Mobile User Agent Detection — iOS, Android, and Common Patterns

Mobile user agent detection is more complex than it looks — iPadOS 13+ removed “iPad” from the UA, Android tablets don’t always say “tablet,” and in-app WebViews add their own strings.

Use the User Agent Parser to parse any UA string and identify the device.

iOS device detection

// iPhone detection:
function isIPhone(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /iPhone/.test(ua);
}

// iPad detection — pre-iPadOS 13:
function isIPadOld(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /iPad/.test(ua);
}

// iPad detection — iPadOS 13+ sends macOS UA:
// "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7)..."
function isIPad(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return (
    /iPad/.test(ua) ||
    (/Macintosh/.test(ua) && navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1)
  );
}

// Any iOS device:
function isIOS(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /iPhone|iPod/.test(ua) || isIPad(ua);
}

// Get iOS version:
function getIOSVersion(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  const match = ua.match(/OS (\d+)_(\d+)_?(\d+)? like Mac OS X/);
  if (!match) return null;
  return {
    major: parseInt(match[1]),
    minor: parseInt(match[2]),
    patch: parseInt(match[3] || '0'),
  };
}

getIOSVersion('Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_2 like Mac OS X)')
// { major: 17, minor: 2, patch: 0 }

Android detection

// Any Android device:
function isAndroid(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /Android/.test(ua);
}

// Android phone vs tablet:
function isAndroidPhone(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /Android/.test(ua) && /Mobile/.test(ua);
}

function isAndroidTablet(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /Android/.test(ua) && !/Mobile/.test(ua);
}

// Get Android version:
function getAndroidVersion(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  const match = ua.match(/Android (\d+\.?\d*)/);
  return match ? parseFloat(match[1]) : null;
}

getAndroidVersion('Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 14; Pixel 8)')
// 14

// Specific device model (Samsung, Pixel, etc.):
function getAndroidModel(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  const match = ua.match(/;\s([^)]+)\sBuild\//);
  return match ? match[1].trim() : null;
}

getAndroidModel('Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 14; Pixel 8 Build/UQ1A.240105.004)')
// 'Pixel 8'

WebView detection

In-app browsers (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and hybrid apps use WebView, which has modified UAs:

function isWebView(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  // iOS WebView:
  const isIOSWebView = /iPhone|iPod|iPad/.test(ua) && !/Safari/.test(ua);
  
  // Android WebView:
  const isAndroidWebView = /wv/.test(ua) || 
    (/Android/.test(ua) && /Version\/\d/.test(ua) && !/Chrome/.test(ua));
  
  return isIOSWebView || isAndroidWebView;
}

// Facebook in-app browser:
function isFacebookBrowser(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /FBAN|FBAV/.test(ua);
}

// Instagram in-app browser:
function isInstagramBrowser(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /Instagram/.test(ua);
}

// Line app:
function isLineBrowser(ua = navigator.userAgent) {
  return /Line\//.test(ua);
}

Real-world UA strings reference

iPhone Safari (iOS 17):
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_2 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.2 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1

iPad Safari (iPadOS 17, reports as macOS):
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.2 Safari/605.1.15

iPad Safari (older iPadOS):
Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 16_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/16.0 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1

Android Chrome (Pixel 8):
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 14; Pixel 8) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36

Android Tablet Chrome:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 13; SM-T870) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Facebook in-app browser (iOS):
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_2 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/15E148 [FBAN/FBIOS;FBDV/iPhone16,1;...]

Handling the iPadOS 13+ problem

// The safe combined check for "any Apple tablet":
function isAppleTablet() {
  const ua = navigator.userAgent;
  
  // Old iPadOS (iPad in UA):
  if (/iPad/.test(ua)) return true;
  
  // New iPadOS 13+ (reports as Mac, but has touch):
  if (/Macintosh/.test(ua) && navigator.maxTouchPoints > 1) return true;
  
  return false;
}

// Server-side: you can't detect new iPadOS without maxTouchPoints
// Only client-side JS can reliably detect iPad post-iPadOS 13
// Server-side fallback: serve full desktop to all macOS UAs,
// let client-side JS adjust if needed

Related tools

• User Agent Parser — parse any UA string online
• User Agent String Examples — UA string reference
• Browser Detection JavaScript — feature vs UA detection