User agent string history

1. What is history of the UserAgent string?
2. What does AppleWebKit 537.36 Khtml like gecko mean?
3. What does user agent string mean?
4. Can user agent be faked?

What is history of the UserAgent string?

The history of the user-agent string is marked by browsers trying to convince user-agent sniffers that they are what they are not. Internet Explorer wants to be identified as Netscape 4; Konqueror and WebKit want to be identified as Firefox; Chrome wants to be identified as Safari.

What does AppleWebKit 537.36 Khtml like gecko mean?

AppleWebKit/537.36 indicates what browser rendering engine is used. A rendering engine is what transforms HTML into an interactive webpage on the user's screen. The WebKit browser engine was developed by Apple and is primarily used by Safari, Chromium, and all other WebKit-based browsers. (KHTML, like Gecko).

What does user agent string mean?

The User-Agent (UA) string is contained in the HTTP headers and is intended to identify devices requesting online content. The User-Agent tells the server what the visiting device is (among many other things) and this information can be used to determine what content to return.

Can user agent be faked?

User-agent spoofing is a form of fraud where the string of data is modified to provide false information or hide details – for example, a bot making multiple automated requests for content from a single device could modify the user agent string to pretend those requests (and the resulting impressions) are from multiple ...