jQuery and mobile browser compatibility?

Question

I want to build a relatively simple version of my site for mobile phones, but I will definitely need JavaScript and jQuery for many functions.

Googling didn't help to find an answer. How is compatibility of jQuery with popular browsers in mobile phones?

I am talking for smartphones. For example, the default browsers for these platforms

• Windows Mobile 6+
• Android 1.5+
• iPhone 3G

and let's add Opera Mobile.

Solution 1

jQuery should work fine on at least the Android and iPhone web browsers (don't know about WinMo), as they fully support JavaScript and are for the most part standards compliant.

If you expand a little bit on which specific features of jQuery you're using, I or others can give a better answer here.

Solution 2

The jQuery Mobile framework uses jQuery and has support for many mobile platforms. All browsers that jQuery Mobile works on should be passing the jQuery test suite.

Solution 3

According to the factsheet, there will be jQuery Mobile in October 2010. So we don't need to think about mobile compatibility ever again :))

Solution 4

See What's jQuery's mobile support & strategy?. iPhone, Android, and similar WebKit browsers should be compatible. I think you will have many problems with Windows Mobile.

Solution 5

They now have a browser compatibility matrix like YUI.

View more solutions

Comments

[fractalbit]

Thanks for the answer I will probably need dom manipulation and ajax with the jquery load function

[Linus Unnebäck]

My Nexus One with Android 2.2 performs better on jquery.com/test than my desktop Chromium (5.0.375.99 (51029) Ubuntu 10.04). They fail on almost the same points thought...

[Doug Molineux]

Opera Mobile, for Android 1.5 (I got stuck with this on a Samscum Behold II) does not support javascript.

[hallvors]

You meant Opera Mini, right? Even Opera Mini supports some JavaScript but due to the client-proxy-server setup there are limitations to what you can expect.

[capdragon]

try it on Pocket Internet Explorer, then say it's compatible.

[gcb]

Even on the same android phone, using different browser "skins" i get different results. my jquerymobile page works just fine on the default browser. now using the dolphin browser (i need my tabs) the list items aren't clickable. Code of the page is copy/paste from the docs.

[gcb]

question is more about data than guessing

[martin]

Question was about the jQuery library, not the jQuery mobile framework.

[gcb]

@martin there is no mention of either on the question. And this is the closest to the official instance.

[martin]

jQuery means jquery.com, jQuery-mobile means jquerymobile.com. If the question truly was about the jQuery mobile framework then it warrants an edit. Using the browser compatibility matrix would give false negatives for the library. For example IE6 works perfectly fine "C-grade – Basic, non-enhanced HTML experience that is still functional" only applies to the mobile framework. Answer is misleading in relation to the question.