ifvisible.js

A lightweight, cross-browser way to check whether the user is looking at the page or interacting with it.

Try the interactive demo, or read on for code examples.

Installation

npm install ifvisible.js

Usage

ifvisible.js ships as ESM, CommonJS, and a browser global, with bundled TypeScript types.

// ES modules (recommended)
import ifvisible from "ifvisible.js";

// Named exports are also available:
import { ifvisible, IfVisible, type IfVisibleEvent } from "ifvisible.js";

// CommonJS
const { ifvisible } = require("ifvisible.js");

<!-- Browser global -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/ifvisible.js"></script>
<script>
  ifvisible.now(); // global `ifvisible` singleton
</script>

SSR-safe: importing ifvisible.js in Node / during server-side rendering never throws. In a non-DOM environment ifvisible.isSupported is false and every method is a safe no-op (now() returns true).

v3 highlights

ifvisible.js 3 is a clean-break rewrite and a major version bump.

• Modern ESM + CJS + IIFE builds with bundled .d.ts types.
• All legacy IE / vendor-prefix code removed; uses the standard Page Visibility API.
• SSR-safe singleton — no DOM access at import time.
• Per-instance event isolation (multiple new IfVisible() instances no longer share one global event store).
• New freeze / resume events from the Page Lifecycle API (bfcache).
• New ifvisible.destroy() to detach all listeners and timers on teardown (SPA/route unmount).

Examples

// If page is visible right now
if (ifvisible.now()) {
  // Display pop-up
  openPopUp();
}

// You can also check the page status
// using `now` method
if (!ifvisible.now("hidden")) {
  // Display pop-up if page is not hidden
  openPopUp();
}

// Possible statuses are:
// idle: when the user has no interaction
// hidden: the page is not visible
// active: the page is visible and the user is active

Handle tab switch or browser minimize states

ifvisible.on("blur", function () {
  // example code here..
  animations.pause();
});

ifvisible.on("focus", function () {
  // resume all animations
  animations.resume();
});

ifvisible.js can track activity states too, such as the user being IDLE or ACTIVE on the page

ifvisible.on("idle", function () {
  // Stop auto updating the live data
  stream.pause();
});

ifvisible.on("wakeup", function () {
  // go back updating data
  stream.resume();
});

Default idle duration is 30 seconds but you can change it with setIdleDuration method

ifvisible.setIdleDuration(120); // Page will become idle after 120 seconds

You can manually trigger status events by calling them directly, or register a handler for an event by passing a callback as the first argument:

ifvisible.idle(); // will put the page in an idle status

ifvisible.idle(function () {
  // This code will run when the page goes into idle status
});

// The other status methods work the same way:
ifvisible.blur(); // mark the page as hidden (fires "blur")
ifvisible.focus(); // mark the page as active (also fires "wakeup")
ifvisible.wakeup(); // wake from idle (fires "wakeup")

You can use ifvisible.off() to remove event triggers:

ifvisible.off("idle", triggeredFunction); // removes only triggeredFunction from the idle event
ifvisible.off("idle"); // removes all handlers for the idle event

// works with other events:
ifvisible.off("blur");
ifvisible.off("wakeup");
ifvisible.off("focus");

You can set smart intervals with ifvisible.js. If the user is IDLE or not looking at the page, the interval pauses itself automatically and resumes when they return:

// While the page is visible, run this function every half second
ifvisible.onEvery(0.5, function () {
  // Animate the logo only when the page is visible
  animateLogo();
});

Page Lifecycle (freeze / resume)

The browser may freeze a backgrounded page (bfcache) and later resume it. ifvisible.js surfaces these as events:

ifvisible.on("freeze", function () {
  // Page is about to be frozen — flush state, close connections.
});

ifvisible.on("resume", function () {
  // Page was resumed from the back/forward cache.
});

Cleanup

Call destroy() to remove every DOM listener, handler, and timer — useful when unmounting in a single-page app:

const instance = new IfVisible();
// ...later
instance.destroy();

License

It's MIT — go crazy.