Custom User Agents
Besides the standard “Mobile” and “Desktop” user agents, you can configure a custom User Agent for every Lite App individually to see a different browsing experience than the default.
By default, Hermit presents the original Chrome user-agent string because many sites refuse to work with a custom browser, even though it is functionally identical (or superior) to more popular browsers.
You have the following options:
- Mobile: Same as Mobile Chrome, using the same version as the Android WebView installed on your phone.
- Desktop: Same as Desktop Chrome, using the same version as the Android WebView installed on your phone.
- Custom: Configure a custom User Agent for every Lite App individually to see a different browsing experience than the one served by default to your browser.
User Agent Reduction
For increased privacy, Hermit will only include the major version of the WebView in the User-Agent header, instead of the whole string. Details about the specific phone brand/model, and Android version are fully redacted before transmission, to ensure they cannot be used for fingerprinting.
This mirrors recent changes implemented in Chrome.
How to Configure
- Launch your Hermit Lite App.
- Tap on the Settings button
to open the “Quick Settings” sidebar. - Within Quick Settings, tap on the “More Settings” button.
- Under “Content”, press “User Agent”.
- Type or paste the user-agent string you would like to use
- Press “OK” to save.
Current User Agent
This is your current user agent, as reported by your browser: (useful for testing)