Detect iPhone/iPad purely by css

Question

I've been trying to detect an iPhone or iPad purely by stylesheet. I tried the solution provided here by using @media handheld, only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) {.

However, this doesnt seem to work. Any ideas?

Answer 1

iPhone & iPod touch:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)" href="../iphone.css" type="text/css" />

iPhone 4 & iPod touch 4G:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2)" type="text/css" href="../iphone4.css" />

iPad:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="only screen and (max-device-width: 1024px)" href="../ipad.css" type="text/css" />

Answer 2

This is how I handle iPhone (and similar) devices [not iPad]:

In my CSS file:

@media only screen and (max-width: 480px), only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) {
   /* CSS overrides for mobile here */
}

In the head of my HTML document:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1,user-scalable=no">

Answer 3

I use these:

/* Non-Retina */
@media screen and (-webkit-max-device-pixel-ratio: 1) {
}

/* Retina */
@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.5),
only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3/2),
only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 1.5),
only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.5) {
}

/* iPhone Portrait */
@media screen and (max-device-width: 480px) and (orientation:portrait) {
} 

/* iPhone Landscape */
@media screen and (max-device-width: 480px) and (orientation:landscape) {
}

/* iPad Portrait */
@media screen and (min-device-width: 481px) and (max-device-width: 1024px) and (orientation:portrait) {
}

/* iPad Landscape */
@media screen and (min-device-width: 481px) and (max-device-width: 1024px) and (orientation:landscape) {
}

http://zsprawl.com/iOS/2012/03/css-for-iphone-ipad-and-retina-displays/

Answer 4

You might want to try the solution from this O'Reilly article.

The important part are these CSS media queries:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and (max-device-width: 480px)" href="iphone.css"> 
<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and (min-device-width: 481px) and (max-device-width: 1024px) and (orientation:portrait)" href="ipad-portrait.css"> 
<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and (min-device-width: 481px) and (max-device-width: 1024px) and (orientation:landscape)" href="ipad-landscape.css"> 
<link rel="stylesheet" media="all and (min-device-width: 1025px)" href="ipad-landscape.css"> 

Answer 5

Many devices with different screen sizes/ratios/resolutions have come out even in the last five years, including new types of iPhones and iPads. It would be very difficult to customize a website for each device.

Meanwhile, media queries for device-width, device-height, and device-aspect-ratio have been deprecated, so they may not work in future browser versions. (Source: MDN)

TLDR: Design based on browser widths, not devices. Here's a good introduction to this topic.