While many websites in this day and age have embraced responsive design, which rescales a full webpage to properly fit on smaller screens, there are still a pesky number who insist on serving "slimmed down" mobile versions to iPhone and iPad users. This can be a pain, especially if you're using an iPad and are triggering a far-too-big-for-your-screen mobile display, or you're trying to find a feature that the website owner simply hasn't provided in mobile form.
Thankfully, you can disregard the website owner's wishes and get whatever version you prefer with a quick Safari trick.
Note: While this will work for "m.[domain].com" websites—you just have to retype the original "domain.com" in the URL bar to get the site—you won't get a "desktop"-sized version if the site you're visiting has been responsively designed to scale to certain screen sizes.
How to request the desktop version of a website in mobile Safari
- Visit the affected site in Safari.
- Tap and hold the Refresh button in the URL bar.
- Tap Request Desktop Site.
- The website will then reload as its desktop version.
This will last as long as you have that tab open for that website; close the tab, or enter in a new web address in that tab, and you'll revert to the mobile version if you return.
