Hi! I have an iPad 2 (or something, an old one) and I’m trying to browse a site (ultimate-guitar). The site must know that I’m on an iPad, because whenever I try to do something, it tries to redirect me to the app.
I don’t want to download that app. I want the website to work like it does on my PC – fully functional without an app, no weird popups suggesting I use the app, etc.
I think I need to change my browser user agent so that the site thinks that I’m on a computer, not a tablet. I can’t figure out how to do that in Safari or Brave. I’ll try Firefox next, I guess, but in the meantime, any advice here?
(ETA: I’m already asking for the desktop version of the webpage from the browser, so that won’t fix it)
They’re available now, but an Ipad 2 won’t be able to run a new enough version of IpadOS to use browser extensions.
Does it help to have the browser request the desktop version of the site? I know that option has been available longer than extensions have been available, and the option is built-in to Safari.
It’s also possible you may just be out of luck. Some websites are very pushy about insisting that you use the app when browsing from a phone or tablet.
I’m not using a 13 year old iPad to do this, but on my phone when I go to ultimate-guitar and select a song, I get a pop-up at the bottom of the screen that asks if I want to open the link with the app or continue to open it with Safari. Is that what happens for you, or is it just automatically kicking you out to the App Store or what? If you get the pop-up, is the Safair option not visible?
I can tap the “Continue” with Safari button and it opens the page in Safari.
edit-
A workaround that may work for you is to tap and hold the link to the song and copy the link without actually opening it yet, then make a new tab, paste the link and go. For me, that opened the song page without it asking if I wanted to open it in the app. But there is a persistent “Open in App” button on the page.
I get the pop-up, which I can ignore, but if I press any buttons, like the auto scroll (play) button, it again wants to go to the app. On a regular computer, the auto scroll button starts the scrolling function.
I just can’t get that function to work on the iPad.
It’s weird, because I check the user agent, and it appears to just be a Mac user agent. How does that page even know I’m on an iPad?
On an old iPad with iOS 10.3.4, I requested the desktop site and autoscroll seemed to work fine without kicking me to the App Store.
If you really are using an iPad 2, your version of iOS is I think no later than 9, so that could be a difference.
How are you requesting the desktop site? In iOS 10 it’s done by tapping and holding the reload button in the address bar until the “Request Desktop Site” pop-up appears. Is it possible you’ve requested the desktop site for the ultimate-guitar home page and not the actual page with the chords and autoplay button?
I have it set to always request the desktop site. I could try going to the site, clearing cookies at that point, and then seeing if anything works. Maybe it will forget I started on an iPad. I’ll report back.