Apple

51Degrees released the second and final stage of its post iOS 12.2 device detection solution for Apple iPad and iPhone during August 2019 after extensive verification with iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 betas. (iPadOS is formally splitting from iOS in version 13)

51Degrees is the demonstrable leader in the field of device detection, continually leading innovation throughout the past decade.

Apple iOS 12.2 threw up a lot of challenges for many industries such as analytics, finance and advertising. As the leader in the field, 51Degrees adopted an open and transparent approach to the development of a solution, publishing research and examples along the way.

Detecting the precise iPad or iPhone after iOS 12.2 is a bit of a headache, but so important for accurate analytics given Apple's dominance in the tablet and smartphone market. Traditional User-Agent based solutions need to be enhanced with JavaScript.

We break down what a User-Agent is, and the most important segments we take from them to identify core components such as operating system, hardware model, and browser.

As you may already know, with the release of iOS 12.2, Apple removed some vital information which allowed device detection solutions to accurately identify Apple devices. You can read more about how iOS 12.2 degrades device detection accuracy.

The release of iOS 12.2 at the end of March removed the ability for device detection solutions such as 51Degrees to precisely identify Apple devices. Now 51Degrees open sources GPU renderer technique that can identify Apple iOS 12.2 device models.

The new Apple iOS update has disabled a common GPU based method of achieving precise model granularity.

This blog shares the latest 51Degrees User-Agent Analysis including User-Agent examples from the latest Smartphones and Tablets. Currently, we have over 51,000 device models in our database.

This blog shares the latest 51Degrees User Agent Analysis including User Agent examples from Smartphones, MediaHubs and Consoles. Currently, we have over 50,000 device models in our database.

As part of our continual improvement programme we would like to take this opportunity to inform our customers of an improvement we are making in the near future.