DeviceMotionEvent.requestPermission() is not a function on Chrome + Safari Desktop

Question

In iOS 12.2 Apple removed the motion sensors by default from mobile Safari. Chrome did something similar recently too. In iOS 13, a requestPermission popup was added back.

.then(response => {
  if (response == 'granted') {
    window.addEventListener('devicemotion', (e) => {
      // do something with e
    })
  }
})
.catch(console.error)

This solution works great for mobile browsers, and those are now working.

I'm hitting issues now on non-mobile browsers (Edge Chromium, and Chrome)

Uncaught TypeError: window.DeviceMotionEvent.requestPermission is not a function at game.start_handling (game.js:706)

I'm assuming I need to do some sort of check if the method/function exists before calling it. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

My current solution is to do a check if the browser is mobile. This works, but I feel like there is probably a better way.

  var check = false;
  (function(a){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))) check = true;})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera);
  return check;
};

Answer 2

Check existance of requestPermission

Best to just check beforehand whether requestPermission is available.

function setMotionListeners() {

    if (typeof DeviceMotionEvent.requestPermission === 'function') {

        // Note: You can use "DeviceOrientationEvent" here as well

        await DeviceMotionEvent.requestPermission()
        .catch( (error) => {
            console.log("Error getting sensor permission: %O", error)
            return // Exit out of logic
        })
    }
    
    // ----------------------------------

    // At this point...

    // 1 - Browsers using requestPermission (e.g. Safari iOS)
    // make it here because users have allowed the above permission.

    // 2 - Browsers not-using requestPermission (e.g. everyone else)
    // make it here normally, because they ignore the above 
    // condition check. Such browsers auto-prompt the user
    // for permission, when the listener is triggered the very first time.

    // 3 - Browsers that have no sensors at all
    // (e.g. the typical desktop device) ignore all of this, 
    // including your listeners below.

    // ----------------------------------

    // Declare your motion and orientation listeners...

}