Event compatibility - mobile

Last updated on 29 January 2014.

Here are the results of my event tests on mobile browsers.

See also the desktop table.

This table is different than usual, in that it only gives a broad overview. I do mobile event tests in batches, and my test array usually changes between batches. Also, one event may lead to several questions. So this table would either be split into a lot of subtables, or only give a general overview. I opted for the latter, and moved the subtables to detail pages.

Also, I have not yet tested all events on mobile.

Event iOS Android Blink BB Nokia Misc IE FF Proxy browsers
click
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

This one is safe. Always use click.
contextmenu
 No No Yes 10 No UC8 No OS No

Could serve as a useful proxy for touchhold actions, but is too badly supported.

  • UC8, but not 9, supports it.
  • Firefox OS supports it; Firefox on Android doesn’t.
mousedown, mousemove, mouseup
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Incomplete

Included in touchscreen browsers for legacy reasons.

  • Opera Mini handles it fine. Xpress and UC don’t.
mouseover, mouseout
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Mouseover fires in the event cascade when the user touches an element. Mouseout fires on the original element when the user touches another element.
mouseenter, mouseleave
 7 no no no no no Yes Yes no

These events are new even on the desktop (except in IE). They are wonderful in a desktop environment, but merely legacy events on touchscreens.
orientationchange
Fires when the device's orientation changes 		Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No

Big question: should the event also fire when you rotate the device 180 degrees? In a way, the orientation (landscape or portait) does not change.
pointerdown, pointermove, pointerup
 No No No No No No Yes No No

Microsoft’s combined touch/mouse events. Currently only implemented by IE10, but there’s a chance they’ll become the standard.
resize
Fires when the viewport resizes. But which viewport? 		Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10 Yes No
  • All supporting browsers support it on the layout viewport.
  • Only Android 2 (not 4!), BlackBerry, and IE10 consistently support it on the visual viewport.
  • Only Safari consistently supports it on the HTML element. I think this is a bug.
scroll
 One Yes Yes 10 One Yes Yes Yes No

Should the browser fire one scroll event when scrolling ends, or a lot of them while scrolling continues? I count the second as “right,” but mostly because most browsers do so, and not because I think lots of scroll events are inherently superior.

One
Browser fires one event at the end of the scroll action.
touchstart, touchmove, touchend
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Most Yes No Yes No

Apple’s touch events, which were copied by all browsers save IE.