IE in Windows Phone 8.1 has a new User-Agent string

Not all websites are responsive yet, and many of them have two more versions. One for desktop computers, the other for portable devices. The algorithms that ensure that the portable version is displayed on the phone contain bugs. IE therefore has no choice but to adapt to these errors. But there is no other way than to change your face and pretend to be a different browser. Users will feel the change for the better, while the loudest protests will be those developers who caused the whole situation by ignoring IE.

It’s been almost a year since Internet Explorer 11 was released as part of Windows 8.1 and an update for Windows 7. One of the many changes it contains is a new form of the User-Agent string (it is an HTTP header that the browser sends to the server with each request). Because a lot of javascript code is simply written incorrectly and thus purposefully restricts IE users, there is nothing left to do but pretend to be another browser. Internet Explorer no longer has a MSIE identifier even on Windows Phone.

The Internet Explorer User-Agent string on Windows Phone looks like this:

While the change has helped to make modern features of sites that used to be intentionally blocked for IE more accessible on the desktop, it has another significant impact on the phone. Self-redirecting to the portable version of the website will be more effective for Windows Phone.