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iosregexuser-agentios6

How to detect iOS 6 and all minor versions by user agent?

How to detect iOS 6 and all minor versions by user agent with a simple regex or something? Would be nice to distinct between iphone and ipad as well.

This question differs from What is the iOS 6 user agent string? since I wanted help in building a regex based on the information I already know (which can be found in the linked question)

Solution

  • CHANGELOG

    20/01/2017

    • UA strings update: 141 matching, 0 partially matching, and 797 invalid lines

    • "Mobile Safari 1.1.3 (iPhone U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)" is considered invalid even if it mentions iPhone. Actually a semi-colon is missing after the iPhone term which is suspicious.

    • Safari 8+ doesn't appear yet on UserAgentString.com

    PREREQUISITES

    • The following regex is generic.
    • It will match Safari user agent strings (SUAS) running on a mobile device (see below supported devices list).
    • The regex is based on known SUAS by UserAgentString.com as of 20/01/2017.

    REGEX

    ^(?:(?:(?:Mozilla/\d\.\d\s*\()+|Mobile\s*Safari\s*\d+(?:\.\d+)+\s*)(?:iPhone(?:\s+Simulator)?|iPad|iPod);\s*(?:U;\s*)?(?:[a-z]+(?:-[a-z]+)?;\s*)?CPU\s*(?:iPhone\s*)?(?:OS\s*\d+_\d+(?:_\d+)?\s*)?(?:like|comme)\s*Mac\s*O?S?\s*X(?:;\s*[a-z]+(?:-[a-z]+)?)?\)\s*)?(?:AppleWebKit/\d+(?:\.\d+(?:\.\d+)?|\s*\+)?\s*)?(?:\(KHTML,\s*(?:like|comme)\s*Gecko\s*\)\s*)?(?:(?:Version|CriOS)/\d+(?:\.\d+)+\s*)?(?:Mobile/\w+\s*)?(?:Safari/\d+(?:\.\d+)*.*)?$

    SUPPORTED DEVICES LIST

    • iPhone
    • iPhone Simulator
    • iPad
    • iPod

    EXPLANATION / CUSTOMIZATION

    Lines preceded by a C can be customized.

      1. ^(?:(?:(?:Mozilla/\d\.\d\s*\()+|Mobile\s*Safari\s*\d+(?:\.\d+)+\s*)
C 2.     (?:iPhone(?:\s+Simulator)?|iPad|iPod);\s*
  3.     (?:U;\s*)?
  4.     (?:[a-z]+(?:-[a-z]+)?;\s*)?
  5.     CPU\s*
  6.          (?:iPhone\s*)?
C 7.          (?:OS\s*\d+_\d+(?:_\d+)?\s*)?
C 8.          (?:like|comme)\s*Mac\s*O?S?\s*X
  9.      (?:;\s*[a-z]+(?:-[a-z]+)?)?
  10. \)\s*)?
  11. (?:AppleWebKit/\d+(?:\.\d+(?:\.\d+)?|\s*\+)?\s*)?
C 12. (?:\(KHTML,\s*(?:like|comme)\s*Gecko\s*\)\s*)?
C 13. (?:(?:Version|CriOS)/\d+(?:\.\d+)+\s*)?
  14. (?:Mobile/\w+\s*)?
  15. (?:Safari/\d+(?:\.\d+)*.*)?$

    line 1. UA strings may differ so this line is introduced for accepting UA strings as much as possible.
    line 2. You can specify here the piped-separated list of accepted devices.
    (...)
    line 7. The version is indicated here. Change this line if you want a special version. Don't forget to update line 13 too. For instance, matching iOS 5.x.y use (?:OS\s*5_\d+_\d+\s*)?.
    line 8. Some user agent strings are translated. The word like may be translated into a foreign language. The regexp now supports English and French. Adapt this line if you encounter other languages. Don't forget to update line 12 too.
    (...)
    line 12. See line 8.
    line 13. See line 7. For instance, matching iOS 5.x.y use (?:Version/5\.\d+\.\d+)?\s*)?.