view console safari iphone

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How to Activate the iPhone Debug Console or Web Inspector

Use Safari's web developer tools to study problematic websites

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What to Know

• Activate Web Inspector on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced and move the Web Inspector toggle switch to the On position.
• Use Web Inspector on macOS: Connect your iOS device to a Mac and choose the URL to inspect from the Develop menu.

If you run into a bug or another issue with a website on Safari mobile, use the Web Inspector tool to investigate. This article explains how to use the Safari console for iPhone to debug errors with the help of your Mac computer. Instructions apply to iPhones with iOS 14, iOS 12, or iOS 11, and well as Macs with macOS Big Sur (11.0), macOS Catalina (10.15), or macOS Mojave (10.14).

Activate Web Inspector on Your iPhone or Other iOS Device

The Web Inspector is disabled by default since most iPhone users have no use for it. However, if you're a developer or you're curious, you can activate it in a few short steps. Here's how:

Open the iPhone  Settings  menu.

On an iPhone with an early version of iOS, access the Debug Console through Settings > Safari > Developer > Debug Console . When Safari on the iPhone detects CSS, HTML, and JavaScript errors, details of each display in the debugger.

Scroll down and tap  Safari  to open the screen that contains everything related to the Safari web browser on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Advanced .

Move the Web Inspector toggle switch to the On position.

Connect Your iOS Device to Safari on a Mac

To use the Web Inspector, connect your iPhone or another iOS device to a Mac that has the Safari web browser and enable the Develop menu .

With Safari open, select Safari from the menu bar and choose  Preferences .

Select the  Advanced  tab.

Select the Show Develop menu in menu bar check box and close the settings window.

From the Safari menu bar, select Develop and choose the name of your attached iOS device, then select the URL that appears under Safari to open the debug console for that site.

After you connect your device, use your Mac to inspect the website you want to debug and have it open in the Safari mobile browser.

What Is Web Inspector?

Web developers use Web Inspector to modify, debug, and optimize websites on Macs and iOS devices. With Web Inspector open, developers can inspect the resources on a web page. The Web Inspector window contains editable HTML and notes regarding the styles and layers of the web page in a separate panel.

Before iOS 6, the iPhone Safari web browser had a built-in Debug Console that developers used to find web page defects. Recent versions of iOS use Web Inspector instead.

With Safari 9 and OS X Mavericks (10.9), Apple introduced Responsive Design Mode in Web Inspector. Developers use this built-in simulator to preview how web pages scale to different screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations.

To set up Web Inspector on your iPad, open your iPad's Settings and select Safari > Advanced , then turn Web Inspector On . Connect the iPad to a Mac computer, then open Safari on the Mac and select Safari > Preferences > Advanced , then turn on Show Develop menu in menu bar .

You cannot just connect your iPhone to a Windows PC and start using Web Inspector through Chrome like you can with a Mac. Installing package manager software can provide you a sort of workaround, but it's not recommended unless you're familiar with the package management app you intend to use.

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Tips & Tricks

Troubleshooting, enable the safari debug console on iphone & ipad.

Safari for iOS includes an optional debug console to help web developers track down and resolve issues with webpages on iPhone and iPad.

Even better, with the latest versions of iOS it actually uses the same Web Inspector that Safari on desktop does too, meaning if you connect the iPhone or iPad to the computer you can use the Safari debugging tools directly with your iOS or iPadOS device

Older versions of iOS have this capability too, and while not as in inclusive as the desktop Safari debug and developer tools , it’s still useful and is easy to enable or disable on the iPhone and iPad.

Let’s learn how to enable this feature on both new and old versions of iOS, and learn what’s different between the versions as well.

How to Enable & Use Web Inspector in Safari for iPhone & iPad

On modern iOS and iPadOS versions, here’s how Safari web inspector works:

• Open Settings > Safari > Advanced then tap to enable “Web Inspector”
• Connect the iPhone or iPad to a Mac, then go to Safari and enable the developer menu if you haven’t done so by going to Safari > Preferences > Advanced > Show Develop menu bar
• Pull down the “Develop” menu bar and find the iPhone or iPad, and then open the web page you wish to debug
• Safari Web Inspector will open where you can debug and inspect web elements from the iOS or IPadOS device directly in Safari on the Mac

Now as you navigate on the iPhone or iPad you will find the Web Inspector in Safari on the Mac will update.

