How to request a desktop site on the iPhone

Why view the desktop version of a website on a mobile browser?

Both Safari and Chrome are well optimized for accessing the web on mobile devices. However, a few websites still exist that do not provide an optimal surfing experience on mobile devices. As a result, the user might not be able to access critical functionalities of that web page on a mobile browser.

In such a case, users need to switch to the desktop version of a website from their mobile browsers. Doing this enables them to view the entire web page at once.

Post demonstration, this article also explains how teams can test their websites instantly on Safari directly from their browsers on real desktop and mobile devices.

Now let’s get started with the demonstration.

How to request a desktop site on the iPhone?

Listed below are the steps one can follow to view the desktop version of a website in Safari running on iPhone (iOS 13)

1. Open the Safari browser and navigate to any website.
2. Once the website loads, click the “aA” icon available in the top corner positioned before the address bar. It opens the website view menu.
3. From the available options, choose the “Request Desktop Website” option.

In case, one wants access to the latest iPhones for testing,

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Users who are using iOS 12 and earlier versions, follow these two steps:

Step1: Open the Safari browser window and navigate to the desired website. Once the website loads, tap and hold on the “Refresh” button next to the address bar.

Step 2: A pop-up appears at the bottom of the screen, choose Request Desktop Site from the two options.

Following the steps above will help in viewing the desktop version of any website.

Now, let’s understand how teams can ensure that their website is optimized for both mobile and desktop versions of Safari.

There are two easy methods:

Method 1: Manually downloading latest and legacy browser versions of Safari

Developers and QAs can download the latest and older versions of Safari manually on their devices and test websites on it. However, this process is extremely time-consuming and effort-intensive. Downloading and installing individual browser versions is an inefficient task.

Besides, testing different versions of Safari on real iOS devices means requires teams to have on-premise device labs. Having such labs incurs huge investments, both financially and in terms of human effort. Maintaining and updating it on a regular basis comprises an additional overhead.

Method 2: Using BrowserStack to test websites on real devices

For comprehensive cross browser testing across a variety of browser versions and devices, teams need the ideal test infrastructure. BrowserStack exactly does that by providing teams cloud-based access to 2000+ real devices and browsers. BrowserStack’s real device cloud provides the following:

1. Real Android and iOS devices (latest and legacy handsets)
2. Windows and macOS environments running on real machines
3. Popular browsers like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and others

QAs or developers just need to choose the desired environment (macOS or iOS), followed by the device type and browser versions. Then, they start testing.

Start Testing on all Browser Versions for Free

BrowserStack enables effortless testing on both mobile and desktop versions of Safari. This is because teams can select the desired test environment with a few clicks. The image below represents the real iOS devices and macOS environments provided by BrowserStack for testing.

Now, let’s have a look at a sample Safari session running on iPhone 11 Pro.BrowserStack also provides the following vital features:

1. Geolocation testing to evaluate the geography-based behavior of the website.
2. Integrations with popular bug reporting tools like Jira, Trello, and Slack.
3. Instant access for developers and QAs to Safari DevTools.
4. Testing of haptic features like pinch to zoom in or zoom out or device rotation.

Thus, one can easily view desktop versions of websites on iPhones. One can also conclude how platforms like BrowserStack can make the process easier, faster and foolproof.