Why Inspect?
It's 2020, and the majority of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Yet, we still don't have cross-platform debugging tools to debug Safari, Webviews and Chrome on iOS and Android devices.
Enter Inspect 👋
Inspect is a new developer tool for macOS and Windows that enables you to inspect and debug your web apps and websites on iOS devices. Android coming too.
With Inspect you don’t need an expensive Mac, all you need is a USB cable or WiFi.
Highlights
Debug the web on iOS devices
Inspect enables to you debug Safari and WebViews on your iOS device.
Works on Windows and macOS
Inspect brings iOS Web debugging to both Windows and macOS.
UI from Chrome DevTools
Inspect is built on Chrome DevTools, so you feel right at home from day one.
No new hardware needed
No new hardware needed. Inspect is provides a software-only solution that works across platforms.
Coming soon: React, Angular and Vue DevTools
Inspect will bundle your favorite DevTools extensions, so you can debug your frameworks.
Coming soon: Debug the web on Android devices
Inspect will also enable you to debug Chrome and WebViews on your Android device.
Coming soon: Screencasting
Inspect will give you screencasting so you don't have to take your fingers off the keyboard.
Coming soon: Inspect over Wifi
Inspect will support debugging of iOS devices over WIFI. It's time to let go off the cables.
No Apple hardware needed, really?
Yes! Inspect is a standalone implementation of debugging infrastructure used by Safari (WebKit) on your iOS device. Inspect talks to the USB-driver provided by iTunes, and takes care of rest by translating all the APIs and protocols to enable Chrome DevTools to be used with iOS.
You don't need to spend $799 for a Mac Mini to be able to debug the web on iOS. All you need is Inspect, a USB cable or WiFi and your Windows machine or Mac.
It's pretty 🔥🤯
I already have a Mac, what's the point?
Alright, so you already got a Mac, so you can debug iOS from Safari. Great. But do you really like the Safari Inspector tools? Wish they were more familiar? Missing React or VueJS DevTools?
We got you. Inspect runs on macOS, and enables you to use familar Chrome DevTools, including popular extensions like React DevTools, Angular DevTools and VueJS DevTools, to debug the web on your iOS devices.
I can just use open source tools for this, right?
Before iOS 13, you could use the open-source projects ios_webkit_debug_proxy or remotedebug_ios_webkit_adapter to enable iOS debugging on Windows, but these tools don't work anymore. The underlying protocols and APIs have changed.
Why should I trust you on this? Well, I'm the author of RemoteDebug and a contributor to the other project.
Will Inspect cost money?
Inspect will be a paid developer tool, as I have invested countless late-night hours into making this tool a reality. Parts of Inspect might be open source, but not everything.
About Inspect
Inspect is a side-project by Kenneth Auchenberg built under his COVID-19 quarantine in Seattle, WA, USA.