You can access the debug Console through the Console tab in the web inspector, and you can access the debugger through the Debugger tab. And of course the usual web inspector tools for elements, resources, network, etc, are available to use as well.

You can also use a View Source trick for iOS and iPadOS while you’re on the go, if needed too.

How to Enable Debug Console on Older iOS Versions

If you have an older version of iOS on an older iPhone or iPad, the whole debug experience is on the device and you don’t have the ability to connect it to Safari on a Mac. Nonetheless it’s still quite useful, here’s how it works:

• Launch “Settings” and tap on “Safari”
• Tap on “Advanced”
• Slide “Debug Console” to ON

Once enabled, tap on the Debug Console at the top of any Safari screen to see web page errors.

The default list shows all errors, but you can drill down to more specific HTML, JavaScript, and CSS errors by tapping them individually.

Another useful tool for mobile web developers is Firebug Lite for iOS , which utilizes a javascript bookmarklet to load a simpler version of the popular Firebug development tool. That functionality is probably most useful for the older iOS versions as well, since newer releases have new capabilities.

Do you use any web developer tools for iPhone or iPad? Share with us any tips, tricks, apps, or techniques in the comments below.

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out dated — no longer accurate

The topmost section is accurate for new iOS versions using Web Inspector, the lower portion is for older versions with Debug Console. Hope that helps!

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• Debugging Safari/Chrome on your iPhone/iPad/iOS device

In the world of modern web development, Web 2.0 (or is it 3.0?), with HTML5, CSS3, ES6, and frameworks and libraries up the wazoo, our web apps and sites always work seamlessly and flawlessly across all the browsers and devices… hahaha, I know…

The reality is, web development, as great and modern as it is, can have little caveats and nuances across the different browsers: Chrome, Safari, FireFox, Edge, and the Mac/Windows/Linux/iOS/Android versions of each. Thankfully, the big contenders like Netscape (those were the days) and Internet Explorer have finally been deprecated and are no longer expected to be supported in the wild. Even with the great modern web, we still have issues once in a while.

In my recent efforts in troubleshooting one small “nuance” between Chrome on Mac and Chrome and Safari on iOS (yes, all three were acting differently), I needed to debug my browser on my iPad and/or iPhone. I won’t get into what the issue is here, instead, I’ll get into how we can debug the browsers on our iOS devices. I’ve searched for many options, some worked, some didn’t, so below is what worked for me.

All steps below are all running on my:

• MacBook Pro 16-inc, M1 Pro, running macOS Ventura 13.6
• iPad Air (4th) v15.3.1
• iPhone 14 Pro Max iOS v17.0.3

What are we debugging

Before we get started in debugging, we should cover what we’re debugging. In the following debugging methods, we can debug anything our browser can get to: netflix.com, google.com, or our public website. With CI/CD in place, I can make code changes and get them into my dev environment in under 5 minutes, and that suffices at times. I can then hit the site directly on my iPhone and debug as needed.

Sometimes, if I’m really diving into a granular issue and don’t want to wait, I like to use ngrok. Ngrok spins up a gateway from a public address to your local dev machine. This allows me to troubleshoot realtime on my mobile browser while writing the code on my laptop. It’s pretty slick and has saved me a lot of time. I can even share the ngrok address with my colleagues and they can access it on my local machine too! Another option would be to set up DNS for your iPhone to navigate to your laptop while on the same wifi network, and that’s not worth the effort in my book.

Debugging in Chrome on iOS

This is great quick way to check out your console messages without using your Mac.

• In Chrome on your iPad or iPhone, go to chrome://inspect and then press Start Logging .
• Now go do your thing in another tab, keeping this tab open.
• Come back anytime to see any and all console outputs!

See, no laptop/desktop needed, just do it on the mobile device.

This is as far as we can get with Chrome on iPhone/iPad. From my limited understanding, Chrome for iOS uses a WKWebView which gets difficult to actually attach to and debug. If the JavaScript console output isn’t enough, try Safari…

Debugging in Safari on iOS

This is a great method of debugging your iOS devices as it gives you the closest thing to actually debugging on your computer. With this method you can use the dev tools on your Mac to connect to your iOS Safari browser. It’s pretty sweet.

• On your Mac , open Safari, then go to Safari > Settings.
• Click Advanced and click Show Develop menu in menu bar at the bottom of the window. Close the window.
• On your iPad or iPhone , go to Settings > Safari > Advanced.
• Scroll to the bottom and enable Web Inspector .

