Developing web pages for mobile devices or debugging your hybrid app is often difficult. But luckily for folks designing on iOS, starting way back with iOS 6, Apple offers a remote web inspector feature in iOS.
Web Inspector allows web and mobile app developers to use macOS and OS X Safari Developer Tools to remotely debug web content or hybrid apps in mobile Safari on iPad or iPhone.
It’s an easy and practical way to debug, optimize and modify your web pages or hybrid apps on iOS.
To access these development tools, enable the Develop menu on your Mac’s Safari’s Advanced preferences.
Sorry Windows folks but Safari’s Web Inspector is only compatible with Macs!
Use the Same Apple ID and iCloud Sync!
Make sure both your iDevice and your Mac are signed in with the same Apple ID and that you toggle ON Safari in iCloud.
For your iDevice: Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud > Safari > toggled ON
For your Mac: Apple Menu > System Preferences > Apple ID or iCloud > Safari > Checkmarked
And Check that Safari is the Same Version Too
Make sure Safari on your Mac is the same version as Safari on your iDevice. You may need to update your iOS version or your version of Safari running on your Mac.
Reset your location and privacy settings
Go to Settings > General
Select Reset
Choose to Reset Location & Privacy
Pro Keyboard ShortCut Tip on Mac for Web Devs
If you press CTRL+Command+R in Safari, you can see how a website would look on a particular device by selecting the device.
Toggle the keyboard shortcut to exit out of web dev view.
Use Web Inspector to debug mobile Safari
1. On your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, tap Settings > Safari > Advanced and toggle on Web Inspector. And enable JavaScript if it isn’t already on
2. On your Mac, launch Safari and go to Safari menu > Preferences > Advanced then check “Show Develop menu in menu bar” if you have not done so already
3. Connect your iOS device to your Mac with the USB cable. This is critical–you must connect the devices manually, using a cable. It does not work via WiFi!
4. Now on your iPad, open the website that you want to debug, then, on your Mac, open Safari and go to the “Develop” menu. You now see your iDevice that you connected with your Mac. If you do not have any page open on your iDevice, you see a message saying “No Inspectable Applications.”
5. Now debug the page that is open on mobile Safari just like you would debug on Mac, inspect DOM elements, modify CSS, measure page performance and run Javascript commands.
Use the debugger tool to help you find the cause of any JavaScript errors on your webpage. You can add breakpoints, debug the javascript and inspect the value of the variables at runtime.
Safari should also detect any CSS, HTML, and JavaScript errors. And you’ll see the details of each error in the debugger.
iDevice Not Showing Up in the Develop Menu in Safari?
Clear your Safari cache and cookies
Update Safari on your Mac and iDevice if an update is available
If you run a beta iOS or macOS version, you may need to run the latest beta on all devices
Check that Web Inspector is toggled ON. iOS updates sometimes toggle this back to the default OFF setting. So just make sure to check Settings > Safari > Advanced > Web Inspector
Try toggling Web Inspector Off, wait 10 seconds, and toggle back on
Try Safari Technology Preview browser instead
Quit of Safari on your Mac and restart it. See if your Mac’s Safari then recognizes your device and allows debugging
Check that you are not using Safari’s Private Browsing mode if your iDevice only briefly shows up in Safari’s Develop menu and then disappears
Open Activity Monitor and check what’s going on with Safari
Reader Tips
If you’re using an older iDevice with iOS 6 or earlier, your device’s Safari web browser has its own built-in Debug Console! Just access Safari’s Debug Console by going to Settings > Safari > Developer > Debug Console
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
This didn’t work for me with a Lightning to USB-A running into through USB-C Hub. After plugging in a direct Lightning connector to USB-C cable, the phone appeared in the “develop” dropdown.
I can confirm that this also fixed the issue for me. As soon as I reset the settings, my iPhone showed up in the Develop menu on my Mac. (iPhone 6S running 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3)
just wondering if it’s possible to use this feature if you don’t have a live site? I want to make changes to a test site that has not launched yet and test on mobile. Thanks!
Thanks for writing this. Out of dozens – if not hundreds – of times I tried to do this though, I’ve got it working just a few. I’ve got different problems with it but at the moment, whatever website I try to inspect, I click on it (Developer -> device -> website) and nothing happens.
Web Inspector is used to debug websites and mobile hybrid apps, not the mobile device itself.
Web Inspector allows a developer to modify, debug, and optimize a website and then preview those changes on web pages. You can even see your content using various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions.
To access these Safari developer tools, just enable the Develop menu in your Mac’s Safari’s Advanced preferences.
It would be nice if you could just connect an apple product to another apple product without having to scour the web for days or having to backup/upgrade/downgrade 2 operating systems and Safari apps to do so. This basically makes development and maintenance of iOS apps a painful & massive waste of time.
Well done biggest company in the world! Nice ‘ecosystem’ you have here, what a good reason to pay 10x over the odds for Apple hardware.
