Simplest way to detect a mobile device in PHP

Question 1

What is the simplest way to tell if a user is using a mobile device to browse my site using PHP?

I have come across many classes that you can use but I was hoping for a simple if condition!

Is there a way I can do this?

Question 2

Here is a source:

Detect Mobile Browser
Download PHP script

Code:

<?php

$useragent=$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

if(preg_match('/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|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',$useragent)||preg_match('/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i',substr($useragent,0,4)))

header('Location: http://detectmobilebrowser.com/mobile');

?>

Question 3

How do I determine a mobile browser

Here's some javascript that will do the job: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/detect.html

Is it bad practice to have the mobile site on a different domain or subdomain?

It's good practice, and a popular convention is to use http://m.yoursite.com for mobile if your main url is http://yoursite.com

Noah

Question 4

Editor's note: user agent detection is not a recommended technique for modern web apps. See the comments below this answer for confirmation of this fact. It is suggested to use one of the other answers using feature detection and/or media queries.

Instead of using jQuery you can use simple JavaScript to detect it:

if( /Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|Mac|Macintosh|iPod|BlackBerry|IEMobile|Opera Mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent) ) {
 // some code..
}

Or you can combine them both to make it more accessible through jQuery...

$.browser.device = (/android|webos|iphone|ipad|ipod|blackberry|iemobile|opera mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase()));

Now $.browser will return "device" for all above devices

Note: $.browser removed on jQuery v1.9.1. But you can use this by using jQuery migration plugin Code

A more thorough version:

var isMobile = false; //initiate as false
// device detection
if(/(android|bbd+|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))) { 
    isMobile = true;
}

Question 5

You want to use the gesturestart, gesturechange, and gestureend events. These get triggered any time 2 or more fingers touch the screen.

Depending on what you need to do with the pinch gesture, your approach will need to be adjusted. The scale multiplier can be examined to determine how dramatic the user's pinch gesture was. See Apple's TouchEvent documentation for details about how the scale property will behave.

node.addEventListener('gestureend', function(e) {
    if (e.scale < 1.0) {
        // User moved fingers closer together
    } else if (e.scale > 1.0) {
        // User moved fingers further apart
    }
}, false);

You could also intercept the gesturechange event to detect a pinch as it happens if you need it to make your app feel more responsive.

Question 6

In order to get the greatest amount of compatibility, you have to trade it off with ditching most of the bells and whistles browsers running on desktop computers consider run of the mill.

Declare the mobile doctype with your XHTML documents, and make sure your markup and styleheets are valid.
Keep you CSS real simple. No :hover, don't use images as part of the design, limit your usage of fixed sizes/margins.
Emulators aren't as effective for testing as the actual devices themselves. Phones that do Wifi/Bluetooth PAN can make life cheaper, but testing over carrier's network will also help you get a better understanding of the speed and latency.
There is no "typical device", but if you can get your website looking really good under webkit without using webkit's CSS addons, you've covered a huge chunk of devices (Nokia S60, iPhone, Android etc). Work with Opera Mini, and you'll expand that chunk even more.
Compact your output as much as possible. Not only are your end users going to be screen and CPU processing limited, they are most likely going to be limited by network. The faster you can push out your data to them, the less-sluggish your website will feel.

Simplest way to detect a mobile device in PHP

Answers

php,mobile