iPad browser: forced to mobile version of websites

Over 9k people have viewed this topic. Hopefully Safari gets the message that they need to make an update so that we can have the option to specify desktop version of the browsing experience. And yes, I'm going to look into other browser. But, then again, why should I have to do this? Come on Safari, make the change.

Doesn't matter how many people reviewed it, Safari is complying with the "rules" of the web, the other browsers are using kludges that are anathema to most website administrators so it is extremely doubtful Apple will add a hack to work around this fact. It is up to the website to either consider mobile safari as a regular browser or make the option available to go to the regular website.

Meg St._Clair wrote:

DonnaLN wrote:

Over 9k people have viewed this topic.

No, the topic has been viewed 9,000 times. It could be the same 9 obsessed people 1000 times each.

Also, viewing does not imply agreement.

I just read that in Safari you have to have Accept Cookies say From Visited for some sites to allow you onto their non-mobile version. It has been much easier for me with this option to surf the web on my phone and ipad.

That option makes no difference. I have always had that set, and it doesn't avoid the incredibly annoying redirect of Safari on the iPad to mobile sites at times. iPhone, yes, but the iPad is capable of a full web browsing experience and should not be redirected to mobile versions.

I still say that until web sites stop what they do, there should be an option in Safari to allow the site to be fooled like with the options available in iCab or Atomic or desktop Safari versions.

Can sites distinguish between iPhone and iPad versions of Safari?

Yes; the user agent strings differ, e.g.:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/7B405

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU OS 3_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/7B405

Note the "Mobile" portion of the string Safari (correctly) self-reports.

Thanks William.

Can you just explain to me - in very simple terms! - how web developers go about forcing iOS devices to go to a mobile version of their site? Presumably it's a positive action they have to make as I have developed various web sites without even knowing about this issue.

If they can differentiate between the iPhone and iPad then why don't they allow full access with iPad and just restrict the iPhone to the mobile version? Is it laziness? Ignorance? or something else?

I don't see how Apple has to hack it, it's modifying a few lines of code to update Safari to allow a user defined agent like other browsers do.

I switched from Android to iOS devices about 6 months ago and had always been a user of Dolphin and Skyfire (Which do allow User Defined Agent settings) during my Android years so Safari was a bit alien to me at 1st anyway. When I got my iPad the fact you can't default to desktop agent id was the reason Safari is now hiding on page 9 of my apps and gets used on the very rare occasion something doesn't render in either of the above browsers. Yeah it was £3 for Skyfire but it's well worth it for the Flash compatibility alone if you ask me.

I don't see how you can avoid using Safari so easily as it is totally integrated into iOS. Any link clicked on in an email or anywhere else will bring up Safari as it's not possible to change the default browser.

I don't see how you can avoid using Safari so easily as it is totally integrated into iOS. Any link clicked on in an email or anywhere else will bring up Safari as it's not possible to change the default browser.

I rarely use Safari as I rarely click on links from email. The few times I do, Safari works OK. 95% of browsing on my iPad2 and/or iPhone 4S is with iCabMoble.

Sorry, Paul, I disagree, it can't be done unless you don't ever have to access links on Twitter, Facebook, App Store, email or any other app. Every app uses Safari to view links. If you don't ever use these apps, then I wonder what you are doing with your iPad apart from browsing!

igmackenzie wrote:

Thanks William.

Can you just explain to me - in very simple terms! - how web developers go about forcing iOS devices to go to a mobile version of their site?

Basically there's code on their site, usually executed via JavaScript or PHP, that checks the incoming reported user agent string and redirects all browsers that self-report as "Mobile" to the mobile version of their site - for example, the code available here or here.

Better web sites will include a link on their site to jump to the "full" version of it; far too many web sites do not.

This is thought to be the "right" way to handle things, as the vast majority of mobile web browsers (think cell phones like Blackberrys and just about any cell phone not powered by iOS or Android) will choke and die on the full version of most web sites.

I've read through the posts and can't find a reason to my issue. I have both the iPad and iPad 2. On the iPad I am getting directed to the mobile versions of websites while on the iPad 2 I see the full version of then site. Best example is CNN.com loads the mobile version on iPad and full version on iPad 2. I checked the safari settings and they are exactly the same on both. Any ideas?

I made the request as you suggested. Good luck with this and I hope you don't get the flames that I did from the obnoxious ones pointing things out from "Safari is complying with the "rules" of the web" to "viewing does not imply agreement" to "No, the topic has been viewed 14K times. It could be the same 14 obsessed people 1000 times each" and my favorite - "Use another browser". My feeling - Why should I have to? .Made me want to leave and never come back - Guess I'm not an apple person and never will be.

DonnaLN wrote:

and my favorite - "Use another browser". My feeling - Why should I have to?

and, what is 'obnoxious' about offering a solution to your issue? It's up to you whether you accept it or not.