react-device-detect vs react-responsive
Responsive Design Libraries for React Comparison
1 Year
react-device-detectreact-responsiveSimilar Packages:
What's Responsive Design Libraries for React?

Responsive design libraries for React provide developers with tools to create applications that adapt seamlessly to various devices and screen sizes. These libraries help in detecting device characteristics and applying appropriate styles or components based on the user's environment. They enhance user experience by ensuring that applications are accessible and visually appealing across a wide range of devices, from mobile phones to desktops. By leveraging these libraries, developers can implement responsive design principles more efficiently, reducing the need for extensive media queries and manual adjustments.

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react-device-detect991,5802,86249.6 kB722 years agoMIT
react-responsive767,4397,10856.6 kB6a month agoMIT
Feature Comparison: react-device-detect vs react-responsive

Device Detection

  • react-device-detect:

    react-device-detect provides a comprehensive set of utilities to detect various device types, operating systems, and browsers. It allows developers to conditionally render components or apply styles based on the detected device, enabling tailored user experiences for mobile, tablet, and desktop users.

  • react-responsive:

    react-responsive does not focus on device detection but rather on applying responsive design principles through media queries. It allows developers to create components that adapt to screen size changes, but it does not provide detailed device information.

Implementation Ease

  • react-device-detect:

    The implementation of react-device-detect is straightforward, requiring minimal setup. Developers can easily import the package and use its predefined methods to check device characteristics, making it user-friendly for quick adaptations based on device type.

  • react-responsive:

    react-responsive offers a declarative API that allows developers to define responsive behavior directly in their component render methods. This approach can simplify the process of managing responsive design, as it integrates seamlessly with the React component lifecycle.

Performance Impact

  • react-device-detect:

    While react-device-detect is efficient, excessive reliance on device detection can lead to performance concerns if not managed properly. Developers should ensure that device checks are performed judiciously to avoid unnecessary re-renders or performance bottlenecks.

  • react-responsive:

    react-responsive is designed to be lightweight and efficient, leveraging CSS media queries for performance. It minimizes the need for complex JavaScript calculations, allowing for smoother performance when adapting layouts to different screen sizes.

Flexibility

  • react-device-detect:

    react-device-detect provides flexibility in rendering components based on device type, but it may require additional logic for more complex responsive behaviors. It is best suited for applications that need specific features based on device characteristics.

  • react-responsive:

    react-responsive excels in flexibility by allowing developers to define breakpoints and responsive behaviors directly in the component structure. This makes it easier to manage complex layouts that need to adapt to various screen sizes.

Community and Support

  • react-device-detect:

    react-device-detect has a growing community and is actively maintained, ensuring that developers can find support and updates as needed. However, its focus on device detection may limit its use cases compared to more general responsive design solutions.

  • react-responsive:

    react-responsive benefits from a larger community and extensive documentation, making it easier for developers to find resources, examples, and support. Its focus on responsive design principles aligns well with modern web development practices.

How to Choose: react-device-detect vs react-responsive
  • react-device-detect:

    Choose react-device-detect if you need to identify the user's device and browser characteristics to tailor the experience accordingly. This package is particularly useful for applications that require specific functionality based on device type, such as mobile-specific features or layouts.

  • react-responsive:

    Choose react-responsive if you want to implement responsive layouts and styles based on media queries directly within your React components. This package is ideal for developers looking for a more declarative approach to responsive design, allowing for easy integration of CSS media queries in a React-friendly manner.

README for react-device-detect

react-device-detect

npm

Detect device, and render view according to the detected device type.

Installation

To install, you can use npm or yarn:

npm install react-device-detect --save

or

yarn add react-device-detect

When to use this library

This library uses a technique called user agent sniffing to detect device information. That means it works by examining the User Agent string given by a browser and comparing it to a list of browser and device names it knows about. This technique works, but has drawbacks and may or may not be the right approach, depending on what you're trying to achieve. If you need to detect a specific browser type (e.g. Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer) or specific category of device (e.g. all iPods), this library can do that. If you just want your React app to behave differently or look different on mobiles in general, CSS @media queries and matchMedia are probably what you want. There are many libraries that can help with using @media queries and matchMedia in React projects, such as react-responsive and @react-hook/media-query.

API

Usage

Example:

import { BrowserView, MobileView, isBrowser, isMobile } from 'react-device-detect';
<BrowserView>
  <h1>This is rendered only in browser</h1>
</BrowserView>
<MobileView>
  <h1>This is rendered only on mobile</h1>
</MobileView>

if you don't need a view, you can use isMobile for conditional rendering

import {isMobile} from 'react-device-detect';

function App() {
  renderContent = () => {
    if (isMobile) {
      return <div> This content is available only on mobile</div>
    }
    return <div> ...content </div>
  }

  render() {
    return this.renderContent();
  }
}

If you want to leave a message to a specific browser (e.g IE), you can use isIE selector

import { isIE } from 'react-device-detect';

function App() {
  render() {
    if (isIE) return <div> IE is not supported. Download Chrome/Opera/Firefox </div>
    return (
      <div>...content</div>
    )
  }
}

If you want to render a view on a specific device and with a specific condition:

import { browserName, CustomView } from 'react-device-detect';

function App() {
  render() {
    return (
      <CustomView condition={browserName === "Chrome"}>
        <div>...content</div>
      </CustomView>
    )
  }
}

Style the view

You can style a view component by passing class to the className prop

<BrowserView className="custom-class">
  <p>View content</p>
</BrowserView>

or you can pass inline styles to style prop

const styles = {
  background: 'red',
  fontSize: '24px',
  lineHeight: '2',
};
<BrowserView style={styles}>
  <p>View content</p>
</BrowserView>

Testing

import * as rdd from 'react-device-detect';

rdd.isMobile = true;

// use in tests

License

MIT