A check in JavaScript that returns whether I am on a smartphone?

Question

I want to perform a check in one of my JavaScript functions that determines whether I am on a smartphone and then decide whether or not to run the function based on the results.

What is the best way to detect/check for a smartphone (or handheld device in general) in JavaScript?

e.g.

if (user is on a smartphone) {
//run this code if on a phone
} else {
//run this code if not on a phone
}

If there is not one definite method to check for a phone, then what are the best selection of checks I should to perform before deciding which code to run?

EDIT/UPDATE: The answers and comments on this similar post should give me something to go on - What is the best way to detect a mobile device in jQuery?

This might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10823144/is-there-a-quintessential-mobile-user-agent-regexp-pattern — techfoobar, Jun 13 '12 at 11:24
@ilanco thanks I couldn't find that post. I think the answers/comments on there should give me something to work with. — Dave Haigh, Jun 13 '12 at 11:34
I think that an answer has already been provided here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3514784/best-way-to-detect-handheld-device-in-jquery Moderators: It would be good if an owner can close his own question. I know there is a voting system to do this...Might serve best who knows — brumScouse, Jun 19 '12 at 15:42

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 12:02

3

Ye olde browser sniffing seems to be the solution

if( navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)
 || navigator.userAgent.match(/webOS/i)
 || navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)
 || navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i)
 || navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)
 || navigator.userAgent.match(/BlackBerry/i)
 ){
 // some code..
}

answered Jun 13 '12 at 12:02

primavera133

1,204
1
14
22

There is a duplicate of this answer on the link I posted above. – Dave Haigh Jun 13 '12 at 12:51
Yes, I shamelessly stole it from there. Thought it could be worth highlighting it a bit more as an actual answer to the question. – primavera133 Jun 14 '12 at 06:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 11:30

0

You could try twitter bootstrap, http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/scaffolding.html. In particular the Responsive design section.

answered Jun 13 '12 at 11:30

Vinnyq12

1,439
9
8

Bootstrap is purely CSS and no Javascript-detection. (As always) there is an ugly hack though: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14441456/how-to-detect-which-device-view-youre-on-using-twitter-bootstrap-api – cederlof Apr 10 '13 at 13:37

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 22 '14 at 14:59

You can use the Categorizr JS library to test whether the user's device is a mobile phone, a tablet, a smart tv or a desktop. Categorizr uses user agent sniffing, so you should keep an eye out for updates to the script, as user agents tend to "evolve" over time.

Here's how you would use Categorizr to check if the user is on a smartphone, but not a smart TV, a desktop or a tablet:

if (categorizr.isMobile) {
    //run this code if on a phone
} else {
    //run this code if not on a phone
}

A check in JavaScript that returns whether I am on a smartphone?

3 Answers3

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