Detecting if a device is able to change orientation in JavaScript

Question

Is there a native JavaScript (or through the use of a library such as JQuery/Modernizr etc) way to detect if a device is capable of changing orientation? I would like to use that as a method to differentiate between desktop and mobile.

Thanks,

Shadi

Emera

Doesn't most OS's support that? In Windows (other desktop OS's as well I guess) you can change orientation depending on the orientation of your screen. Some use their 16:9 screen in a standing, portrait orientation and so on. Thus, I don't think that will be a good way to differentiate between desktop and mobile, unfortunately. – Falcongentle

@ChristoferEliasson While I agree it's not the best way to differentiate between desktop and mobile, the important part is detecting the orientation changing feature...which is interesting to find out – Flied

Actually, it seems like onorientationchange can be a property of window if that's available. My browser doesn't have it, but it seems like a valid event - #5285378 – Flied

Answer 1

Detecting mobile devices:

1. Simple browser sniffing

   if (/mobile/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) {...}
   

2. jQuery.browser.mobile plug-in (exhaustive browser sniffing)

3. Simple test for touch events

   if ('ontouchstart' in window) {...}
   

4. Advanced test for touch events:

   if (('ontouchstart' in window) ||     // Advanced test for touch events
      (window.DocumentTouch && document instanceof DocumentTouch) ||
      ((hash['touch'] && hash['touch'].offsetTop) === 9)) {...}
   

---

Optionally use onorientationchange for #3 and #4 above.

Combine 1 or more of these (and any other approaches) as needed. None of them are foolproof.

Circassia