CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgoogle-chromebrowseruser-agent
Frank Conijn - Support Ukraine
Frank Conijn - Support Ukraine

Reputation: 3190

How to confirm this user-agent string Chrome 25+ on more expensive Android devices?

I have a budget tablet, because I only use it for site testing, and I thought it was a good idea to check whether the sites also render correctly on budget tablets. It runs on Android OS 4.1.1. The user-agent string of Google Chrome 25, in its default setting ('Request desktop version' not ticked) is this: 

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 
(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B367 Safari/531.21.10

Could anyone confirm that this is the same on more expensive Android devices (phones and tablets) such as Samsung? You can test this easily here. I find it strange that Chrome dropped the words Chrome and Android, compared to what I read about the string of Chrome Mobile 18.

The reason I need it is this. Android OS has only three fonts installed: Droid Sans, Droid Serif and Droid Monospace Sans. Not even Verdana, the most pleasant font for screens. And to have Verdana bold, italic and bold+italic rendered as well, for most browsers all 4 webfont files have to be loaded (only Firefox mobile seems able to do it with just the standard file).

Apple devices have all the web-safe fonts installed. Targeting browsers on Android devices to download the webfont files was easy, but now seems no longer possible when it comes to Chrome. However, before I send a complaint to Google, I want to be sure it is a generic thing of mobile Chrome versions as of v. 25, not just a thing on my budget tablet.

I am absolutely sure I'm not mistaking. I bought the tablet, a Cresta Android (see here) two weeks ago. When I switched it on and connected it to the net, it updated itself. And when I later had some problems with the fonts on my websites I checked its UA string with the PHP browser sniffer I had put online. With the result as described, and of which I now made a screenshot:

Screenshot userAgent string Chrome on Cresta Android

This is the string I get when I tick 'Request desktop version': 

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.22 (KHTML, 
like Gecko) Chrome/25.0.1364.169 Safari/537.22

And what makes it even stranger is this. The device offers to have updates removed. I just did that for Chrome, and rechecked. While the desktop version string changes, to v. 18 and a few other digit changes, the string in its default mobile setting stays exactly the same. Not one digit, number or letter, changes from what I posted originally!

I cannot remove it entirely, so re-installing is not an option. And even if it would be, other folks with such a device won't know that there is something wrong with their Chrome version.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2006

Answers (2)

Picard
Picard

Reputation: 4102

my tablet's chrome reports similiar - it has been updated a few times from the google play store, and it still pretends to be an ipad - this is a real problem for webdevelopers like me, the exact string is the same as yours:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 
(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B367 Safari/531.21.10

Upvotes: 0

Kinlan
Kinlan

Reputation: 16597

Are you absolutley sure that this is actually what is happening. We never report iPad or Safari unless you have changed it via Devtools when testing.

Upvotes: 1

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