connection.type

Checks the currently active network connection.

Description

This property offers a fast way to determine the device's network connection state, and type of connection.

Supported Platforms

  • iOS
  • Android
  • BlackBerry WebWorks (OS 5.0 and higher)
  • Tizen
  • Windows Phone 7 and 8
  • Windows 8

Quick Example

function checkConnection() {
    var networkState = navigator.connection.type;

    var states = {};
    states[Connection.UNKNOWN]  = 'Unknown connection';
    states[Connection.ETHERNET] = 'Ethernet connection';
    states[Connection.WIFI]     = 'WiFi connection';
    states[Connection.CELL_2G]  = 'Cell 2G connection';
    states[Connection.CELL_3G]  = 'Cell 3G connection';
    states[Connection.CELL_4G]  = 'Cell 4G connection';
    states[Connection.CELL]     = 'Cell generic connection';
    states[Connection.NONE]     = 'No network connection';

    alert('Connection type: ' + states[networkState]);
}

checkConnection();

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>navigator.connection.type Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="cordova-x.x.x.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

    // Wait for device API libraries to load
    //
    document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

    // device APIs are available
    //
    function onDeviceReady() {
        checkConnection();
    }

        function checkConnection() {
            var networkState = navigator.connection.type;

            var states = {};
            states[Connection.UNKNOWN]  = 'Unknown connection';
            states[Connection.ETHERNET] = 'Ethernet connection';
            states[Connection.WIFI]     = 'WiFi connection';
            states[Connection.CELL_2G]  = 'Cell 2G connection';
            states[Connection.CELL_3G]  = 'Cell 3G connection';
            states[Connection.CELL_4G]  = 'Cell 4G connection';
            states[Connection.CELL]     = 'Cell generic connection';
            states[Connection.NONE]     = 'No network connection';

            alert('Connection type: ' + states[networkState]);
        }

    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>A dialog box will report the network state.</p>
  </body>
</html>

API Change

Until Cordova 2.3.0, the [Connection](connection.html) object was accessed via navigator.network.connection, after which it was changed to navigator.connection to match the W3C specification. It's still available at its original location, but is deprecated and will eventually be removed.

iOS Quirks

  • iOS cannot detect the type of cellular network connection.
    • navigator.connection.type is set to Connection.CELL_2G for all cellular data. This is deprecated as of 2.6.0 and will be changed to return Connection.CELL in a future release.

Windows Phone Quirks

  • When running in the emulator, always detects navigator.connection.type as [Connection](connection.html).UNKNOWN.
  • Windows Phone cannot detect the type of cellular network connection.
    • navigator.connection.type is set to Connection.CELL for all cellular data.

Tizen Quirks

  • Tizen can only detect a WiFi or cellular connection.
    • navigator.connection.type is set to Connection.CELL_2G for all cellular data.