
Apple Lying About “User Agent” in iPad Pro – Blocking PWAs - getpolarized
https://getpolarized.io/2019/12/21/Apple-Lying-About-User-Agent-in-iPad-Pro.html
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FreakyT
I, for one, am glad Apple opted to use the macOS user agent for the iPad
browser. Previously, so many sites would give iPad users the mobile version of
a site because their incompetent webdevs decided that `iOS == mobile` without
even bothering to check for screen size.

Anything that can be done to prevent this is a net positive for users. Sites
should never check browser UAs, and any problems that arise from a “wrong”
user agent are the site developers’ fault for doing things incorrectly.

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floatingatoll
It’s not that they’re hostile to web apps, it’s that Apple defines the iPad
Pro browser as a desktop browser.

Apple made clear that they intend the iPad Pro to present a desktop browser
view of the Internet, and has successfully defended their intentions against
the wishes of developers to do otherwise. They openly said they’d be doing
this and the result is exactly as they intended.

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phillipseamore
UA parsing is considered bad design and trusting UA's is unwise. What exactly
necessitates UA parsing to detect ipadOS, instead of other guaranteed
detection mechanisms, like CSS feature queries and checking if methods are
available in JS and others? Also keep in mind that even if you trust the UA
string it is not representative for all users. Most (if not all) browsers
allow users to toggle features, change flags and more. That includes Safari on
all OS's.

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getpolarized
CSS feature queries and these other strategies are also hacks to determine the
actual device being used. Most other UAs don't just flat out lie about the CPU
and platform.

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phillipseamore
They are by no means hacks, they are guaranteed and standardized!

You shouldn't care about the device. You care if it supports certain features
or APIs you want to utilize.

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campfireveteran
There ought to be a standard "caniuse" features discovery API rather than
parsing UA's or oodles of platform quirks/detection "magic."

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zapzupnz
This is a feature of iPadOS 13: the browser can either report itself as an
iPad or as the desktop version of Safari; it does the latter by default.

iPad users across the board now use a best in class browser and expect a best
in class experience. Apple is protecting its users from subpar websites
written by subpar developers, especially those who rely on lazy tricks like UA
parsing.

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h4waii
Ironically, this page is neigh unreadable on mobile. It's all squished due to
the absurd first party "ad" on the right column which, coupled with the
related posts right below, makes it hard to distinguish the actual content.

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yen223
I'm reading this on mobile (Android Chrome), and definitely am not seeing what
you've described. Is it because you've requested the desktop site?

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h4waii
I tried it on both Bromite and Firefox, mobile view, horrid.

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campfireveteran
"Lying" is dishonest clickbait. Presenting a mobile browser with an UA
identical to a desktop one is standard practice.

