Supported Browsers

SceneryStack simulations target modern evergreen browsers on desktop and mobile — the same browsers PhET's own published sims support. Because scenery renders through Canvas, SVG, and WebGL rather than a single fixed technology, most compatibility differences are handled by scenery's renderer selection rather than by your application code.

The platform matrix

Platform	Support
Chrome / Chromium (desktop & Android)	Fully supported
Firefox (desktop & Android)	Fully supported
Safari (desktop & iOS/iPadOS)	Fully supported, including mobileSafari
Edge (Chromium-based)	Fully supported
Internet Explorer	Not supported

phet-core's platform object gives you runtime feature/browser detection when you need to special-case something (a workaround for a specific engine quirk, not a support gate):

import { platform } from 'scenerystack/phet-core';

if ( platform.safari ) {
  // e.g. work around a Safari-specific rendering quirk
}

Property	Detects
platform.safari	Any Safari, including mobile (platform.mobileSafari)
platform.firefox	Firefox, desktop or mobile
platform.chromium	Chrome/Chromium-based browsers (excludes Edge)
platform.edge	Chromium-based Edge
platform.android	Android's WebView/browser
platform.ie	Internet Explorer (present for detection only — not a supported target)

Graceful degradation via renderer fallback

Every Node has a renderer option — 'svg' | 'canvas' | 'webgl' | 'dom' | null — that scenery uses as a hint, not a hard requirement. Leaving it null (the default) lets scenery pick the best available backend per-subtree and fall back automatically if, say, WebGL isn't available:

import { Node } from 'scenerystack/scenery';

const heavyNode = new Node( {
  renderer: 'webgl' // hint only; scenery falls back to canvas/svg if WebGL is unavailable
} );

Don't force a renderer unless you've measured a problem

The historical platform.firefox example in scenery's own source (if (platform.firefox) { node.renderer = 'canvas'; }) is a workaround for a specific old performance issue, not a general pattern. Leave renderer unset by default; only pin it after profiling shows a specific subtree needs a specific backend.

Where to go next

• Scenery Basics — how the Node tree maps to Canvas/SVG/WebGL output
• Running and Building a Simulation — the build step that ships to these browsers