July 04, 2024

Mobile Detect Plugin

Fine-tunes wp_is_mobile function by excluding tablets (ex: iPad), from being detected as mobile! Uses MobileDetect PHP Library from mobiledetect.net!

Mobile detect plugin uses the open source MobileDetect PHP library to fine-tune the built-in WordPress function wp_is_mobile() in such a way that tablets are excluded from being detected as mobile!

If you don’t understand the above one-liner, here is some explanation…

If we serve different (cached) content for mobiles and desktops, iPads (and other tablets) are usually served with mobile version of the site. That means, iPad users see only the mobile version of the site. If you are in doubt, check your site now! There is nothing wrong with your iPad (or any other tablet). It is due to how WordPress treats iPads and other tablets. Currently, in WordPress, iPads (and other tablets) are considered as mobile! One day (in the future), tablets may be considered as desktops by WordPress internals. Until then, by using / activating this plugin, tablets are served with desktop version of the site.

If your site doesn’t serve different content for mobiles and desktops, please ignore this plugin. This plugin does nothing in that case.

About Mobile Detect PHP Library:

Mobile Detect is a lightweight PHP class for detecting mobile devices (including tablets). It uses the User-Agent string combined with specific HTTP headers to detect the mobile environment.
PHP Mobile Detect is an open-source script released under MIT License.
Mobile Detect PHP Developer: Șerban Ghiță, Nick Ilyin.
Original author: Victor Stanciu.
Icon (and banner) created by: Dragoș Gavrilă.

Installation

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/mobile-detect directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress
Check the site in a tablet.

If the site uses any full-page caching plugins such as WP Super Cache…

Please clear any existing cache.
Please make sure that it is configured to distinquish mobile version from desktop version.

FAQ

Where can I change the settings?

This plugin doesn’t come with any settings screen on purpose. Settings screen may be included in the future, depending on the feedback from the users!

Is this plugin actively maintained?

Yes, this plugin is actively maintained to make sure that the core Mobile Detect PHP library is updated as and when there is an update in it. Otherwise, this plugin is in maintenance-only mode. No new features are planned in the near future.

Can you add feature “x”?

Any new feature is unlikely to be added to this plugin. This plugin was created to patch the built-in WordPress function wp_is_mobile() to incorporate a missing feature, functionality or a bug. I expect that WordPress core would fix it at some point in the future. When it does include a fix, this plugin would be retired. When this plugin retires, I don’t want anyone to miss the feature/s that this plugin may have. So, I encourage everyone to create a standalone plugin or an add-on plugin, if a feature is missing from this plugin.

Changelog

Changelog for upstream Mobile Detect library can be found at https://github.com/serbanghita/Mobile-Detect/releases.

3.1.0

Restore old naming scheme.

3.0.2

Fixed an issue with file name.

3.0.1

Fixed an issue with file name.

3.0

Update upstream Mobile Detect Library from version 2.8.38 to 2.8.41 .
Shorten the length of the description in readme file.

1.5.1

Remove unwanted tags
Shorten the length of the description in readme file.

For a complete list of changelog, please see changelog.txt file.