iPhone/iPad browser simulator?

Question

I need to see how my webpages are looking on an iPhone and iPad on my windows desktop. Is this possible?

A quick search yielded some iPhone testing sites, which seemed like what I wanted. However, they are wildly inaccurate when I compared against my own iPhone! I really need something that is as close to 100% accurate as possible.

Does XCode have a simulator that is 100% accurate? I understand I'd need a Mac to run XCode...

Solution 1

The iPhone/iPad simulator that comes with Xcode includes Safari. If you run Safari in the simulator, you can view your website and it should appear the same as it would on a real device. This may work for general layout testing. But since it is a simulator, it is possible that not every single bit of functionality will be exactly the same as using a real iOS device.

If you are writing a website and you need to verify that it looks proper on a given device, then you need to test your website on that actual device. Testing with real hardware is part of the price of doing business.

And yes, you need a Mac to run Xcode.

Solution 2

EDIT 2020: Most of these are basically just to test resolution stuff, some of them even outdated, sadly, mobile browser development went sideways with desktop (especially in Apple), therefore one can't really "emulate" a real phone with these as mentioned with comment.

To emulate real phones, often the best choice is to download a desktop app which, for Windows, is usually paid/freemium, on Mac just use the Xcode one (but I doubt Mac people are looking for this Q/A).

Freemium online easy to use that I found recently is Appetize.io it seems to really render the screen according to network, but honestly I didn't really dig into whether it also has identical features and indentically missing features as real iOS.

Word of advice:
before release, always test on the real device :)

I've encountered cases when even the iOSes themselves behaved differently on 2 iPhones...

Online simulators / emulators I use

1) recombu

Fine simulator which - unlike resizing browser window to mobile phone dimensions - acts same as a smart phone. Don't be confused that you can't edit address bar in safari - just open deveolper tools (usually F12) and rewrite iframe's source URL to yours.
Link: http://recombu.com/mobile/interactive/ios7-demo/

2) responsimulator

Seems to work like recombu, but you can open url directly by text input and you can zoom in/out.
Link: http://www.responsimulator.com/

3) transmog

This one seems to process the webpage, but it emulates old iPhone - still handy sometimes.
Link: http://transmog.net/iphone-simulator/mobile-web-browser-emulator.php

X) google it / internet search for it

Always use google (or other internet searchers) to check for other simulators/emulators and new versions.
Link with example google search for this one:
https://www.google.cz/search?q=online+iphone+emulator

Browser device mode

If you open your browser's developer's tools (in Chrome F12), there will probably be an option to toggle device mode (in Chrome it is the little smartphone icon at top-left).

After choosing this option GUI will change and will provide option to select device to simulate (in Chrome it is at the top - select option "Device"), after selecting device, refreshing the page is often adviced to ensure simulator's accuracy.

Solution 3

Both Chrome and Firefox now have built-in emulators. They aren't perfect but are good enough that can get you almost all of the way before testing on an actual device. The best part is if you like the browser's developer tools (Chrome, Firefox), you can use them while emulating.

To get the emulator: [Ctrl+Shift+M] and select the device that you want to emulate. You might have to refresh the page, esp if you have anything that depends on script that executes on page load.

Internet Explorer also has a device emulation mode. F12, then CTRL+8. It's not quite as straight forward as the Chrome Mobile Device emulation, but does allow you to simulate geolocation:

Solution 4

For now i think best emulator is https://app.crossbrowsertesting.com

It has real sizes and virtual keyboard (that is the most important thing) , zooming events...

Also https://appetize.io/demo has same things but it has time limit.

Solution 5

You can run safari in Xcode's simulator and it should accurately emulate iPads and iPhones. Another thing on the market that I've heard good reviews for is Ripple for chrome.

View more solutions

Comments

[Cameron Askew]

I have a followup question. There's a css layout issue I have on my mobile web app...only reproduce-able on iOS devices. Online iPhone simulators don't reproduce it. Unfortunately, it's virtually impossible to debug a css issue from your iPhone Safari browser (I think). Do you have any suggestions?

[Matthew Trow]

This is a moot point. If your doing layout testing, font line heights, font rendering or changes that are not dependent on interaction or screen density, a simulator provides a far more rapid approach to testing those types of features. Your making assumptions in this comment.

[Lomithrani]

It's incredibly common in my experience for designers who don't test on real devices to expect their designs to appear physically larger than they actually do. In order to get the intended line heights etc., you need to test on a device. Regardless, he asked how to test web pages, not how to test something that nobody will ever interact with. You interact with web pages. If you need to test a web page, you need to test this stuff.

[skybondsor]

The emulator seems to be mostly spot-on for layout, but it willingly played some HTML5 audio that I can't get any real iOS device to play. So: YMMV.

[TvdH]

"And yes, you need a Mac to run Xcode." - or google "iatkos virtualbox"

[Ben]

This is the correct answer.

[FreeAsInBeer]

The Chrome emulator seems to have a lot of options, but I've never had luck with it even coming close to emulating an iOS browser properly. Most of my use with it has been with the canvas though, so YMMV.

[Harrison Powers]

You can inspect the webpage through Safari on OSX: Develop menu -> iOS Simulator -> profit

[amergin]

This is far from perfect. For instance, older iOS devices have buggy viewport units support, but I haven't been able to reproduce the problem in the emulator, even though the bug is clearly visible on older iPads and iPhones.

[Won Jun Bae]

This was exactly what I needed.

[Federico]

For iphone/ipad simulation I suggest to use safari and adjust the user agent. Chrome is good, but safari is usually closer. Have seen layout differences in testing.

[jave.web]

Please comment when you downvote :) Everybody has a space for improvement :)

[Admin]

This simulator actually doesn't quite work, cause chrome is a much better browser than the iOS Safari. Many bugs remain hidden.

[Ricky Levi]

it's good to test resolutions, but cannot simulate a real device. libs/frameworks behave different for browsers and mobile phones, sometimes you site won't work at all - it's that different

[User]

I wish Safari had this, because the Chrome simulator actually runs my site fine but the iPhone/Safari does not.

[fabs]

Its not an simulator - it just uses your installed chrome and adjusts the screen size. You can "simulate" how a page looks like on a mobile device but not how it behaves. Meaning the Chrome app for iOS could differ in rendering HTML/CSS or executing Javascript

[Mahender Reddy Yasa]

Ripple emulator is so annoying it keep on asking to reload and wait

[Cerbrus]

This isn't an emulator. It's just a resize / touch that uses chrome's engine.

[Rocky]

I can confirm that it doesn't render all elements the same as native iOS safari. I'm currently seeing different rendering styles for some buttons and radio buttons.

[p._phidot_]

"Testing with real hardware is part of the price of doing business." <-- Totally agree.. /(·_·)\

[p._phidot_]

Among the best info research post I've ever encountered here.. keep it up!.. [^_^]/

[Paul Kienitz]

This emulator pretty much seems limited to screen layout. It won't help you if you have, say, a complicated input control that works on the desktop but not on a mobile device.

[Wancieho]

Please stop voting this question up as it is WRONG! Responsive design mode is NOT emulation!

[LuckyLikey]

its no more actualized and though outdated.

[tanius]

Both of these are based on physical devices, not simulators. Great find!

[tanius]

Also, CrossBrowserTesting offers a gratis plan for open source projects.

[OG Sean]

"Testing with real hardware is part of the price of doing business." - only until a better solution comes along, which I think is the point of the question. After all, there are emulators already out there

[Marc Compte]

None of these is either working or a real emulator.

[Epirocks]

The link provided is broken