Web platform detection question

Targets Web
1

Hi, anyone know if there’s a way to detect if the web application is running within a desktop browser and not a mobile one? Thanks, Dave.

2

If your purposes are for layout, you can check Session.ClientWidth and determine if it’s skinny enough for a mobile layout.

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3

One of the reasons Tim, but others too. But this may be a good enough workaround for my purposes, thank you.

4

This is how my component works:
DetectPlatform

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5

It reports: Chrome 119.0.0.0 on OS X 10.15.7 64-bit
Running: Chrome 119.0.6045.199, macOS 13.6.1

6

same here
platform.js detects the right browser, but macos 10.15.7 instead of ventura …

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7

Right, Apple (and others) do things to make detecting the platform intentionally difficult. You should not be doing that. You may know the size of the view for the purposes of layout, but anything else isn’t warranted for the web. That is why I worded my response the way I did.

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8

Yes, this is not a perfect solution. I used examples from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9847580/how-to-detect-safari-chrome-ie-firefox-and-opera-browsers

For me it shows:
Chrome 119.0.0.0 on Windows 10 64-bit
and it is:
Chrome 119.0.6045.199 on Windows 10 64-bit

EDIT: I have another version if anyone is interested

9

Ideally (but really thinking its probably not possible) - I was hoping for a .isDesktop or .isMobile type property somewhere i.e. making an absolute distinction as to what platform the app is being viewed on. But, Tim is right, if it ain’t wide enough to display the content, then that’s good enough.

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10

It is widely regarded that knowing the specific platform leads to involuntary user tracking which is why iOS as a whole and Safari will lie about what platform and version they are.

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11

I just had a look at the connection logs from my WebApp (more than 1 million sessions in the past year).

Session.Platform is a good way to detect Desktop or Mobile.
The possible values (logged so far) for Session.Platform are:

Session.Platform Count
“” (empty) 25
ARM 2
iPad 2013
iPhone 649103
iPod touch 4
Linux aarch64 67041
Linux armv7l 8028
Linux armv81 88850
Linux armv8l 86069
Linux i686 87
Linux x86_64 2538
MacIntel 34606
OpenBSD amd64 1
Win32 65630
Win64 1

Then, as Tim suggested, check the Session.ClientWidth and Session.ClientHeight.

If height > width you can assume it is a Mobile, unless the Session.Platform is MacIntel, Win32, Win64

Also, it is up to you to decide if iPad is a desktop or mobile device.

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12

You really can’t make that assumption these days. You can run iOS apps now on a desktop. You can run an iPad app in various split view formats in which case the screen size is more like a phone, etc.

The advice given previously is solid: detect the features that you care about, and only those features. Don’t make assumptions based on the platform or. device.

13

Actually I can make that assumption.

I never said that if width > height Desktop should be assumed. That is in fact the tricky part, as the device could be in landscape.

If Session.ClientHeight > Session.ClientWidth and _
  Session.Platform <> "MacIntel" and _
  Session.Platform <> "Win32" and _
  Session.Platform <> "Win64" and _
  Session.ClientWidth < 1000 then
  //Most likely Mobile
Elseif Session.Platform = "MacIntel" or _
  Session.Platform = "Win32" or _
  Session.Platform = "Win64" then
  //Desktop
Else
  //This is where it is tricky

End If
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