NavigatorID.userAgent
Deprecated
This feature has been removed from the Web standards. Though some browsers may still support it, it is in the process of being dropped. Do not use it in old or new projects. Pages or Web apps using it may break at any time.
The NavigatorID.userAgent read-only property returns the user agent string for the current browser.
The specification asks browsers to provide as little information via this field as possible. Never assume that the value of this property will stay the same in future versions of the same browser. Try not to use it at all, or only for current and past versions of a browser. New browsers may start using the same UA, or part of it, as an older browser: you really have no guarantee that the browser agent is indeed the one advertised by this property.
Also keep in mind that users of a browser can change the value of this field if they want (UA spoofing).
Browser identification based on detecting the user agent string is unreliable and is not recommended, as the user agent string is user configurable. For example:
- In Firefox, you can change the preference
general.useragent.overrideinabout:config. Some Firefox extensions do that; however, this only changes the HTTP header that gets sent, and doesn't affect browser detection performed by JavaScript code. - Opera 6+ allows users to set the browser identification string via a menu
- Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the Windows registry
- Safari and iCab allow users to change the browser user agent string to predefined Internet Explorer or Netscape strings via a menu.
Syntax
var <var>ua</var> = window.navigator.userAgent;
Value
ua stores the user agent string value of the current browser.
The user agent string is built on a formal structure which can be decomposed into several pieces of info. Each of these pieces of info comes from other navigator properties which are also settable by the user. Gecko-based browsers comply with the following general structure:
userAgent = appCodeName/appVersion number (Platform; Security; OS-or-CPU; Localization; rv: revision-version-number) product/productSub Application-Name Application-Name-version
Example
alert(window.navigator.userAgent) // alerts "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:0.9.2) Gecko/20010725 Netscape6/6.1"
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of 'NavigatorID.userAgent' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
| Feature | Android | Chrome for Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
See also
- Gecko user agent string reference
- Browser identification (aka "browser sniffing"): not best, not reliable approach
- Limit the use of User Agent String based Detection
- Use feature oriented object detection
- Interactive cross-browser demo on navigator properties
License
© 2016 Mozilla Contributors
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-us/docs/web/api/navigatorid/useragent