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I'd like to know what precise version of Mobile Safari the iPad I'm using has. Is there any way to find out (preferably from the device itself)? There doesn't seem to be any menu in Safari Mobile, and thus none to choose "About" from. If you go to Settings | Safari, you see various useful things, but no "About" or "Version" or similar, which surprised me.

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8 Answers 8

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Since Ross McNab's answer appears to no longer work...

Bookmark this (or any) page - then edit the bookmark - call it what you like, but change the url to...

javascript:alert(navigator.userAgent)

Now you can check your user agent any time you feel like conveniently from your bookmarks. For iOS 15 you might get a result like this:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 15_5 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/15.5 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1

Or if it's just a quick one-off check you want and you're connected to the 'net, do what T.J. originally posted.

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    This no longer works, as current versions of safari block javascript from being executed in the address bar.
    – r3wt
    Apr 27, 2018 at 20:59
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    @r3wt - This works just fine in Safari on iOS. Note that Billy's answer doesn't have you executing from the address bar. It has you creating a bookmarklet, then running it. That still works, where writing the above directly in the address bar does not. Sep 23, 2019 at 9:33
  • Sadly, this no longer works because running JavaScript from the address bar is prohibited now in the latest version. Ironically, I'm still trying to find out what version that actually is... :)
    – Thomas
    Jul 5, 2021 at 12:37
  • @Thomas - Works for me on iOS 15.5, which my phone says is the latest. Note this is using a bookmarklet, not (directly) writing JavaScript in the address bar. (The whole point of this answer is that a previous one wrote directly in the address bar and stopped working.) Mind you, the "Safari" version is now just synced to the iOS version, so you can just go look what iOS version you're on. Jul 14, 2022 at 6:23
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2022 update: The easiest way these days it to look at what iOS version you're using (Settings > General > Software Update), because it appears that the iOS Safari version is now synced to iOS version (iOS version 15.4's Safari reports it's Version 15.4, 15.5's Safari reports it's Version 15.5, etc.). (Can't find a citation for that, though, sadly.)


The only way I've found Ross McNab's way was much better but sadly no longer works (thanks, Apple); Billy Moon's way works but is a bit awkward for one-off checks.

Another way to do this is to use an external website (there are plenty to choose from, just search on "what's my browser"), which will report my user-agent string back to me.

So for instance, these sites will report back to me that my user-agent string is:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5

...the Version/5.0.2 part tells me I'm using Mobile Safari 5.0.2.

Note: See Jim Grisham's answer — while this will tell you Safari version, the WebKit version it shows you is apparently no longer accurate.

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  • I didn't even realize you were answering your own question, but to confirm: yes that would be the only way. You could condense a list of iOS versions and installed Mobile Safari and use that for reference, if no one else has done it already...
    – Gerry
    Nov 9, 2011 at 16:45
  • @T.J.Crowder, you should probably accept your own answer - it's the best way of doing what you asked.
    – JW8
    Nov 9, 2011 at 23:39
  • Sadly, even this will no longer work: for privacy reasons, all versions of iOS after version 11.4.1 report a maximum WebKit version of 605.1.15. Jul 14, 2022 at 3:21
  • (clarification to my previous comment) ~ In February 2018, Apple loosened their policy a bit: WebKit version would still be frozen, but major iOS & Safari versions would remain in the reported user-agent http header string; see: Release notes; Safari 11.1 (for iOS 11.3 and macOS 13.4); also, note that “Safari builds upon whatever user-agent string provided by WebKit.”. Jul 14, 2022 at 19:30
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You can get the userAgent string without visiting an external website, by typing the following in the Safari address bar (where you would normally type a URL):

javascript:alert(navigator.userAgent)

You must type it exactly as it appears here, matching case and punctuation.

An alert popup will appear with the full useragent string, which contains the version number of Safari and iOS.

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    Sadly, this has stopped working, as noted by Billy Moon. Nowadays you have to create a bookmark, go back and edit it to change the location to the javascript:alert(navigator.userAgent) bit, and then follow the bookmark -- that still works. Mar 3, 2015 at 10:31
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None of the javascript answers worked for me. I found an easier way! There are several "what's my IP address?" pages out there, such as this one. These pages tell you your IP address and, in some cases, what your browser is, what your operating system is, and if your browser is up to date.

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2022 update:

For privacy reasons, Mobile Safari on any devices with iOS / iPadOS 11.4.1 or later will only report a maximum WebKit version of 605.1.15 in the User-Agent string (I imagine something similar is true for anything accessible via JavaScript).


If you know the iOS version of the device, the ‘Safari version history’ chart (or this archived version) at Wikipedia is probably the easiest place to look. (That page contains references for the underlying data sources.)

Example:

iOS 12.5.5: Safari 12.1.2 / WebKit 607.1.40
iOS 13.7: Safari 13.1 / WebKit 609.1.20
iOS 14.7: Safari 14.1.2 / WebKit 611.1.21
iOS 15.4: Safari 15.4 / WebKit 613.1.17

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You can visit http://spiderip.com to check the user agent and version of safari

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    Could you explain why this works, not just a link. Just goiving a link makes me think of viruses and trojans etc.
    – mmmmmm
    May 9, 2013 at 12:17
  • This works because on every request the browser send this information to the webserver. But usually you just do not see this and this webpage just "reflects" the information passed via the request.
    – user72693
    Mar 11, 2014 at 9:50
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Handy alternative if you want to copy paste this info / you're already there: plug your iPad into your mac (assuming platform!) and in OSX Safari, remote debug the device, and copy the User Agent from the Resource Panel under Request Headers.

Enable remote debugging:

  • In OSX Safari’s Preferences pane under Advanced, check the Show Develop menu in the menu bar checkbox.
  • On iDevice: Settings > Safari > Advanced

http://moduscreate.com/enable-remote-web-inspector-in-ios-6/

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    Thanks for this. It took me a while to figure the Resource Panel is on the right edge of the screen (not the Resources tab).
    – akauppi
    Jul 24, 2016 at 20:48
  • Unfortunately, I still didn't get any precise versions this way. Just iOS 9.3.2 which I knew anyways. So while I enjoyed your answer, I'm not necessarily recommending it to others. Hope you understand. ,o
    – akauppi
    Jul 25, 2016 at 11:14
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For some reason javascript:alert(navigator.userAgent) did not work. I tried it but got an error from Safari saying it was not allowed (tested on iOS 12).

I happened to be on jsfiddle.net, typing it in there did work :)

jsfiddle.net is an online website where you can type in JavaScript. And since the JavaScript is coming from the page and not directly from the browser, it is allowed to display.

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