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Get a browser to work where it's not welcome

Q. I thought I'd lost my iPad and tried to use Find My Phone on my


Android phone. Apple's site said my browser wasn't supported. What's
wrong with it?
A Nothing, really. When Apple's iloud.!om greets "oogle's hrome
browser #or Android with a page reporting, $%our browser is not !urre
ntly supported,$ that doesn't mean you !an't use a phone running "oo
gle's operating system to lo!ate a tablet running Apple's operating sys
tem.
%ou !an wor& around this blo!& with a #ew taps o# an Android phon
e's s!reen.
'ou!h hrome's menu button (the three dots in the top)right !orne
r*, s!roll down that menu and sele!t $+e,uest des&top site.$ -oom. Ap
ple's iloud portal presents its usual log)in #orm, and a#ter you enter y
our username and password, its $Find My Phone$ page should #un!tio
n as i# you were on a des&top.
What's going on here is one online untruth being answered with an
other. First a site sees a mobile browser &no!& on its door / it &nows
what &ind be!ause browsers !ough up this $user agent$ in#ormation a
utomati!ally / and re#uses it admission with a misleading message. '
hen the browser responds by saying, in e0e!t, $Ne1er mind what I sai
d be#ore, I'm a!tually a des&top browser.$
It's an old tri!& #or an old problem / although hrome ma&es this w
or&around mu!h easier to dis!o1er. 2n other browsers su!h as Apple's
3a#ari #or 23 4, you may ha1e to ad5ust a setting to e6pose a hidden m
enu be#ore you !an ha1e that program impersonate !ompetitors.
I as&ed Apple P+ why a page that seems to wor& great in a mobile b
rowser would shut out that same browser, but !ompany reps did not r
eturn two e)mails. 'he iloud home page is persni!&ety in general abo
ut presenting di0erent 1ersions o# itsel# to di0erent browsers7 i# you 1i
sit it on an iPhone, you get a page with a lin& to install Apple's Find M
y Phone app.
I thin& Apple's ma&ing a basi! mista&e in throwing up a stop sign #o
r Android users. As a general prin!iple, sites should blo!& only browse
rs that are too old or in!apable to handle basi! #un!tions there, not be
!ause they represent the wrong mar&et se!tor or run on the wrong de
1i!e.
Apple itsel# should &now the problem o# treating the mobile Web an
d the des&top Web as separate uni1erses. 'hree years ago, the New %o
r& Poststarted blo!&ing 3a#ari #or i23, telling users o# that browser to
buy the paper's app and sign up #or a digital subs!ription instead.
People were understandably ir&ed to see the Post brea& the Web an
d be so stupid about it / using an alternate i23 browser let you get ar
ound its restri!tion. As a mar&eting model, dis!riminating against som
e mobile readers didn't wor&. A year later, the Post,uietly abandoned
this strategy.
'hat doesn't mean you won't run into real problems using a des&top
site on a phone or a tablet. 'wo re!ent !hanges to "oogle's sear!h en
gine aim to gi1e you a heads)up about those issues. 8ast month, it beg
an ad1ising mobile users i# a site would detour them to a phone)only p
ortal instead o# ta&ing them to whate1er lin& they'd re,uested. 8ast w
ee&, it added warnings about sites that present in#ormation in mobile)
un#riendly #ormats su!h as Adobe Flash multimedia.
2ne o# the best #eatures o# "oogle's hrome!ast is its ability to put
any page in "oogle's hrome browser on your '9. 'his #rees you #rom
ha1ing to install its app or waiting #or that app to add hrome!ast sup
port.
3ome sites / #or e6ample, :3PN's Wat!h:3PN.!om / present the s
tu0 you want to 1iew on the big s!reen in a smaller browser window w
ithout the usual hrome!ast button in the top)right !orner. 'o ;6 that,
!opy the page's address into a tab or a new, standard)si<e browser wi
ndow. I# you !an't e1en see an address #or that page, sele!t $:mail Pag
e 8o!ation$ #rom hrome's File menu, and you'll see its address in a n
ew, blan& message
( https.==twitter.!om=%48-22> *plur&( http.==www.plur&.!om=sear!
h&eywords * lin&edin!n.lin&edin.!om=pub=)=?@=ABa=bCB=:dit
*9& (http.==1&.!om=!hinatea!h *reddit(http.==www.reddit.!om=user=e6te
nsionsDA= *weibo (http.==weibo.!om=sear!h&eywords *twitterEy6!lbo
o&

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