For this next part, I recommend using a USB cable to attach your iOS device to your Mac. You might get away with doing this over Wifi, as I have in the past, but it’s not reliable .

• Connect your device to your Mac using a USB cable, or try the following over Wifi.
• On your Mac, in Safari, click the Develop menu.
• Near the top of the menu you should see your iPad or iPhone listed.
• Hover over your device in the menu and you’ll see Safari with each tab listed below. Click the one you want to debug.
• The Web Inspector should then appear, now debug it: Elements, Console, Sources, Network, all of it should work!

Good enough for now

Between these two techniques, I’ve been able to troubleshoot my issues quite successfully. Generally, iOS Safari and Chrome act relatively the same, so debugging in Safari helps me clear my Chrome issue. And if it doesn’t I can always throw in more console.log s and see what Chrome is actually doing. Ideally, we should be able to debug the code directly on Chrome, like we can do with Safari, but at this time it’s just not possible.

One other option, for a cost: inspect.dev

There’s a product called inspect.dev that boasts it can debug Safari, Webviews, and Chrome from macOS, Windows, and Linux. Learn more at https://inspect.dev/why . I have not tried them out, I don’t want to pay for something that should be free for developers (hence this blog post).

Let me know if you know other ways to debug your mobile browsers! Leave a comment below or let’s connect on Twitter .

‘Til next time, happy debugging!

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7 thoughts on “ Debugging Safari/Chrome on your iPhone/iPad/iOS device ”

You should also check out using x-code’s simulator. Safari Dev Tools can attach to the Safari session on the simulator and you’re off to the races!

Oh yea, i just found that and then forgot that… thanks I’ll check it out closer and share my findings!

Thanks for article. One small correction Chrome for iOS uses WKWebView.

Thanks for the fix! will update

• Pingback: [FIXED] The image is taking the original dimentions of it on the phone after deployment - Learn How to FIX your angular code

Thanks bro! I’ll follow yours steps, wish me luck.

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How do I check logs on iOS Safari if I use Windows?

• Thread starter moonman239
• Start date Dec 9, 2022
• Tags debug ios 16.1 logs
• Sort by reaction score
• Web Design and Development
• Dec 9, 2022

I'm running my Web app on an iPhone 11 running iOS 16.1.2, and I want to access the iOS Safari console logs. I found a tutorial that didn't have instructions for Windows computers: https://www.lifewire.com/activate-the-debug-console-in-safari-445798 Here's what I've done so far: Under Settings->Safari->Advanced, enable Web Inspector. However, the next steps appear to be for Mac computers, and I have a Windows 11 computer. I searched for my problem on Google, and all the solutions I came up with involve downloading something to my computer. A few of them are paid products with a free trial. Some, I'm not sure I can trust. I just want to view the browser logs. Any ideas?  

To be clear, I don’t want paid software if I can reasonably avoid it. And I don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, just a way to view the logs.  

OK, so this isn't exactly the solution I was looking for because it doesn't use iOS Safari, but it's close enough: 1) Download Google Chrome from the iOS App Store. 2) In Chrome, go to chrome://inspect. Make sure this is the only tab open. 3) Click the button to enable JavaScript logging. 4) Open your Web app in Chrome. As of now, Chrome is basically Safari with a different skin, so what you see in Chrome and in its JS logs should be what would happen in Safari.  

macrumors newbie

• Aug 31, 2023

Update Safari on Windows PC​

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Decipher Tools > Blog > How to View Your iPhone's Debug Log/Console

How to View Your iPhone's Debug Log/Console

In this article, we're going to show you how to view your iPhone's debugging logs live. Updated December 1, 2019: Our suggestions are up to date for iOS 13 and for Windows.

How to Access the iPhone Debug Log/Console on Windows

Unfortunately, Apple Configurator 2 is not available for Windows, so the way to access the iPhone Console/debugging logging is by using the open source project libimobiledevice . The folks over at Quamotion are kind enough to provide compiled Windows ports of libimobiledevice. If you're comfortable using Windows command prompt or power shell, you can download Quamotion's Windows libimobiledevice tools .

The tool you want to run is idevicesyslog .

Note: If you're a more novice user and aren't sure how to use idevicesyslog , send us a note . I'm considering posting a more user-friendly Windows tool here, but would love to make sure there is interest before taking the time to do so.

How to Access the iPhone Debug Log/Console on macOS

You could get idevicesyslog on your Mac, but there's two easier ways to view the iPhone console on Mac.

