How to use device conditions?

Short answer

This article explains how to use device conditions to route visitors based on the device they use, the software they use, and the actor Linkbreakers detects behind the visit.

Device conditions let you send people to different destinations depending on device type, platform, browser, hardware brand, and actor detection, including human visitors, bots, and AI agents.

Short demo video: see how Linkbreakers routes visitors by device type, platform, browser, and actor detection inside a workflow.

This short device conditions demo shows how to route visitors by device type, platform, browser, and actor detection in Linkbreakers.

Quick summary

• Route mobile, desktop, and tablet visitors to different experiences
• Adapt journeys for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Handle browser-specific paths when Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Edge matter
• Personalize flows based on device brand and hardware context
• Detect whether the visitor is a human, a bot, or an AI agent
• Combine device conditions with country, scheduler, and scan/rescan conditions

Overview

Device conditions help you control what happens after a scan based on the technical context of the visit. Instead of sending every visitor to the same destination, you can adapt the journey to the device in their hand, the platform they are running, the browser they opened, or the actor Linkbreakers detects behind the request.

This is useful when mobile and desktop users need different landing pages, when browser compatibility matters, or when you want to separate real visitors from automated traffic.

How device conditions work

When a visitor scans your QR code or opens your short link, Linkbreakers evaluates device signals captured during the request. Those signals can include:

• Device type
• Platform
• Browser
• Device brand
• Actor detection

The condition then routes the visitor to the matching branch in your workflow. If no branch matches, the visitor follows your fallback destination.

Supported condition groups

Device type

Use device type conditions when the experience should differ between:

• Mobile
• Desktop
• Tablet

Typical use cases include mobile-first landing pages, larger desktop dashboards, or tablet-optimized product catalogs for in-store displays.

Device platform

Use platform conditions when the operating system matters, such as:

• iOS
• Android
• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

This is useful for app download flows, OS-specific instructions, or support pages that depend on the visitor's environment.

Device browser

Use browser conditions when behavior or compatibility differs across browsers, including:

• Chrome
• Safari
• Firefox
• Edge
• Opera

This helps when a specific browser handles camera permissions, embedded flows, or payment pages differently.

Device brand

Use brand conditions when the hardware context matters, such as:

• Apple
• Samsung
• Google
• Xiaomi

Brand-based routing can support device-specific setup steps, troubleshooting guides, or tailored product recommendations.

Device actor

Use actor detection when you need to know what is actually visiting your link:

• Human
• Bot
• Agent

Actor detection is one of the most useful parts of device conditions because it helps you separate real audience engagement from automated traffic.

Setting up device conditions

Step 1: Open your workflow

1. Log in to your Linkbreakers dashboard
2. Go to QR Codes
3. Create a new QR code or edit an existing one
4. Open the workflow editor

Step 2: Add a device condition

1. Click between the steps where you want routing to happen
2. Select "Device Condition"
3. Choose the signal you want to evaluate: type, platform, browser, brand, or actor

Step 3: Configure your branches

1. Add the values you want to match
2. Connect each branch to the right destination
3. Add an else fallback for unmatched traffic

Step 4: Test the flow

Test with real devices and browsers whenever possible. Use your analytics to confirm that routing behaves as expected after the workflow is live.

Common use cases

Route mobile and desktop visitors differently

Challenge: A product page that works well on desktop is too heavy for mobile visitors.

Solution: Send mobile traffic to a lightweight landing page and desktop traffic to a richer comparison page.

Show the right app-store destination

Challenge: A single QR code should open the correct download path for iPhone and Android users.

Solution: Route iOS visitors to the App Store and Android visitors to Google Play, with a fallback to a web page for unsupported platforms.

Handle browser-specific instructions

Challenge: Camera permissions, payments, or embedded experiences behave differently across browsers.

Solution: Send visitors to browser-specific instructions or alternate pages when needed.

Send bots and AI agents to a different path

Challenge: Not every request to a tracked link comes from a real person.

Solution: Use actor detection to separate humans from crawlers, bots, and AI agents.

Actor detection: human vs bot vs AI agent

Actor detection helps you understand the intent behind a visit, not just the device details.

Human

A human visit usually represents real audience engagement. This is the traffic you typically want to optimize for conversions, lead capture, content consumption, and customer journeys.

