Testing a local website on an iPhone during development is a crucial step for ensuring compatibility and a seamless user experience. It is also part of a list of other necessary WWW compatibility checks.

This guide outlines various approaches, catering to different needs and technical comfort levels from a DevOps and QA perspective. Web development, in general, affords developers a level of device agnosticism so they can prioritize testing their websites according to their goals.

If iPhone users are an essential part of your application’s target audience, it is a good start to test the app on an iPhone connected to the development machine; follow along for more details.

Technical Approaches to test Local Website on iPhone

Apple’s development ecosystem is already stacked with the essentials, for the web it provides all essential tools with the Safari browser.

Here's a quick summary of tools from Apple in the context of building and testing websites on Apple devices:

• WebKit: Safari uses the open-source browser engine WebKit, which drives how your website’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are rendered on Apple devices. Understanding how sites appear and behave on iOS and macOS is essential.
• Safari: Apple’s web browser on iOS and macOS, leveraging WebKit. Testing on Safari is crucial as most iPhone users will visit our site on it, and it enforces strict security and privacy policies, like Intelligent Tracking Prevention, that can impact website functionality.
• Safari Technology Preview: A version of Safari that includes experimental WebKit features. It’s ideal for testing upcoming web standards or new Safari features before they’re released, helping you anticipate and address potential compatibility issues early.
• Xcode: Apple’s integrated development environment (IDE) that provides a simulator for testing websites on different iOS and macOS versions and device types. While it’s useful, the simulator isn’t a substitute for real-device testing, as some behaviors differ between simulated and physical hardware.

These tools collectively allow you to build, test, and optimize your website for real-world use on Apple devices early in development.

Safari Web Inspector (macOS only)

This is the most direct and feature-rich method if you have a Mac. It provides a near-identical experience to debugging on any other desktop browser.

Steps to follow:

1. Enable Web Inspector on your iPhone: Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Web Inspector.
2. Enable Developer mode in Safari on your Mac: Go to Safari > Preferences > Advanced > Show Develop menu in menu bar.
3. Connect your iPhone to your Mac via USB.
4. Open the website you want to test in Safari on your iPhone.
5. In Safari on your Mac, select "Develop" > [Your iPhone's Name] > [The website URL].
6. The Web Inspector window will open, allowing you to inspect elements, debug JavaScript, analyze network traffic, and much more, just like you would on your desktop.
7. This setup allows you to see the website behavior on the iPhone while debugging the internals from a development Mac.

Great for in-depth debugging, performance analysis, and identifying device-specific issues. Useful for both developers and QA testers.

Safari Technology Preview ( > macOS 14 Sonoma )

Safari Technology Preview is an application dedicated to web development for Apple Devices offering a sneak peek into upcoming web technologies in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, and experiment with them in your websites and extensions.

Working with Safari on Mac provides proper ways to test and build websites and additional technical features like:

• Safari web extensions
• Apple Pay on web
• Passkeys and Security keys
• Video content and communication
• Upcoming web technologies and syntax
• Webkit Engine Updates

Working with websites and Apple devices through Safari Technology preview is a reliable way to ensure compatibility between your website and Apple device ecosystem.

However, it is not feasible for all developers to acquire the devices and subscriptions needed to run Safari Technology preview. Follow along for some alternative approaches.

Alternative Methods (No Mac Required)

For non-Apple stacks, here’s a quick guide on tools to help test local websites on real iPhones:

• BrowserStack: Cloud testing platforms allowing remote website testing across multiple real iOS devices. You can see how your site behaves on various iPhone models without needing physical devices on hand.
• Local Server Tunneling: A tunneling tool that makes your local website temporarily accessible on the web. E.g. By running ngrok on your local server, you can create a public URL to test your site on any device connected to the internet, including real iPhones.
• Browser DevTools (with Remote Debugging): If you have a USB connection to an iPhone, you can use any browser’s DevTools to debug. Although limited compared to Safari DevTools, you can even debug across locations over the internet with a remote desktop connection!
• Responsive Design Mode in Browsers: Popular browsers like Chrome and Firefox have a responsive design mode to simulate an iPhone viewport. Although not a replacement for real-device testing, it can help identify general issues early in the process.

These tools enable cross-platform developers to efficiently test and troubleshoot how their websites will appear and function on real iPhones.

BrowserStack

BrowserStack Local allows your team to test websites hosted on your private network by establishing a secure tunnel between the local environment and BrowserStack's cloud infrastructure.

This is useful for testing development, staging, or internal sites that are not publicly accessible. The local connection can be established through a command-line interface (using the BrowserStackLocal binary) or a GUI (using the BrowserStackLocal app).

Key features include:

• Cross-Browser Testing: Test websites across real browsers, devices, and versions.
• Proxy and Firewall Support: Local testing supports advanced configurations, including networks behind firewalls or proxies.
• Session Control: You can start, stop, and monitor your local test sessions directly through the app, providing flexibility for testing internal applications.

These features streamline the testing process for apps or websites that aren't live yet, ensuring thorough pre-launch checks in different environments. More detailed steps for setting it up can be found on BrowserStack’s documentation.

