How Can I Reliably Detect iOS Devices in a Web Browser?

Detecting iOS: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

Identifying whether a browser operates on iOS holds importance for specific use cases, especially given iOS's unique handling of video content. This article explores various techniques for detecting iOS devices, considering both feature detection and user agent sniffing approaches.

Feature Detection

While feature detection typically proves more reliable, iOS detection requires a device-specific approach. Leveraging the fact that certain HTML5 features were introduced with specific iOS versions, the following code employs feature inference:

function iOSversion() {
    if (iOS) { // Use iOS detection function from above
        if (window.indexedDB) { return 'iOS 8 and up'; }
        if (window.SpeechSynthesisUtterance) { return 'iOS 7'; }
        if (window.webkitAudioContext) { return 'iOS 6'; }
        if (window.matchMedia) { return 'iOS 5'; }
        if (window.history && 'pushState' in window.history) { return 'iOS 4'; }
        return 'iOS 3 or earlier';
    }

    return 'Not an iOS device';
}

User Agent Sniffing

Despite its drawbacks, user agent sniffing remains a simple alternative. The following code identifies iOS devices by their user agent string:

var iOS = /iPad|iPhone|iPod/.test(navigator.userAgent);

Note:

Note that user agents are susceptible to modification, and these methods may yield inaccurate results in certain circumstances. Nevertheless, these techniques provide practical approaches for distinguishing iOS devices from others.

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