diff --git a/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.spec.ts b/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..21d2ae8938b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+import {
+  appIsAngularInDevMode,
+  appIsAngularIvy,
+  appIsAngular,
+  appIsSupportedAngularVersion,
+  getAngularVersion,
+} from './angular-check';
+
+const setNgVersion = (version = '12.0.0') => document.documentElement.setAttribute('ng-version', version);
+const removeNgVersion = () => document.documentElement.removeAttribute('ng-version');
+
+describe('angular-check', () => {
+  afterEach(() => removeNgVersion());
+
+  describe('getAngularVersion', () => {
+    it('should return the angular version', () => {
+      setNgVersion('11.1.1');
+      expect(getAngularVersion()).toBe('11.1.1');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('appIsSupportedAngularVersion', () => {
+    it('should work with g3', () => {
+      setNgVersion('0.0.0-placeholder');
+      expect(appIsSupportedAngularVersion()).toBeTrue();
+    });
+
+    it('should work with new versions', () => {
+      setNgVersion('9.0.0');
+      expect(appIsSupportedAngularVersion()).toBeTrue();
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for older version', () => {
+      setNgVersion('8.0.0');
+      expect(appIsSupportedAngularVersion()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for no version', () => {
+      expect(appIsSupportedAngularVersion()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('appIsAngular', () => {
+    it('should return true for older version', () => {
+      setNgVersion('8.0.0');
+      expect(appIsAngular()).toBeTrue();
+    });
+
+    it('should return false for no version', () => {
+      expect(appIsAngular()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('appIsAngularIvy', () => {
+    it('should not recognize VE apps', () => {
+      (window as any).ng = {
+        probe() {},
+      };
+      setNgVersion();
+      expect(appIsAngularIvy()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+
+    it('should not recognize no Angular apps', () => {
+      expect(appIsAngularIvy()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+
+    it('should recognize Ivy apps', () => {
+      (window as any).getAllAngularRootElements = () => {
+        const el = document.createElement('div');
+        (el as any).__ngContext__ = 0;
+        return [el];
+      };
+      expect(appIsAngularIvy()).toBeTrue();
+      delete (window as any).getAllAngularRootElements;
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('appIsAngularInDevMode', () => {
+    afterEach(() => {
+      delete (window as any).ng;
+    });
+
+    it('should detect VE apps', () => {
+      (window as any).ng = {
+        probe() {},
+      };
+      setNgVersion();
+
+      expect(appIsAngularInDevMode()).toBeTrue();
+    });
+
+    it('should detect Ivy apps', () => {
+      (window as any).ng = {
+        getComponent() {},
+      };
+      setNgVersion();
+      expect(appIsAngularInDevMode()).toBeTrue();
+    });
+
+    it('should not detect apps if `ng` is not an object with the right shape', () => {
+      setNgVersion();
+      (window as any).ng = {};
+      expect(appIsAngularInDevMode()).toBeFalse();
+
+      (window as any).ng = () => {};
+      expect(appIsAngularInDevMode()).toBeFalse();
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.ts b/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.ts
index 58febdad5a9..a73c95dfd1b 100644
--- a/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.ts
+++ b/projects/ng-devtools-backend/src/lib/angular-check.ts
@@ -23,14 +23,18 @@ export const appIsSupportedAngularVersion = (): boolean => {
 
 /**
  * We check if the global `window.ng` is an object and if this object
- * has the `getComponent` method attached to it. In some g3 apps processed
- * with Closure, `ng` is a function, which means that `typeof ng !== 'undefined'`
- * is not a sufficient check.
+ * has the `getComponent` or `probe` methods attached to it.
+ *
+ * `ng.probe` is a view engine method, but to ensure that we correctly
+ * detect development mode we need to consider older rendering engines.
+ *
+ * In some g3 apps processed with Closure, `ng` is a function,
+ * which means that `typeof ng !== 'undefined'` is not a sufficient check.
  *
  * @returns if the app has global ng debug object
  */
 const appHasGlobalNgDebugObject = (): boolean => {
-  return typeof ng === 'object' && typeof ng.getComponent === 'function';
+  return typeof ng === 'object' && (typeof ng.getComponent === 'function' || typeof ng.probe === 'function');
 };
 
 export const getAngularVersion = (): string | null => {