Mobile Device Detection in asp.net

Question

The following is a Mobile device detection code which encompasses three different conditions

if (Request.Browser.IsMobileDevice)
{
   //Do Something
}
else if (((System.Web.Configuration.HttpCapabilitiesBase)myBrowserCaps).IsMobileDevice)
{
  //Do Something
}
else if (IsMobileDevice(mobileDevices))
{
  //Do Something
}

public bool IsMobileDevice()
{
     private static string[] mobileDevices = new string[] {"iphone","ppc"
                                                   "windows ce","blackberry",
                                                   "opera mini","mobile","palm"
                                                   "portable","opera mobi" };

         string userAgent = Request.UserAgent.ToString().ToLower();
         return mobileDevices.Any(x => userAgent.Contains(x));
 }

I was forced to write three conditions as they were failing for some devices.

Can anyone suggest a better approach?

Answer 1

taking and change a bit the code from : http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/

public static class Utils
{    
    // update : 5/April/2018
    static Regex MobileCheck = new Regex(@"(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|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|xda|xiino", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.Multiline | RegexOptions.Compiled);
    static Regex MobileVersionCheck = new Regex(@"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\-", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.Multiline | RegexOptions.Compiled);

    public static bool fBrowserIsMobile()
    {
        Debug.Assert(HttpContext.Current != null);

        if (HttpContext.Current.Request != null && HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] != null)
        {
            var u = HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"].ToString();

            if (u.Length < 4)
                return false;

            if (MobileCheck.IsMatch(u) || MobileVersionCheck.IsMatch(u.Substring(0, 4)))
                return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
}

and this is how you call it.

if (Utils.fBrowserIsMobile())
{
    // go to mobile pages
}

What I have change to the code from http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/

• Make static compile the Regex for faster check.
• Fix a bug in the case that u is less than 4 characters.
• Other checks.

Using Cache

This code is fast, and the one trick is that we have made static and pre compile the regex. How ever i suggest after the first check to save the result on user session and use that session variable that is a lot faster.

Answer 2

Scott Hanselman has a great blog post on the subject. He refers to a 3rd party solution called 51Degrees.

Answer 3

This code works in my case.

public void IsMobileBrowser()
{
    String labelText = "";
    System.Web.HttpBrowserCapabilities myBrowserCaps = Request.Browser;
    if (((System.Web.Configuration.HttpCapabilitiesBase)myBrowserCaps).IsMobileDevice)
    {
        labelText = "Browser is a mobile device.";
    }
    else
    {
        labelText = "Browser is not a mobile device.";
    }
    ScriptManager.RegisterStartupScript(this, this.GetType(), "", "alert('"+ labelText + "');", true);
}

Reference: HttpCapabilitiesBase.IsMobileDevice Property

Answer 4

The existing browser definitions are terrible. Ideally you want to use the WURFL database to augment those definitions.

Luckily this is pretty easy using the 51 Degrees.mobi library .

There is also a Nuget package :

Install-Package 51Degrees.mobi

Answer 5

I would suggest storing the list of user agents in the web.config to make it easier to configure. IsMobileDevice is not actively updated with new browsers therefore it does have it's limitations which is why you need the further check.

The 51Degrees.mobi package would be a more reliable alternative.

Answer 6

Check the UserAgent in codebehind for "Mobi" similar to javascript referenced here .

                if (Request.UserAgent.Contains("Mobi") == true)
                {
                    DivToShowWhenMobileDevice.Style.Add("display", "");
                }
                else
                {
                    DivToShowWhenMobileDevice.Style.Add("display", "none");
                }

Answer 7

Well yes, if you want to be sure the useragent is probably the best way. You can also look at this method:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.configuration.httpcapabilitiesbase.ismobiledevice.aspx

It should have some issues with new browsers and such. But it's this one of as you currently do.

Answer 8

I'm using DeviceDetector.NET since I often also need to separate smartphones and tablets

Install it Install-Package DeviceDetector.NET

Then use it like this

DeviceDetectorSettings.RegexesDirectory = "C:\\DeviceDetector.NET.3.11.4\\";
var dd = new DeviceDetector(Request.UserAgent);
dd.Parse();

var device = dd.GetDeviceName();

if(device == "tablet") {}
if(device == "smartphone") {}
if(device == "desktop") {}

/**
Possible returns
--
desktop
smartphone
tablet
feature phone
console
tv
car browser
smart display
camera
portable media player
phablet
**/

The regexes can be found in the packages directory