Not all browsers handle websites the same, and if they don’t support your operating system or browser, you could be denied access. Luckily, you can spoof the user agent on Chrome OS to make it look like you use a completely different system.
Websites identify incoming connections by their user agent—a line of text sent in the HTTPS header with the browser name, version, and operating system. The reason they do this is to determine how to render the page specific to your device. One of the more common uses is to differentiate the desktop view from a mobile layout. However, sometimes you might need to spoof the user agent to trick a site that claims it’s incompatible with your browser.
RELATED: What Is a Browser’s User Agent?
How to Change Your User Agent
To get started, open Chrome, click the three dots, and then select More Tools > Developer Tools. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Shift+I on the keyboard.
Click “Network Conditions,” located at the bottom of the Developer Tools pane.
If you don’t see this option, click the menu icon, and then select More Tools > Network Conditions to enable it.
Under the User Agent section, uncheck “Select Automatically.”
Chrome offers a long list of pre-configured user agent templates you can select from the drop-down menu.
If there is a specific user agent you want to use that isn’t listed in the drop-down menu, you can copy and paste a custom one into the text field underneath.
Afterward—with the Developer Tool pane still open in the current tab—go to any website, and the user agent is set to the custom one you specified until you close Developer Tools.
You can even get a little creative with it!
User agent spoofing is a temporary setting that stays active only while Developer Tools is open and in the current tab. After you close the Developer Tool, your user agent goes back to the default selection by Chrome.