On this note, this article ends by saying:
“If your iDevice only briefly shows up in Safari’s Develop menu and then disappears.”
Then…. what, exactly? Please finish the sentence. Which versions of iOS / Safari are compatible enough to connect to one another?
And this is still a problem in 2019! I just need to debug scrolling behavior on an iPad but Apple is doing EVERYTHING to prevent me from completing this freaking simple task.
I am trying to see Web Inspector on my Mac but it shows my iPhone for a fraction of sec and iPhone is disappeared immediately, what can be the cause of it. Please can guide me.
It sounds like you aren’t running the same version of Safari on your Mac and iPhone–this often happens when a device only briefly shows up in Safari’s Develop Menu or flickers on/off. First update your iOS and your macOS (if applicable.)
If you’re running any betas, you probably need both your Mac and your device to run the Safari betas as well.
I WILL NOT DOWNLOAD SAFARI BEOWSER TO MY LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s being
red lined” by the Kasperasky Internet Security I have installed, and I feel confident that program knows what it’s talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi I was wondering since in the advance settings it says, “Web Inspector” I was curious if it can track other iOS device website data. If that iOS device allows you to. Thanks!
-Tom
What if I still see “No Inspectable Applications” message?
– Cache is cleared
– Private browsing is off
– Web Inspector enabled in Settings>Safari>Advanced
This didn’t work for me with a Lightning to USB-A running into through USB-C Hub. After plugging in a direct Lightning connector to USB-C cable, the phone appeared in the “develop” dropdown.
I had a problem with inspecting an iPad. The key thing that solved it for me was this:
Reset your location and privacy settings on your device.
Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy
Thanks! This worked for me.
I can confirm that this also fixed the issue for me. As soon as I reset the settings, my iPhone showed up in the Develop menu on my Mac. (iPhone 6S running 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3)
This fixed it for me too, THANK YOU!!!
just wondering if it’s possible to use this feature if you don’t have a live site? I want to make changes to a test site that has not launched yet and test on mobile. Thanks!
Hi Lindsey,
It should work even if the site isn’t public. As long as you can access it on your Mac or iDevice, you can use the web inspector.
Sam
Thanks for writing this. Out of dozens – if not hundreds – of times I tried to do this though, I’ve got it working just a few. I’ve got different problems with it but at the moment, whatever website I try to inspect, I click on it (Developer -> device -> website) and nothing happens.
How do you know when mobile device has been debugged?
Hi Ginga,
Web Inspector is used to debug websites and mobile hybrid apps, not the mobile device itself.
Web Inspector allows a developer to modify, debug, and optimize a website and then preview those changes on web pages. You can even see your content using various screen sizes, orientations, and resolutions.
To access these Safari developer tools, just enable the Develop menu in your Mac’s Safari’s Advanced preferences.
Thx for this information man! 🙂
It would be nice if you could just connect an apple product to another apple product without having to scour the web for days or having to backup/upgrade/downgrade 2 operating systems and Safari apps to do so. This basically makes development and maintenance of iOS apps a painful & massive waste of time.
Well done biggest company in the world! Nice ‘ecosystem’ you have here, what a good reason to pay 10x over the odds for Apple hardware.
On this note, this article ends by saying:
“If your iDevice only briefly shows up in Safari’s Develop menu and then disappears.”
Then…. what, exactly? Please finish the sentence. Which versions of iOS / Safari are compatible enough to connect to one another?
And this is still a problem in 2019! I just need to debug scrolling behavior on an iPad but Apple is doing EVERYTHING to prevent me from completing this freaking simple task.
I am trying to see Web Inspector on my Mac but it shows my iPhone for a fraction of sec and iPhone is disappeared immediately, what can be the cause of it. Please can guide me.
Hi Manish,
It sounds like you aren’t running the same version of Safari on your Mac and iPhone–this often happens when a device only briefly shows up in Safari’s Develop Menu or flickers on/off. First update your iOS and your macOS (if applicable.)
If you’re running any betas, you probably need both your Mac and your device to run the Safari betas as well.
SK
Good web site, helped me with my Safari issue on my iPhone 6S. Thx.
Mobile inspector did the trick to get Safari back in business on my iPad! Thx
The safari in the iphone occure the problem that reload the webpage,when I try to debug the safari using mac.
Ralph says things he doesn’t quite know anything about.
I WILL NOT DOWNLOAD SAFARI BEOWSER TO MY LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s being
red lined” by the Kasperasky Internet Security I have installed, and I feel confident that program knows what it’s talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Safari 8 on ios8.3 … this does not work. In safari when i select develop > ipad … all i see is “use for development”
Useless!
Hi I was wondering since in the advance settings it says, “Web Inspector” I was curious if it can track other iOS device website data. If that iOS device allows you to. Thanks!
-Tom
What if I still see “No Inspectable Applications” message?
– Cache is cleared
– Private browsing is off
– Web Inspector enabled in Settings>Safari>Advanced