Smart TV and game console user agents
Smart TVs and game consoles have built-in browsers and embedded webviews whose user agents include device-specific tokens — a SMART-TV marker, a platform name, or a console identifier. Recognising these connected-TV (CTV) and console tokens separates living-room devices from phones and desktops in your traffic.
Connected-TV and console tokens
Smart TVs and streaming devices often include a SMART-TV token or a manufacturer/platform name in the user agent, while game consoles include a console platform identifier. These tokens mark the request as coming from a living-room device rather than a conventional phone or computer.
The device tokens are the signal: the rest of the string may still carry a familiar engine token, but the device marker is what tells you it is a TV or console.
- TVs: a SMART-TV marker or platform/manufacturer name
- Consoles: a console platform identifier token
- Device token is the cue, not the engine token
Why CTV and console traffic is its own class
Living-room devices behave differently from phones and desktops: input is via remote or controller, screens are large and shared, and capabilities vary widely across models. Treating them as desktop or mobile hides a distinct, growing segment and can misrepresent how content is consumed.
Device tokens vary widely by manufacturer, model, and firmware, and are not centrally standardised, so this is best matched on observed patterns and confirmed against each platform's documentation — hence the partially-verified status.
How it appears in analytics and logs
A user agent carrying a TV or console device token (such as a SMART-TV marker or a console platform name) indicates a living-room device. It is a real device class, distinct from phone, tablet, and desktop.
Diagnostic use case
Recognise connected-TV and console traffic by its device tokens so living-room devices are categorised distinctly rather than lumped with desktop or mobile.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID recognises common CTV and console device tokens server-side into a coarse device category, keeping unfamiliar device strings in an honest bucket instead of guessing.
Common mistakes
- Lumping smart-TV and console traffic into desktop or mobile buckets.
- Assuming a single standardised token covers all TV and console devices.
- Hard-coding device strings that vary by manufacturer and firmware.
Privacy and accuracy notes
These tokens describe device class, not a person. WebmasterID stores a coarse device category and never a real visitor's raw user-agent string.
Related pages
- Mobile user agents: phones, tablets, in-app
Mobile user agents carry platform descriptors like iPhone or Android and often a Mobile token, but tablets and in-app browsers complicate the picture. An in-app browser (inside a social or messaging app) usually adds its own token to the string. This page explains the patterns and their pitfalls.
- Browser user agents: how to read them
A browser user-agent string packs several tokens into one line: a legacy Mozilla prefix, a rendering-engine signature, the platform, and the browser itself. This page explains each part so you can read a UA without over-reading it, because the contents are client-controlled and can be copied by any client.
- Website observability
See traffic across device classes in their proper categories.
Sources and verification notes
- MDN — Browser detection using the user agentDevice tokens vary by manufacturer and model; verify against each platform's docs.
- MDN — User-Agent header
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.