[javascript] Detecting iOS / Android Operating system

I've done some research, and this question has come up, but not in the way I intend. I'm building a page for a client that is a QR code landing, which is a place to download an application. So he doesn't have to print out 2 QR codes on a page, I'd like to detect the current operating system (Apple/Android/Other[not supported]) and modify my elements based on that value.

I've looked at the script "detectmobilebrowsers" and that is just aimed at telling whether or not the user is mobile at all, whereas I would like to figure out what operating system the user is running and suggest the best application version.

Other answers I found similar to this question seemed either outdated or unreliable (has no detection for Android tablet browsers), so I'm in search of something new. How can I achieve this? (Preferably using jQuery - Javascript - PHP in that order).

This question is related to javascript jquery browser-detection

The answer is


If you're using React Js for your website, use https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-device-detect


You also can create Firbase Dynamic links which will work as per your requirement. It supports multiple platforms. This link can be created, manually as well as via programming. You can then embed this link in QR code.

If the target app is installed, the link will redirect user to app. If its not installed it will redirect to Play Store/App store/Any other configured website.


One can use navigator.platform to get the operating system on which browser is installed.

function getPlatform() {
   var platform = ["Win32", "Android", "iOS"];

   for (var i = 0; i < platform.length; i++) {

       if (navigator.platform.indexOf(platform[i]) >- 1) {

           return platform[i];
       }
   }
}

getPlatform();

For this and other kind of client detections I suggest this js library: http://hictech.github.io/navJs/tester/index.html

For your specific answer use:

navJS.isIOS() || navJS.isAndroid()

Using the cordova-device-plugin, you can detect

device.platform

will be "Android" for android, and "windows" for windows. Works on device, and when simulating on browser. Here is a toast that will display the device values:

    window.plugins.toast.showLongTop(
    'Cordova:     ' + device.cordova + '\n' +
    'Model:       ' + device.model + '\n' +
    'Platform:    ' + device.platform + '\n' +
    'UUID:        ' + '\n' +
                      device.uuid + '\n' +
    'Version:     ' + device.version + '\n' +
    'Manufacturer ' + device.manufacturer + '\n' +
    'isVirtual    ' + device.isVirtual + '\n' +
    'Serial       ' + device.serial);

This issue has already been resolved here : What is the best way to detect a mobile device in jQuery?.

On the accepted answer, they basically test if it's an iPhone, an iPod, an Android device or whatever to return true. Just keep the ones you want for instance if( /Android/i.test(navigator.userAgent) ) { // some code.. } will return true only for Android user-agents.

However, user-agents are not really reliable since they can be changed. The best thing is still to develop something universal for all mobile platforms.


You can also Achieve this with user agent on php:

$userAgent = strtolower($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);

if(stripos($userAgent,'android') !== false) { // && stripos($userAgent,'mobile') !== false) {
  header('Location: http://oursite.com/download/yourApp.apk');

exit();

}


Solution 1: User Agent Sniffing

For Android and iPhone:

if( /Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|iPod|Opera Mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent) ) {
 // run your code here
}

If you wanna detect all mobile devices including blackberry and Windows phone then you can use this comprehensive version:

var deviceIsMobile = false; //At the beginning we set this flag as false. If we can detect the device is a mobile device in the next line, then we set it as true.


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))) {
   deviceIsMobile = true;
}

if(deviceIsMobile){
    // run your code here
}

Cons: User agent strings are changing and getting updated as new phones and brands are coming day by day. So you need to keep this list updated if you wanna support all mobile devices.

Solution 2: mobile detect JS library

You can use the mobile detect JS library to do this.

Cons: These JavaScript-based device detection features may ONLY work for the newest generation of smartphones, such as the iPhone, Android and Palm WebOS devices. These device detection features may NOT work for older smartphones which had poor support for JavaScript, including older BlackBerry, PalmOS, and Windows Mobile devices.


Examples related to javascript

need to add a class to an element How to make a variable accessible outside a function? Hide Signs that Meteor.js was Used How to create a showdown.js markdown extension Please help me convert this script to a simple image slider Highlight Anchor Links when user manually scrolls? Summing radio input values How to execute an action before close metro app WinJS javascript, for loop defines a dynamic variable name Getting all files in directory with ajax

Examples related to jquery

How to make a variable accessible outside a function? Jquery assiging class to th in a table Please help me convert this script to a simple image slider Highlight Anchor Links when user manually scrolls? Getting all files in directory with ajax Bootstrap 4 multiselect dropdown Cross-Origin Read Blocking (CORB) bootstrap 4 file input doesn't show the file name Jquery AJAX: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource how to remove json object key and value.?

Examples related to browser-detection

Detecting iOS / Android Operating system Check if user is using IE How to detect IE11? Detecting a mobile browser Detect IE version (prior to v9) in JavaScript How to detect Safari, Chrome, IE, Firefox and Opera browser? Detect Safari browser How can you detect the version of a browser? Detect Safari using jQuery Best way to check for IE less than 9 in JavaScript without library