How to Determine Whether It's a Mobile Device with PHP

Simplest way to detect a mobile device in PHP

Here is a source:

Detect Mobile Browser
Download PHP script

Code:

<?php

$useragent=$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

if(preg_match('/(android|bb\d+|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');

?>

How do I determine whether it's a mobile device with PHP?

You need to check several headers that the client sends, such as USER_AGENT and HTTP_ACCEPT. Check out this article for a comprehensive detection script for mobile user-agents in PHP.

PHP - Check if the page run on Mobile or Desktop browser

There is a very nice PHP library for detecting mobile clients here: http://mobiledetect.net

Using that it's quite easy to only display content for a mobile:

include 'Mobile_Detect.php';
$detect = new Mobile_Detect();

// Check for any mobile device.
if ($detect->isMobile()){
   // mobile content
}
else {
   // other content for desktops
}

How to determine if the device is Mobile or Desktop?

Have you actually tried to use the project you discovered. I'd say that server side mobile detection IS a huge task with plenty of detail checks to ensure the correct outcome.

And using this class is completely easy. From the example directory:

require_once '../Mobile_Detect.php';
$detect = new Mobile_Detect;
$deviceType = ($detect->isMobile() ? ($detect->isTablet() ? 'tablet' : 'phone') : 'computer');

Now you have a variable with one of three values: "tablet", "phone" or "computer", and you can react to this.

Please note that even if you are able to use this library without Composer, it will be updated regularly (as in "once every month"), because new devices get on the market and need to be detected. You will have to update this library at some point. Using Composer makes this very easy.

Detect mobile devices - and tablet devices

Here is a class with methods for detecting each platform individually.

https://github.com/serbanghita/mobile-detect

Detect mobile browser

Have my user agent code:

<?php

/* USER-AGENTS
================================================== */
function check_user_agent ( $type = NULL ) {
        $user_agent = strtolower ( $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] );
        if ( $type == 'bot' ) {
                // matches popular bots
                if ( preg_match ( "/googlebot|adsbot|yahooseeker|yahoobot|msnbot|watchmouse|pingdom\.com|feedfetcher-google/", $user_agent ) ) {
                        return true;
                        // watchmouse|pingdom\.com are "uptime services"
                }
        } else if ( $type == 'browser' ) {
                // matches core browser types
                if ( preg_match ( "/mozilla\/|opera\//", $user_agent ) ) {
                        return true;
                }
        } else if ( $type == 'mobile' ) {
                // matches popular mobile devices that have small screens and/or touch inputs
                // mobile devices have regional trends; some of these will have varying popularity in Europe, Asia, and America
                // detailed demographics are unknown, and South America, the Pacific Islands, and Africa trends might not be represented, here
                if ( preg_match ( "/phone|iphone|itouch|ipod|symbian|android|htc_|htc-|palmos|blackberry|opera mini|iemobile|windows ce|nokia|fennec|hiptop|kindle|mot |mot-|webos\/|samsung|sonyericsson|^sie-|nintendo/", $user_agent ) ) {
                        // these are the most common
                        return true;
                } else if ( preg_match ( "/mobile|pda;|avantgo|eudoraweb|minimo|netfront|brew|teleca|lg;|lge |wap;| wap /", $user_agent ) ) {
                        // these are less common, and might not be worth checking
                        return true;
                }
        }
        return false;
}

?>

How to use:

<?php
$ismobile = check_user_agent('mobile');
if($ismobile) {
return 'yes';
} else {
return 'no';
}
?>