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Mobile Detect

A PHP class that tells whether a visitor's device is a phone or tablet.

GitHub Download 4.11.0
Stars
10.7k
Forks
2.6k
Licence
MIT
Language
PHP
Last update
15 days ago
Type
Library

What it is

Mobile Detect is a small PHP class that checks a website visitor's browser User-Agent string and certain HTTP headers to work out whether they are on a mobile device, including tablets. Developers use it to serve different layouts or redirect mobile users. The README describes it as lightweight and gives a demo site where you can test your own device.

  • Redirect phone visitors to a mobile version of a page
  • Serve a lighter layout or different content to tablets
  • Log what kinds of devices visit a site

Great for

  • PHP developers who need to tell mobile and tablet visitors apart on the server
  • Sites that redirect mobile users to a separate mobile page or app
  • Teams already using Composer and PHP 8.2 or newer

Not ideal for

  • Projects that rely on CSS responsive design alone, since no server detection is needed there
  • Non-PHP stacks, because this is a PHP class
  • Anyone needing guaranteed accuracy, since detection relies on User-Agent strings which can be spoofed or incomplete
Step-by-step guide: how to use Mobile DetectInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

How to get it

  1. 1

    Install with a package manager

    You'll need: PHP 8.2 or newer (per README table for 4.x) · Composer

    Clone the repository

    git clone https://github.com/serbanghita/Mobile-Detect
  2. 2

    Run it

    • Install the library into your project and include Composer's autoloader
    • Create an instance of the Detection MobileDetect class
    • Call its methods to check whether the current visitor is a mobile or tablet
    • Test your results on the demo site at demo.mobiledetect.net
  3. 3

    Get the most out of it

    • Read the full documentation at docs.mobiledetect.net
    • Check the demo site to see how your own device is detected
    • Run the included PHPUnit test suite to verify behaviour in your environment
    • Stay on the 4.x branch, which the README marks as current and recommended

Downloads

Source code (.zip)4.x branch · straight from GitHubRelease 4.11.0Release notes and sourceOfficial website & docsmobiledetect.net

Strengths

  • Small, focused library with a single purpose
  • MIT licensed and actively maintained, with a recent push date in the metadata
  • Full documentation hosted on Gitbook and a public demo site

Trade-offs

  • Detection is based on User-Agent and headers, so results are not guaranteed
  • Current version 4.x requires PHP 8.2 or newer, which may rule out older servers
  • Older branches 2.x and 3.x are deprecated

How it compares

ProjectStarsTypeLevelUpdatedBest for
Mobile-Detect (this)10.7kLibrarybeginner15 days agoPHP developers who need to tell mobile and tablet visitors apart on the server
symfony31.2kLibraryintermediate4 days agoPHP developers building web applications that need a structured framework
image14.4kLibraryintermediate7 days agoPHP developers who need to resize or convert uploaded images on a server
framework35kFrameworkintermediate4 days agoPHP developers building web applications or APIs
bagisto28.3kAppintermediate4 days agoDevelopers building a custom online store on Laravel
guzzle23.4kLibraryintermediate11 days agoPHP developers who need to call external REST or web service APIs

Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.