Detecting that the browser has no mouse and is touch-only

Question

I\'m developing a webapp (not a website with pages of interesting text) with a very different interface for touch (your finger hides the screen when you click) and mouse (re

Answer 1

Just found a solution that I think is quite elegant.

// flag as mouse interaction by default
var isMouse = true;

// detect a touch event start and flag it
$(window).on('touchstart', function () {
  // if triggers touchstart, toggle flag
  // since touch events come before mouse event / click
  // callback of mouse event will get in callback
  // `isMouse === false`
  isMouse = false;
});

// now the code that you want to write
// should also work with `mouse*` events
$('a.someClass').on('click', function () {
  if (isMouse) {
    // interaction with mouse event
    // ...
  } else {
    // reset for the next event detection
    // this is crucial for devices that have both
    // touch screen and mouse
    isMouse = true;

    // interaction with touch event
    // ...
  }
});