I, for one, am glad Apple opted to use the macOS user agent for the iPad browser. Previously, so many sites would give iPad users the mobile version of a site because their incompetent webdevs decided that `iOS == mobile` without even bothering to check for screen size.

Anything that can be done to prevent this is a net positive for users. Sites should never check browser UAs, and any problems that arise from a “wrong” user agent are the site developers’ fault for doing things incorrectly.

It’s not that they’re hostile to web apps, it’s that Apple defines the iPad Pro browser as a desktop browser.

Apple made clear that they intend the iPad Pro to present a desktop browser view of the Internet, and has successfully defended their intentions against the wishes of developers to do otherwise. They openly said they’d be doing this and the result is exactly as they intended.

UA parsing is considered bad design and trusting UA's is unwise. What exactly necessitates UA parsing to detect ipadOS, instead of other guaranteed detection mechanisms, like CSS feature queries and checking if methods are available in JS and others? Also keep in mind that even if you trust the UA string it is not representative for all users. Most (if not all) browsers allow users to toggle features, change flags and more. That includes Safari on all OS's.

CSS feature queries and these other strategies are also hacks to determine the actual device being used. Most other UAs don't just flat out lie about the CPU and platform.

They are by no means hacks, they are guaranteed and standardized!

You shouldn't care about the device. You care if it supports certain features or APIs you want to utilize.

There ought to be a standard "caniuse" features discovery API rather than parsing UA's or oodles of platform quirks/detection "magic."

This is a feature of iPadOS 13: the browser can either report itself as an iPad or as the desktop version of Safari; it does the latter by default.

iPad users across the board now use a best in class browser and expect a best in class experience. Apple is protecting its users from subpar websites written by subpar developers, especially those who rely on lazy tricks like UA parsing.

Ironically, this page is neigh unreadable on mobile. It's all squished due to the absurd first party "ad" on the right column which, coupled with the related posts right below, makes it hard to distinguish the actual content.

I'm reading this on mobile (Android Chrome), and definitely am not seeing what you've described. Is it because you've requested the desktop site?

I tried it on both Bromite and Firefox, mobile view, horrid.

"Lying" is dishonest clickbait. Presenting a mobile browser with an UA identical to a desktop one is standard practice.