Web pages made today can be viewed on any screen or device. But the desktop version of any website is always more complete than the one for your phone. How do I get to it?
Today, the web is so important that every device comes with its own browser. Even TVs and video game consoles have it built in. So, web pages must or should be able to be viewed correctly on different screens, operating systems, etc. Most websites have two versions: one for desktop computers and one for mobile phones or other devices.
The mobile version looks better on smaller screens, has easier-to-use menus, and changed content. But it makes it harder to move around, and it doesn’t always show everything that a website has to offer. So many times, it’s easier to use a desktop version of that site.
The good news is that even if you’re looking at a website on your phone, you can force it to show up in desktop mode. You will need to turn the phone sideways to see the content better, and you may need to zoom in to read the text well. But this way, you will see the whole page, just like on a computer or larger screen. We show you how to do it on both iOS and Android with Chrome and Safari, the two mobile browsers that make up 90% of the market.
Chrome desktop mode
This part of Google Chrome is called “Desktop Version.” The Chrome browser tells the website to show the desktop version instead of the mobile version, which is what happens by default when you open a website on your phone. We’ve already talked about how the mobile mode has both pros and cons.
To use the desktop version of Chrome on iOS or iPadOS or Android, open the browser, go to the web page you want to see, and then go to the Chrome menu in the upper right corner. There are several choices in the drop-down list. We want to turn on the Version for computer option, which is one of them. If you want to switch back to mobile mode, just uncheck that box.
It often works. But some pages aren’t taken for granted, so you might still see them in mobile mode instead of desktop mode. Putting the phone in landscape mode instead of portrait mode also helps. You can try to find a link that says “Desktop version” as a last resort. It’s in some Google services, like Gmail. And some, but not all, pages.
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Activate the desktop version in Safari
Apple’s default browser, Safari, which you can use on your iPhone and/or iPad, also has a desktop mode or version. The option is called “Website on desktop,” and you can find it in a drop-down menu that looks like two capital letters A. In the address bar, we type what we want to search for or the web address directly.
Once you’ve opened a website in Safari, you can tap on that dropdown menu to see different ways to change it. Website in desktop version is the one that interests us, and it works when you click on it. After you update or refresh the page, you will see it as it looks on a desktop. To get back to the default mobile mode, go back to the dropdown menu and then tap Mobile Website.
All web pages can have the desktop version of Safari turned on by default.
Like Chrome, Safari has some pages that don’t follow this setting. It might help if we turn the iPhone and/or iPad sideways. So, the size of the screen will be bigger and more like what is needed to turn on the desktop mode. You can also look for a link on the web page that turns on desktop mode.
With Safari, this desktop mode can be set as the default for all web pages instead of the normal mobile mode. You’ll find the option Website on desktop if you go to Settings > Safari. Inside, you’ll find a list of the web pages you’ve marked to look at on your desktop. And if you turn on the “Other websites” option, the desktop version will be used instead of the usual mobile mode if you don’t change it. At any time, you can uncheck this box.
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