---
layout: docs
title: Browsers and devices
group: getting-started
---
Bootstrap supports a wide variety of modern browsers and devices, and some older ones. See which exact ones below, as well as detailed information on known quirks and bugs.
## Contents
* Will be replaced with the ToC, excluding the "Contents" header
{:toc}
## Supported browsers
Bootstrap supports the **latest, stable releases** of all major browsers and platforms. On Windows, **we support Internet Explorer 9-11 / Microsoft Edge**. More specific support information is provided below.
### Mobile devices
Generally speaking, Bootstrap supports the latest versions of each major platform's default browsers.
Chrome
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Android Browser & WebView
Android
Supported
Supported
Not supported
N/A
Android v5.0+ supported
iOS
Supported
N/A
Not supported
Supported
N/A
### Desktop browsers
Similarly, the latest versions of most desktop browsers are supported.
Chrome
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Microsoft Edge
Opera
Safari
Mac
Supported
Supported
N/A
N/A
Supported
Supported
Windows
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
Not supported
For Firefox, in addition to the latest normal stable release, we also support the latest [Extended Support Release (ESR)](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/) version of Firefox.
Unofficially, Bootstrap should look and behave well enough in Chromium and Chrome for Linux, Firefox for Linux, and Internet Explorer 8 and below, though they are not officially supported.
For a list of some of the browser bugs that Bootstrap has to grapple with, see our [Wall of browser bugs]({{ site.baseurl }}/browser-bugs/).
## Internet Explorer 9
Internet Explorer 9 is also supported, however, please be aware that some CSS3 properties and HTML5 elements are not fully supported.
Feature
Status
border-radius
Supported
box-shadow
Supported
transform
Supported, with -ms prefix
transition
Not supported
placeholder
Not supported
Visit [Can I use...](http://caniuse.com/) for details on browser support of CSS3 and HTML5 features.
## Supporting Internet Explorer 8
As of v4, Bootstrap no longer supports IE8. **If you require IE8 support, we recommend you use Bootstrap 3.** It's still supported by our team for bugfixes and documentation changes, but no new features will be added to it.
Alternatively, you may add some third party JavaScript to backfill support for IE8 to Bootstrap 4. You'll need the following:
* [The HTML5 shiv](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_Shiv)
* [Respond.js](https://github.com/scottjehl/Respond)
* [Rem unit polyfill](https://github.com/chuckcarpenter/REM-unit-polyfill)
No support will be provided for this, though you may find some help from the community in [our Slack channel]({{ site.slack }}).
## IE Compatibility modes
Bootstrap is not supported in the old Internet Explorer compatibility modes. To be sure you're using the latest rendering mode for IE, consider including the appropriate `` tag in your pages:
{% highlight html %}
{% endhighlight %}
Confirm the document mode by opening the debugging tools: press F12 and check the "Document Mode".
This tag is included in all of Bootstrap's documentation and examples to ensure the best rendering possible in each supported version of Internet Explorer.
See [this StackOverflow question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6771258/whats-the-difference-if-meta-http-equiv-x-ua-compatible-content-ie-edge) for more information.
## Internet Explorer 10 in Windows Phone 8
Internet Explorer 10 in Windows Phone 8 versions older than [Update 3 (a.k.a. GDR3)](http://blogs.windows.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2013/10/14/introducing-windows-phone-preview-for-developers.aspx) doesn't differentiate **device width** from **viewport width** in `@-ms-viewport` at-rules, and thus doesn't properly apply the media queries in Bootstrap's CSS. To address this, you'll need to **include the following JavaScript to work around the bug**.
{% highlight js %}
// Copyright 2014-2015 Twitter, Inc.
// Licensed under MIT (https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/LICENSE)
if (navigator.userAgent.match(/IEMobile\/10\.0/)) {
var msViewportStyle = document.createElement('style')
msViewportStyle.appendChild(
document.createTextNode(
'@-ms-viewport{width:auto!important}'
)
)
document.querySelector('head').appendChild(msViewportStyle)
}
{% endhighlight %}
For more information and usage guidelines, read [Windows Phone 8 and Device-Width](http://timkadlec.com/2013/01/windows-phone-8-and-device-width/).
As a heads up, we include this in all of Bootstrap's documentation and examples as a demonstration.
## Modals, navbars, and virtual keyboards
### Overflow and scrolling
Support for `overflow: hidden;` on the `` element is quite limited in iOS and Android. To that end, when you scroll past the top or bottom of a modal in either of those devices' browsers, the `` content will begin to scroll.
### Virtual keyboards
Also, note that if you're using a fixed navbar or using inputs within a modal, iOS has a rendering bug that doesn't update the position of fixed elements when the virtual keyboard is triggered. A few workarounds for this include transforming your elements to `position: absolute;` or invoking a timer on focus to try to correct the positioning manually. This is not handled by Bootstrap, so it is up to you to decide which solution is best for your application.
### Navbar Dropdowns
The `.dropdown-backdrop` element isn't used on iOS in the nav because of the complexity of z-indexing. Thus, to close dropdowns in navbars, you must directly click the dropdown element (or [any other element which will fire a click event in iOS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events/click#Safari_Mobile)).
## Browser zooming
Page zooming inevitably presents rendering artifacts in some components, both in Bootstrap and the rest of the web. Depending on the issue, we may be able to fix it (search first and then open an issue if need be). However, we tend to ignore these as they often have no direct solution other than hacky workarounds.
## Sticky `:hover`/`:focus` on mobile
Even though real hovering isn't possible on most touchscreens, most mobile browsers emulate hovering support and make `:hover` "sticky". In other words, `:hover` styles start applying after tapping an element and only stop applying after the user taps some other element. On mobile-first sites, this behavior is normally undesirable.
Bootstrap includes a workaround for this, although it is disabled by default. By setting `$use-hover-media-query` to `true` when compiling from Sass, Bootstrap will use [mq4-hover-shim](https://github.com/twbs/mq4-hover-shim) to disable `:hover` styles in browsers that emulate hovering, thus preventing sticky `:hover` styles. There are some caveats to this workaround; see the shim's documentation for details.
## Printing
Even in some modern browsers, printing can be quirky.
In particular, as of Chrome v32 and regardless of margin settings, Chrome uses a viewport width significantly narrower than the physical paper size when resolving media queries while printing a webpage. This can result in Bootstrap's extra-small grid being unexpectedly activated when printing. [See #12078 for some details.](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/issues/12078) Suggested workarounds:
Also, as of Safari v8.0, fixed-width .containers can cause Safari to use an unusually small font size when printing. See #14868 for more details. One potential workaround for this is adding the following CSS:
{% highlight css %}
@media print {
.container {
width: auto;
}
}
{% endhighlight %}
## Android stock browser
Out of the box, Android 4.1 (and even some newer releases apparently) ship with the Browser app as the default web browser of choice (as opposed to Chrome). Unfortunately, the Browser app has lots of bugs and inconsistencies with CSS in general.
#### Select menu
On `