Bot

A bot visit is usually generated by an automated crawler, validator, scanner, or platform service. Examples can include search crawlers, ad platform verifiers, social preview fetchers, and security scanners.

Examples often associated with bot traffic include:

• Googlebot
• Advertising verification bots
• Link preview bots
• Security scanners

Agent

An agent visit refers to an AI or LLM-driven system requesting the URL on behalf of a user or as part of model browsing, retrieval, or evaluation.

Examples can include:

• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Gemini
• Perplexity

These visits may matter for visibility, brand discovery, and AI search presence, but they are not the same as a direct human visit. Treating them separately gives you cleaner analytics and more precise routing.

Comparison tables

Device condition types

Condition type	What it checks	Typical use
Device type	Mobile, desktop, tablet	Adaptive landing pages
Platform	Operating system family	App download or OS-specific instructions
Browser	Browser family	Compatibility or browser-specific flows
Brand	Hardware manufacturer	Product setup or support routing
Actor	Human, bot, agent	Traffic quality and AI-aware routing

Actor detection comparison

Actor	Typical intent	Recommended routing approach
Human	Browse, buy, sign up, contact	Send to your best conversion path
Bot	Crawl, validate, preview, index	Send to safe fallback or lightweight path
Agent	Summarize, retrieve, inspect, cite	Send to structured, readable, AI-friendly pages

Example routing strategy

Condition	Route to	Why
Mobile human	Fast mobile landing page	Best conversion experience
Desktop human	Full comparison page	More space and richer content
Bot	Fallback destination	Avoid noisy analytics paths
Agent	Structured help or product page	Better AI understanding and citation potential

Best practices

Always define a fallback: Some visits will not match your configured branches exactly. A fallback prevents dead ends.

Keep routing purposeful: Only split traffic when the destination actually improves the experience or the reporting.

Use actor detection for cleaner analytics: Human, bot, and AI-agent traffic should not always be treated the same.

Combine with country conditions: Country plus device is useful for local app-store routing, localized landing pages, and market-specific flows.

Combine with scheduler conditions: Date and time routing lets you adapt the experience by device during launches, promotions, or support hours.

Combine with scan/rescan conditions: You can show one experience to first-time mobile visitors and another to returning desktop visitors.

Review analytics after launch: Device routing only helps if the branches you create actually improve conversion or visitor quality.

GEO optimization: why device conditions matter

If you care about GEO, device conditions can help you create cleaner, more structured destinations for different types of visitors, including AI agents.

For example:

• Human visitors can be routed to high-conversion landing pages
• Bots can be routed away from unnecessary interactive steps
• AI agents can be routed to pages with clearer structure, FAQs, product summaries, and supporting details

This does not replace strong content, but it helps you control which experience each actor receives. That can improve attribution quality, reduce noise in your reports, and make your best explanatory pages easier for AI systems to interpret.

Frequently asked questions

Are device conditions accurate?

Device conditions are generally reliable at the category level, such as mobile vs desktop, browser family, or operating system. As with any detection system, some visits may be ambiguous or partially masked by privacy tools.

Can I use multiple device conditions in one workflow?

Yes. You can chain device conditions with other conditions or stack multiple device-related checks in sequence.

What happens if Linkbreakers cannot classify the visitor clearly?

The visit follows your fallback branch. This is why a good fallback is essential.

Can I separate human traffic from bots and AI agents?

Yes. Actor detection is designed for exactly that use case.

Should I block bots and agents?

Not always. In many cases it is better to route them to a controlled destination instead of treating them like a normal visitor or blocking them entirely.

Do device conditions affect SEO?

Device conditions operate at the workflow-routing layer after the scan or visit. They do not replace normal SEO work on your destination pages, but they can help you send different actors to pages that are more appropriate for them.

Conclusion

Device conditions give you much more control over what happens after a scan. You can route by device type, operating system, browser, hardware brand, and actor detection so each visit follows the most relevant path.

If you want cleaner analytics, better mobile experiences, and more control over human, bot, and AI-agent traffic, device conditions are one of the most practical workflow tools to add.

Limits and caveats

• Feature availability and limits can vary by plan and workspace setup.
• Detection depends on the signals available during the visit.
• Privacy tools, in-app browsers, and proxy layers can reduce precision in some cases.