Is there a way to force iPad to show a mobile version of a website?

I'm trying to access an internal website to view CCTV cameras with an iPad. It will only show the desktop version. I want it to show the mobile version, as it serves the camera streams in JPEG as opposed to the desktop version which uses ActiveX (which obviously doesn't work on an iPad). An iPhone views the mobile version and it works fine.

I know on Android tablets there is an option to "Request desktop site" and when unchecked will fetch the mobile version. I couldn't find anything within safari or in settings.

How might I get the iPad to be seen as an iPhone and retrieve the mobile layout of the CCTV web page?

Solution 1:

In the URL, instead if "www" you can type "m". For example, http://m.google.com/

**This does not apply to some websites.

Solution 2:

This ultimately depends on how the website was set up. If they are using "user-sniffing" to determine which version of a webpage to serve you, then it might be possible to workaround (this method uses the user agent of the device that you are on to determine which version of a page to display).

They can delimit which devices get served which versions of a particular web page at server level. One way is to use the same URL and just serve up a different version of the same web page. The other way is to redirect you to a different URL (m.yourcompany.com vs. www.yourcompany.com).

Chances are the best way to get around this would be to install an app that allows you to spoof the user agent. It looks like the full version of Atomic Web should allow you to do this (although I haven't tested it personally).

You could always try out Opera, Mercury and vBrowse, if Atomic Web doesn't work for you. However, I think these browsers likely won't work.

For completeness, there is always a possibility they have used an approach called responsive design, and if this is the case there is nothing you can do to remedy the problem. Responsive design serves the same page, but uses CSS to organize it differently based on your screen size (And it can hide some content and display other content). Based off of your situation, however, this approach is highly unlikely to have been used.

Solution 3:

On your iPadOS device, Open Settings > Safari > Request Desktop Sites > Turn Off