The Ubuntu Touch web browser finally has its own, unique User Agent string.
User Agents are “sniffed” by many websites to decide how best to present their content. The UA can affect everything from what features are presented to how the website looks.
Mobile browser UA’s are often used to provide prompts about dedicated mobile apps available for the site. This approach in particular has seen Ubuntu Touch users routinely been greeted with “Download our Android App!” and links designed to pass over to apps on Android (particularly YouTube links).
The web browser app in Touch now has its own, unique identifier – one that lists itself as ‘Ubuntu’ and not ‘Android’ or ‘iPhone’. And while many websites will likely continue to ignore it because of the flawed way they sniff out strings, on the whole the experience of viewing web through the window of Ubuntu Touch will become much nicer in future.