS with 100% sure, but in my case 85%-90% was enough for me.

So, after examining tons of the stackoverflows' answers and some articles, I wrote something like this:

function getOS() {
  var userAgent = window.navigator.userAgent,
      platform = window.navigator?.userAgentData?.platform || window.navigator.platform,
      macosPlatforms = ['Macintosh', 'MacIntel', 'MacPPC', 'Mac68K'],
      windowsPlatforms = ['Win32', 'Win64', 'Windows', 'WinCE'],
      iosPlatforms = ['iPhone', 'iPad', 'iPod'],
      os = null;

  if (macosPlatforms.indexOf(platform) !== -1) {
    os = 'Mac OS';
  } else if (iosPlatforms.indexOf(platform) !== -1) {
    os = 'iOS';
  } else if (windowsPlatforms.indexOf(platform) !== -1) {
    os = 'Windows';
  } else if (/Android/.test(userAgent)) {
    os = 'Android';
  } else if (/Linux/.test(platform)) {
    os = 'Linux';
  }

  return os;
}

alert(getOS());

Inspiration:

Also I used the lists of mobile and desktop browsers to test my code:

This code works properly. I tested it on all the OS: MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows and UNIX, but I can't guarantee 100% sure.

edited Jun 15 '22 at 17:53

user3347937

3
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answered Jul 07 '16 at 09:06

Vladyslav Turak

6,014
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3

Why not just use "Mac" for MacOS? Should be more future proof. – A G Feb 04 '19 at 10:11
Nice solution! Good job! :) – Aleksandar Jun 12 '19 at 09:27
4

You should add `"darwin"` to `macosPlatforms` – William Aug 31 '19 at 11:53
I think you need to use userAgent instead of platform for Chrome OS, because in Chrome OS the platform is Linux – ZYinMD Nov 29 '19 at 05:49
2

Why do you say "I've wrote something like this" ? I wonder what the actual code do you use and why does it differ from the one here. – okram Feb 03 '20 at 17:12
3

Why do you start the last elseif with `!os && `? – Gust van de Wal May 13 '20 at 20:02
3

`iosPlatforms.indexOf(platform) !== -1` Can be written more distinctly as `iosPlatforms.includes(platform)`. It also looks like you could use string matching instead to be more generic `platform.toLowerCase.startsWith("win")`. You can also eliminate mutating variables by using return in each if conditions (`return 'Windows'` ). – blindguy Feb 26 '21 at 17:07
When running on an iPad pro in emulator this returns Mac OS. – maxisme May 14 '21 at 11:02
3

Isn't time to update this since "navigator.platform" is deprecated? https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorID/platform – MarketerInCoderClothes Jun 15 '21 at 08:20
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Navigator.userAgentData is still not fully supported - it doesn't work on Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer. It seems slightly ironic that it says this on Mozilla's website. – TheKodeToad Dec 31 '21 at 15:30
As of OS X Monterey window.navigator?.userAgentData?.platform returns 'macOS'. – tashicorp Sep 29 '22 at 04:40
return null for M1 MBP – GorvGoyl Jan 26 '23 at 11:01

Detect MacOS, iOS, Windows, Android and Linux OS with JS

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