Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How can I set iPhone to default view full sites instead of mobile?

P

pmcdn

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 13, 2008
263
3
I know that there are some sites in which you can scroll down and select full site, but many don't give you that option, like Facebook. I don't think in Safari you can change it.

I have downloaded opera, Mercury, and Atomic web browsers and have looked through the settings, but still it wants to pull up everything in mobile.

Any tips?
 
pmcdn said:
I know that there are some sites in which you can scroll down and select full site, but many don't give you that option, like Facebook. I don't think in Safari you can change it.

I have downloaded opera, Mercury, and Atomic web browsers and have looked through the settings, but still it wants to pull up everything in mobile.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

It's server side, not an option you can select on the phone (unless any of these can spoof devices?) Basically, the site sees you're using a mobile device and sets the layout to mobile. Well coded sites have a "full site" option that actually works, and FB used to, but, as I said, it's more about the coding of the site than anything setting you can change on the phone.
 
Mobile sites if you scroll down should let you click "desktop" version at the bottom, and usually (though not all the time) if a mobile site loads for me (goes for android and iphone) I delete the .m portion and the site usually loads desktop version.

Some mobile sites like forums I'm on are fine, but a lot have crappy coding and make it a pain in the ass to use. Or, generally with forums, when you click they should say something like " page at http://blah blah blah ... we now offer a mobile theme. Click OK to view it" ad you click ok or cancel to view it as normal.
 
Last edited:
I find this annoying but even worse on my iPad which so many sites automatically load as mobile site. I found a cheat online to change Twitter as that is even worse and hasn't even got a switch to desktop at the bottom.

PJ
 
pmcdn said:
I know that there are some sites in which you can scroll down and select full site, but many don't give you that option, like Facebook. I don't think in Safari you can change it.

I have downloaded opera, Mercury, and Atomic web browsers and have looked through the settings, but still it wants to pull up everything in mobile.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

Did you ever find a way to fix the problem because this annoying and miss that my old Note 2 had the option how to view sites in settings :/ Another Apple flaw
 
pmcdn said:
I know that there are some sites in which you can scroll down and select full site, but many don't give you that option, like Facebook. I don't think in Safari you can change it.

I have downloaded opera, Mercury, and Atomic web browsers and have looked through the settings, but still it wants to pull up everything in mobile.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

I wish there was a direct way to do that... I've reverted to just using bookmarks for the pages I view the most and have the desktop version saved. Sucks but works well for me.
 
iPhone7ate9 said:
I wish I knew who created the concept of a mobile site and kick the crap out of him
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't do that since mobile sites served a good purpose when smartphone screens used to be much smaller and didn't have an easy-to-use 'reader' mode like we do now.
 
Hal~9000 said:
Well I wouldn't do that since mobile sites served a good purpose when smartphone screens used to be much smaller and didn't have an easy-to-use 'reader' mode like we do now.
Click to expand...

I had a tiny phone screen and still hated them. They don't let you zoom for some odd reason, they remove certain links and features etc. I hate them with a passion.
 
There is no universal quick fix. Some sites have CSS that uses screen size for its rules. Others rely on browser agent which can be modified to determine which site to serve you. Others may just depend on a m.domainname.com to serve the mobile site and not do any forcing.

So, the answer to your question is you can't really set it to default consistently.
 
On iPhone 6 plus, while in safari (latest version) I touch the HTTP bar at the top, bring up my favorites, then pull down between a few favorites buttons. You should see "force desktop" button around there.

Doesn't always work but it does work.
 
Use Google Chrome and select "Show Desktop Version" . Once you select that, it will always stay on Desktop until you close that specific window
 
pmcdn said:
I know that there are some sites in which you can scroll down and select full site, but many don't give you that option, like Facebook. I don't think in Safari you can change it.

I have downloaded opera, Mercury, and Atomic web browsers and have looked through the settings, but still it wants to pull up everything in mobile.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

How hard did you look through Mercury's settings? lol. One of its best features is the User Agent switcher! It's on the main menu. Just tap it and select something like Firefox 11 or Firefox 23 and you're golden.
 
For the Plus at least, this should be a preference in Safari that you can just set so it will affect every site. I'm not sure I ever want a mobile site when I've got such a big screen, and I certainly don't want the mobile sites to be the default option.
 
ska916jedi said:
Did you ever find a way to fix the problem because this annoying and miss that my old Note 2 had the option how to view sites in settings :/ Another Apple flaw
Click to expand...

It is now possible to view the desktop version of a site in iOS 8 using Safari (finally).

Tap the address bar to bring up the Favorite menu, then swipe downward on the icons — this will reveal the new "Request Desktop Site" button.

Tapping the button will reload the page, and in the process automatically alter Mobile Safari's user agent string.


10641-2987-i8-rds-l.png


More info and a demo can be found here: http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/10/01/ios-8-makes-it-easier-to-access-desktop-websites-in-safari
 
Hustler1337 said:
It is now possible to view the desktop version of a site in iOS 8 using Safari (finally).

Tap the address bar to bring up the Favorite menu, then swipe downward on the icons — this will reveal the new "Request Desktop Site" button.

Tapping the button will reload the page, and in the process automatically alter Mobile Safari's user agent string.
Click to expand...

I love this, but I've had very mixed results. some sites work fine and will load the desktop versions, while others seem stuck on mobile even after this.
 
any website that uses a responsive layout is not going to react to user-agent changes, or requests for the desktop site because it bases it off the screen size of the device.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back