Web/API/Network Information API

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The Network Information API provides information about the system's connection in terms of general connection type (e.g., 'wifi', 'cellular', etc.). This can be used to select high definition content or low definition content based on the user's connection. The entire API consists of the addition of the NetworkInformation interface and a single property to the Navigator interface: Navigator.connection.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

Examples

Detect connection changes

This example watches for changes to the user's connection.

var connection = navigator.connection || navigator.mozConnection || navigator.webkitConnection;
var type = connection.effectiveType;

function updateConnectionStatus() {
  console.log("Connection type changed from " + type + " to " + connection.effectiveType);
  type = connection.effectiveType;
}

connection.addEventListener('change', updateConnectionStatus);

Preload large resources

The connection object is useful for deciding whether to preload resources that take large amounts of bandwidth or memory. This example would be called soon after page load to check for a connection type where preloading a video may not be desirable. If a cellular connection is found, then the preloadVideo flag is set to false. For simplicity and clarity, this example only tests for one connection type. A real-world use case would likely use a switch statement or some other method to check all of the possible values of NetworkInformation.type. Regardless of the type value you can get an estimate of connection speed through the NetworkInformation.effectiveType property.

let preloadVideo = true;
var connection = navigator.connection || navigator.mozConnection || navigator.webkitConnection;
if (connection) {
  if (connection.effectiveType === 'slow-2g') {
    preloadVideo = false;
  }
}

Interfaces

NetworkInformation

Provides information about the connection a device is using to communicate with the network and provides a means for scripts to be notified if the connection type changes. The NetworkInformation interfaces cannot be instantiated. It is instead accessed through the Navigator interface.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Network Information APIThe definition of 'Network Information API' in that specification.	Draft	Initial specification

Browser compatibility

NetworkInformation

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
NetworkInformation Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 31	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
downlink Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
downlinkMax Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61 Notes' Full support 61 Notes' Notes' Only supported in Chrome OS	Edge No support No	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
effectiveType Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
onchange Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android No support No Notes' No support No Notes' Notes' On Firefox, the event handler property corresponding to the change event is ontypechange.	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
ontypechange Experimental'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera ?	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
rtt Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
saveData Experimental'	Chrome Full support 65	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 65	Chrome Android Full support 65	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
type Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61 Notes' Full support 61 Notes' Notes' Only supported in Chrome OS	Edge No support No	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0
Available in workers Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 48	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 53	Opera Android Full support 45	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Compatibility unknown  

Compatibility unknown

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

Navigator.connection

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
connection Experimental'	Chrome Full support 61	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support Yes Disabled' Full support Yes Disabled' Disabled' This feature is behind the dom.netinfo.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 38	Firefox Android Full support 14 Notes' Full support 14 Notes' Notes' The Network API is enabled by default. Can be disabled using the dom.netinfo.enabled preference.	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

User must explicitly enable this feature.'

User must explicitly enable this feature.

See also

• Network Information API SpecificationED
• Online and offline events
• window.navigator.connection

Network Information API by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.