Nexus 4 detected as android 4.4

dtarrant

BBC iPlayer has stopped working on my N4, but still works fine on my M10 tablet.
I've investigated using www.whatsmybrowser.org and found that the OS is reported as Ubuntu 16.04 for the M10, but Android 4.4 for the N4.
Both devices were running Ubuntu touch version 553.
The BBC Troubleshooting page cites an 'outdated browser' as a likely cause of problems.
Please advise how I should proceed. Thanks.

AppLee

@dtarrant
In Morph Browser, you can try the hamburger menu (upper-right) -> parameters -> Activate desktop mode
If it doesn't work you can try to change the user agent.

But if the browser has to be updated then you'll have to wait until a more recent QtWebEngine is integrated...
The first tip should work if both are running the same version of UT and one is working.

dtarrant

@AppLee The browser is reported as 'Default Browser 65' for both devices.
I think the BBC has updated the iPlayer website recently and it is objecting to 'Android 4.4'. I don't understand why Ubuntu Touch would report itself as Android. Anyhow, thanks for your suggestion. I will give it a try.

dtarrant

@AppLee Great advice; many thanks! I switched browser settings to desktop mode on the N4 and now the OS is reported as Ubuntu 16.04 and the BBC iPlayer website works. You are a star!

AppLee

@dtarrant said in Nexus 4 detected as android 4.4:

I don't understand why Ubuntu Touch would report itself as Android

In order to be identified as a mobile browser, Morph uses the same user agent as android.
Most website only consider android and iOS as web browsers...

Glad I could help

Stefano

@AppLee just oit of curiosity, how would you change the user agent in Morph browser?

AppLee

@Stefano
In Morph, IDK, but you can add the user agent to a webapp which is what I do for some website (like my bank).
For webapps you have to edit the .desktop file and modify the Exec line like that:
Exec=webapp-container --user-agent-string="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu 16.04) AppleWebKit/537.36 Chrome/65.0.3325.151 Safari/537.36" --webappUrlPatterns=https://mywebsite.com/* https://mywebsite.com/

dtarrant

@AppLee That looks pretty scary to me. Could you use that technique with Webapp Creator? How about Webber?
I've been de-installing my private webapps (made with Webapp Creator) and replacing them with shortcuts made with Webber. In most cases this worked fine. I only had trouble with the BBC website which worked on my N4 prior their recent website upgrade.

domubpkm

@dtarrant About the user agent in webber, you can read this issue opened : https://github.com/timsueberkrueb/webber/issues/32

dtarrant

@domubpkm Interesting. Thanks for the link. Looks like a complicated subject with many variables. Not for the faint-hearted.