What Is My User Agent?
See the user agent your browser sends to every website, what it reveals about your browser, system and device, and what it keeps hidden. Paste any other user agent to decode it.
Your User Agent
Reading your user agent…Loading...Understanding Your Result
The result at the top is one of these:
Possible results
| Browser on system | For example Google Chrome 141 on Windows 11. Your user agent looks normal and matches everything else your browser reports. |
| User agent changed | An extension, a setting or developer tools changed your user agent, and it no longer matches the rest of your browser. Websites can notice the difference. |
| Bot or script name | The user agent belongs to a crawler, an automated browser or a command-line tool, such as Googlebot or curl, not a regular browser. |
What Your User Agent Doesn't Say
Browsers now hide or freeze parts of the user agent to make tracking harder. Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers share the hidden details only when a website asks for them through User-Agent Client Hints. Here is what your browser shows by default and what it reveals on request:
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Common frozen values you'll see in user agents:
- Windows NT 10.0 means Windows 10 or Windows 11. Only Client Hints tell them apart.
- Mac OS X 10_15_7 appears on every Mac, whatever macOS version it runs. "Intel" appears on Apple silicon Macs too.
- Android 10; K in Chrome on Android hides the real Android version and the phone model.
- Chrome/141.0.0.0: Chrome sends only the major version. The full build number is a Client Hint.
Headers Your Browser Sent to Our Server
Every request carries the User-Agent header. Chromium browsers also send three low-detail Client Hints headers automatically. These are exactly what our server received from you:
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User Agent Parser
Paste any user agent string to see which browser, system and device it describes, or whether it's a bot. Useful for reading server logs, analytics and support tickets.
What Is a User Agent?
A user agent is a short line of text your browser sends with every request. It tells the website which browser you use, its version, your operating system and whether you're on a phone or a computer. It travels in the User-Agent HTTP header, and pages can also read it with JavaScript as navigator.userAgent.
You don't have to allow anything for this to happen. The website gets your user agent before the page even loads, together with your IP address. Apps, scripts and search engine crawlers send a user agent too, which is how a website knows a visit came from Googlebot and not from a person.
How to Read a User Agent String
Here is a typical user agent of Chrome on Windows, split into its parts:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/141.0.0.0 Safari/537.36| Part | What it means |
|---|---|
Mozilla/5.0 | A leftover from the 1990s that every browser sends. It means nothing today (see below). |
(Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) | The operating system and processor: 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. On a Mac this reads Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7, on an iPhone iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 18_6 like Mac OS X. |
AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) | The rendering engine family. Chrome's Blink engine grew out of WebKit, so it still claims WebKit, and WebKit once claimed to work "like Gecko", Firefox's engine. |
Chrome/141.0.0.0 | The actual browser and its major version. Version numbers change every few weeks. |
Safari/537.36 | Added so websites written for Safari also work in Chrome. It doesn't mean you use Safari. |
Other browsers add their own name at the end: Microsoft Edge adds Edg/, Opera OPR/ and Samsung Internet SamsungBrowser/. Firefox looks different, with Gecko/20100101 Firefox/ and its version. Brave and Vivaldi send the same user agent as Chrome on purpose, so they don't stand out.
Why Does Every Browser Say "Mozilla"?
In the 1990s, Netscape Navigator (code name Mozilla) supported features other browsers didn't, so websites sent their best pages only to user agents that began with "Mozilla". Internet Explorer started calling itself "Mozilla compatible" to get the same pages. Every browser since has done the same, and later added "like Gecko", "Safari" and "Chrome" for the same reason. The result is the long, confusing string every browser sends today.
What Websites Do with Your User Agent
- Show the right version of the page. Mobile or desktop layout, the right download button for Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android.
- Work around browser bugs. Developers use it to fix problems that occur only in one browser or version, and support teams ask for it to reproduce your issue.
- Count visitors. Analytics tools report which browsers and devices people use.
- Block bots and fraud. Sites check whether a "browser" is really a script, and banks may flag a login from an unusual browser or device.
- Track you. Combined with other details, your user agent helps build a browser fingerprint that can recognize you without cookies.
Is Your User Agent a Privacy Risk?
On its own, not much. Your user agent contains no name, account or IP address, and millions of people share the same one. The risk comes from combining it with other details your browser reveals: your IP address, screen size, time zone, installed fonts and graphics card. Together they can make your browser unique.
A rare user agent makes you easier to pick out. An old browser version, an unusual Linux distribution or a custom string set by an extension is shared by few people, while the latest Chrome on Windows 11 or Safari on iPhone is shared by millions. See your full fingerprint in the Browser Fingerprint Test and everything else your browser shares in Browser & Device Info.
How to Change Your User Agent
Developers change the user agent to test how a site behaves on another device. Here is how to do it in each browser:
Chrome and Edge
- Press F12 (Mac: Cmd+Option+I) to open developer tools.
- Open the menu with three dots → More tools → Network conditions. In newer versions, you can also click More network conditions in the Network panel.
- Under User agent, uncheck Use browser default and pick a device or paste your own string.
- Reload the page to apply the new user agent.
The change lasts only while developer tools stay open in that tab. To preview a phone layout, the device toolbar (Ctrl+Shift+M) is easier.
Firefox
- Type
about:configin the address bar and accept the warning. - Search for
general.useragent.override, choose String and click +. - Paste the user agent you want. Delete the setting to go back to normal.
Safari on Mac
- Safari → Settings → Advanced → turn on Show features for web developers (on older versions: Show Develop menu in menu bar).
- In the Develop menu, choose User Agent and pick a browser, or Other to enter your own.
iPhone, iPad and Android
Mobile browsers don't let you type a custom user agent, but you can switch to the desktop version. On iPhone, tap aA in Safari's address bar and choose Request Desktop Website. In Chrome on Android, open the menu with three dots and check Desktop site. iPad Safari already requests desktop sites by default and reports itself as a Mac.
Changing your user agent doesn't make you anonymous. Your IP address stays the same, and websites can compare your user agent with Client Hints, the navigator.platform value and how your browser behaves. A Firefox user agent in a Chrome browser is easy to spot and makes you more unique, not less. To blend in, use a browser that makes every user look the same, such as Tor Browser or Mullvad Browser, or one with built-in fingerprinting protection. Compare them in Best Privacy Browsers.
The Verdict: Your User Agent Is Not a Secret
Every website gets your user agent automatically. It names your browser, system and device type, and Chromium browsers reveal even more through Client Hints when a site asks.
It's harmless alone, but it adds to your fingerprint. Keep your browser up to date so you share the most common user agent, and don't fake it unless you're testing. Fingerprinting protection hides you better than a changed user agent.
Test Your Browser Fingerprint