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 π
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 donβt need an expensive Mac, all you need is a USB cable or WiFi.
Inspect enables to you debug Safari, WebViews (and Chrome) on your device over USB or WiFi. Android support will come soon.
Inspect brings iOS web debugging to Windows. No new hardware needed. Just Inspect (and iTunes on Windows). Works on macOS too!
Inspect gives you your favorite DevTools extensions, so you can debug your frameworks.
Inspect is built on a foundation of open-source with Chrome DevTools, so you feel right at home.
Inspect gives you screencasting so you don't have to take your fingers off the keyboard.
Inspect can debug your iOS devices over Wifi. It's time to let go off the cables.
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 π₯π€―
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.
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.
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.
Good question, I'm trying to figure this out.
Below is a comparison of the alternatives.
What do you think Inspect should cost?
Inspect is a side-project by Kenneth Auchenberg built under his COVID-19 quarantine in Seattle, WA, USA.