The MobileESP project seeks to provide web site developers an easy-to-use and lightweight API for detecting whether visitors are using a mobile device, and if so, what kind. The APIs provide simple boolean results (“true” or “false”) for identifying individual device categories (such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile), device capabilities (e.g., J2ME), and broad classes of devices, such as “iPhone Tier” (iPhone/Android/WebOS) and smartphones.
This project maintains and extends the original code created by Anthony Hand of Hand Interactive ( http://www.hand-interactive.com ). The code library is available in several popular programming languages: PHP, Java, ASP.NET (C#), Python (for Django), C++ for server-side detection, and JavaScript for more limited client-side detection. Community members have also ported MobileESP to Ruby and Classic ASP (VBscript), and separately maintain these ports. The APIs are designed to be consistent across code languages.
The MobileESP project is easy to use, install, and customize. Please see the Download page for more information on downloading the latest version for your preferred programming environment.
Important Caveat: The MobileESP project code is lightweight and ideal for many web sites. However, this project is not meant to replace other projects offering greater specificity and control, such as WURFL or HandsetDetection.com.