Server Tunneling Tools

The market for tunneling tools for local servers is growing rapidly, particularly within the QA and software testing sectors.

These tools are essential for remote testing of locally hosted websites, enabling developers and QA teams to securely test websites and applications hosted in private networks or development environments that aren't publicly accessible.

Tunneling services establish secure, encrypted channels between local machines and external servers, allowing for comprehensive cross-browser testing, automation, and debugging.

Challenges:

• Latency and Speed: Tunneling introduces network layering overhead, which may lead to slower response times during tests. Ensuring reliable, low-latency connections is a key challenge for both tool providers and users.
• Security Risks: Despite encryption, tunneling services may expose internal servers to the Internet. Proper authentication and access control mechanisms are vital to protect sensitive data.

iOS Simulators

For local testing on an iPhone simulator directly from your machine:

• Xcode iOS Simulator: Apple’s native development tool provides iPhone simulators that can load local websites via the Mac’s browser or local IP address.
• Appium: This tool allows you to load local sites or apps onto a simulated iPhone and use it for automation testing with iOS simulators.

Direct IP Access

If the iPhone is on the same network as your local server, you can directly access the local server by entering the IP address of your machine (e.g., http://192.168.x.x:port) into the iPhone’s browser.

DevOps and QA Considerations

• Javascript Compatibility: Browsers support different JS standards and functions, hence checking for iPhone compatibility starts with a deep check into the world of JS syntax, bundling, deployment etc. iPhone testing is necessary to ensure actual baseline function.
• CSS Compatibility: CSS properties, selectors and values are rendered differently in each browser, so Safari on iPhone will give the actual view of your code in action.
• Automated Testing: Integrate BrowserStack Local with your CI/CD pipeline for automated UI testing on iPhones using tools like Selenium, Appium (for webviews in native apps), or Cypress.
• Device Coverage: Ensure your testing covers a range of iPhone models and iOS versions relevant to your target audience.
• Performance Testing: Use Safari Web Inspector or dedicated performance testing tools (like Lighthouse or WebPageTest) to analyze and optimize iPhone website performance.
• Network Throttling:** Use developer tools (Safari Web Inspector or BrowserStack) to simulate different network conditions and test how your website performs under varying network speeds and latency.
• Visual Regression Testing: Implement visual regression testing tools (e.g., Percy) in your CI/CD to automatically detect unintended visual changes after code deployments.

Why test local deployment on a real iPhone?

Testing your website on a real iPhone, even in early stage of development is useful for:

• Accurate User Experience: Real devices show how users will experience your site, including how it looks, responds to touch gestures, and interacts with Safari and iOS-specific features. Emulators sometimes miss these subtle interactions.
• Performance Optimization: Real devices reveal performance issues you may not notice in an emulator, such as loading speeds, animations, or memory usage, which can vary across iPhone models.
• Hardware and Network Testing: iPhones have unique network settings, display resolutions, and hardware capabilities that affect performance and connectivity. Testing on a real device allows you to see how your site behaves under real-world conditions like varied network speeds and battery usage.
• Debugging in Native Safari: Safari on iOS may behave differently than other browsers or emulators, so testing on a real iPhone lets you catch any iOS-specific quirks in JavaScript, CSS, or overall rendering.
• Consistent Design and Usability: Testing on an actual iPhone ensures the design is correctly sized for the screen, touch targets are easy to tap, and fonts are legible.

It’s all about getting as close to a real user experience as possible so you can make necessary adjustments early on.

Why Test local website on iPhone with BrowserStack?

Apart from tunneling, BrowserStack offers several features specifically beneficial for testing websites on real iPhones:

• Real Device Testing: BrowserStack provides access to a wide range of real iOS devices, including various iPhone models and OS versions, so you can check compatibility, performance, and responsiveness without needing physical devices.
• Debugging Tools: With built-in DevTools support, you can inspect elements, view console logs, and debug JavaScript directly on real iOS devices. BrowserStack also supports network throttling and device logging to simulate different network conditions and capture iPhone errors.
• Visual Testing and Screenshots: BrowserStack Automate, Percy enables you to capture full-page screenshots and record videos of test sessions. This is useful for visual regression testing, ensuring your design appears consistently across different iPhone models and OS versions.
• Automated Testing: BrowserStack Automate supports Selenium, Appium, and other automation frameworks, so you can automate functional tests on iOS Safari. This helps streamline repetitive tasks like form submissions, navigation, and iPhone interactions to catch UI or UX issues early.
• Geolocation Testing: BrowserStack allows you to simulate different geolocations, enabling you to test region-specific content or features on iPhones and ensure that localized content appears correctly.
• Cross-browser and Cross-platform Compatibility: BrowserStack allows side-by-side testing across multiple iOS devices and browsers, so you can easily compare how your site performs on iPhones versus other devices (like Android or desktop).

BrowserStack combines real-device access, robust debugging, and automated testing, making it ideal for comprehensive iPhone testing from any environment.