---
title: Network Information
description: Get information about wireless connectivity.
---
|AppVeyor|Travis CI|
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|[](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ApacheSoftwareFoundation/cordova-plugin-network-information)|[](https://travis-ci.org/apache/cordova-plugin-network-information)|
# cordova-plugin-network-information
This plugin provides an implementation of an old version of the
[Network Information API](http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-netinfo-api-20110607/).
It provides information about the device's cellular and
wifi connection, and whether the device has an internet connection.
> To get a few ideas how to use the plugin, check out the [sample](#sample) at the bottom of this page or go straight to the [reference](#reference) content.
## Installation
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-network-information
## Supported Platforms
- Android
- Browser
- iOS
- Windows
# Connection
> The `connection` object, exposed via `navigator.connection`, provides information about the device's cellular and wifi connection.
## Properties
- connection.type
## Constants
- Connection.UNKNOWN
- Connection.ETHERNET
- Connection.WIFI
- Connection.CELL_2G
- Connection.CELL_3G
- Connection.CELL_4G
- Connection.CELL
- Connection.NONE
## connection.type
This property offers a fast way to determine the device's network
connection state, and type of connection.
### Quick Example
```js
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();
```
### API Change
Until Cordova 2.3.0, the `Connection` 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.
### Windows Quirks
- When running in the Phone 8.1 emulator, always detects `navigator.connection.type` as `Connection.ETHERNET`.
### Browser Quirks
- Browser can't detect the type of network connection.
`navigator.connection.type` is always set to `Connection.UNKNOWN` when online.
# Network-related Events
## offline
The event fires when an application goes offline, and the device is
not connected to the Internet.
document.addEventListener("offline", yourCallbackFunction, false);
### Details
The `offline` event fires when a previously connected device loses a
network connection so that an application can no longer access the
Internet. It relies on the same information as the Connection API,
and fires when the value of `connection.type` becomes `NONE`.
Applications typically should use `document.addEventListener` to
attach an event listener once the `deviceready` event fires.
### Quick Example
```js
document.addEventListener("offline", onOffline, false);
function onOffline() {
// Handle the offline event
}
```
### iOS Quirks
During initial startup, the first offline event (if applicable) takes at least a second to fire.
## online
This event fires when an application goes online, and the device
becomes connected to the Internet.
document.addEventListener("online", yourCallbackFunction, false);
### Details
The `online` event fires when a previously unconnected device receives
a network connection to allow an application access to the Internet.
It relies on the same information as the Connection API,
and fires when the `connection.type` changes from `NONE` to any other
value.
Applications typically should use `document.addEventListener` to
attach an event listener once the `deviceready` event fires.
### Quick Example
```js
document.addEventListener("online", onOnline, false);
function onOnline() {
// Handle the online event
}
```
### iOS Quirks
During initial startup, the first `online` event (if applicable) takes
at least a second to fire, prior to which `connection.type` is
`UNKNOWN`.
## Sample: Upload a File Depending on your Network State
The code examples in this section show examples of changing app behavior using the online and offline events and your network connection status.
To start with, create a new FileEntry object (data.txt) to use for sample data. Call this function from the `deviceready` handler.
>*Note* This code example requires the File plugin.
```js
var dataFileEntry;
function createSomeData() {
window.requestFileSystem(window.TEMPORARY, 5 * 1024 * 1024, function (fs) {
console.log('file system open: ' + fs.name);
// Creates a new file or returns an existing file.
fs.root.getFile("data.txt", { create: true, exclusive: false }, function (fileEntry) {
dataFileEntry = fileEntry;
}, onErrorCreateFile);
}, onErrorLoadFs);
}
```
Next, add listeners for the online and offline events in the `deviceready` handler.
```js
document.addEventListener("offline", onOffline, false);
document.addEventListener("online", onOnline, false);
```
The app's `onOnline` function handles the online event. In the event handler, check the current network state. In this app, treat any connection type as good except Connection.NONE. If you have a connection, you try to upload a file.
```js
function onOnline() {
// Handle the online event
var networkState = navigator.connection.type;
if (networkState !== Connection.NONE) {
if (dataFileEntry) {
tryToUploadFile();
}
}
display('Connection type: ' + networkState);
}
```
When the online event fires in the preceding code, call the app's `tryToUploadFile` function.
If the FileTransfer object's upload function fails, call the app's `offlineWrite` function to save the current data somewhere.
>*Note* This example requires the FileTransfer plugin.
```js
function tryToUploadFile() {
// !! Assumes variable fileURL contains a valid URL to a text file on the device,
var fileURL = getDataFileEntry().toURL();
var success = function (r) {
console.log("Response = " + r.response);
display("Uploaded. Response: " + r.response);
}
var fail = function (error) {
console.log("An error has occurred: Code = " + error.code);
offlineWrite("Failed to upload: some offline data");
}
var options = new FileUploadOptions();
options.fileKey = "file";
options.fileName = fileURL.substr(fileURL.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
options.mimeType = "text/plain";
var ft = new FileTransfer();
// Make sure you add the domain of your server URL to the
// Content-Security-Policy element in index.html.
ft.upload(fileURL, encodeURI(SERVER), success, fail, options);
};
```
Here is the code for the `offlineWrite` function.
>*Note* This code examples requires the File plugin.
```js
function offlineWrite(offlineData) {
// Create a FileWriter object for our FileEntry.
dataFileEntry.createWriter(function (fileWriter) {
fileWriter.onwriteend = function () {
console.log("Successful file write...");
display(offlineData);
};
fileWriter.onerror = function (e) {
console.log("Failed file write: " + e.toString());
};
fileWriter.write(offlineData);
});
}
```
If the offline event occurs, just do something like notify the user (for this example, just log it).
```js
function onOffline() {
// Handle the offline event
console.log("lost connection");
}
```
[Apache Cordova issue tracker]: https://issues.apache.org/jira/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20CB%20AND%20status%20in%20%28Open%2C%20%22In%20Progress%22%2C%20Reopened%29%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20AND%20component%20%3D%20%22Plugin%20Network%20Information%22%20ORDER%20BY%20priority%20DESC%2C%20summary%20ASC%2C%20updatedDate%20DESC