How to use Console on macOS to view the iPhone debug console:

On macOS High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina, you can use the built-in Console app to access the iPhone debugging log.

Open the Console app, by searching for Console in the spotlight search (magnifying glass) in the upper right corner.

Click your iPhone under Devices on the left side of the window. (If you don't see Devices, in the menu select View > Show Sources )

(Optional) Click the Clear button at the top of the window, to start the logging fresh.

How to use Apple Configurator 2 to access the iPhone console:

Download the app Apple Configurator 2 from Apple on the Mac App Store.

Run Apple Configurator 2, and double-click on your iPhone.

Click Console in the left column.

Scroll around, or export your log to a text file using the "Save" button for easier reading and searching.

If you're testing out a specific problem, I recommend pressing the "Clear" button to erase all of the old text, reproduce your problem, and then click "Save" to save the nice isolated log text to a file.

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View console logs from non-Safari browsers on an iPhone

Using the about:inspect special page you can see your website's logs in Chrome or Edge running on iPhone!

This is important because debugging a webpage that's running in Safari on an iPhone isn't hard, but debugging the same webpage when it's running in Chrome or Edge on an iPhone is impossible, and sometimes there are pages that may work in Safari, but not in Chrome or Edge.

The former requires connecting your iPhone to a Mac via USB, enabling the WebInspector tools on the Mac, and connecting from Safari desktop to Safari mobile (learn more at Enabling Web Inspector ).

The latter, however, is not possible. Even if Chrome and Edge use the webkit webview on iPhone, Apple just doesn't let you connect to these webviews from your Mac. Because the webview-version of webkit is subtly different from the version of webkit that powers Safari, it's possible for your webpage to work in Safari but not in Chrome or Edge, even on the same iPhone.

Thankfully, here is a way to at least see your console logs from these browsers, which is better than nothing:

• In Chrome or Edge on iPhone, open a new tab and go to about:inspect .
• Click Start Logging .
• Keep this tab open and open a new one.
• In the new tab, go to the site that you need to test and run the user scenario that will trigger a the console logs you need to see.
• Return to the previous tab. Your logs are now displayed on the about:inspect page.

Last edit: 2/7/2023 - Edit this page

6 Tips to Improve Your Safari Experience on iPhone

A ccessing the internet on an iPhone is made simple by Safari, Apple's native web browser; it does a great job of getting you started, but there are several other features that you can leverage to enhance your user experience.

Below, we'll list some valuable tips you can use to get the most out of Safari on your iPhone. So, let's get started.

1. Modify the Start Page

The start page is the first element you usually run into when launching Safari—it's the default screen if you've not used the browser before or didn't leave any tabs open after your last session. And the first step you can take in improving your Safari experience is to customize it.

Customizing the start page involves changing the background image and choosing the sections (listed below) you want the app to show. We've added descriptions to help you understand a little more about each section.

• Favorites : This section will show all your favorite websites and bookmarks which have been added to the Favorites section on your iPhone.
• Frequently Visited : This is a collection of searches and websites you've frequented in recent months. The information is said to be a mix from all your Apple devices if you've enabled iCloud.
• Shared with You : It works by finding links, images, music, and more, sent within the Messages app, and brings them up in relevant applications. For example, if someone texted you a link via iMessage, you'll find it in this section of the start page.
• Privacy Report : This section surfaces information on the trackers used by websites you've visited in the last 30 days and showcases when your iPhone—and other Apple devices—prevented them from profiling you.
• Siri Suggestions : You can find website suggestions based on your recent browsing history, bookmarks, and open tabs within this section if you choose to use them.
• Reading List : You can find the three latest additions to your Reading List in this section, with a Show All button available in case you want to view the other articles you've added to your read later list.
• iCloud Tabs : This feature showcases up to four most recent tabs open on each Apple device you own with iCloud enabled for Safari.

To begin customizing your Safari's start page, follow the steps listed below:

• Scroll down to the bottom of the Safari start page and tap Edit.
• Now, enable the desired sections using the toggles or reorder them by pressing (and dragging) the three horizontal lines.

If you want to experience Apple's Continuity feature , toggle on Use Start Page on All Devices at the top of the edit menu. This will ensure your start page is in sync across all devices connected to your iCloud account.

2. Create Tab Groups in Safari

The next step in improving Safari on iPhone is to create and use Tab Groups . The feature lets you bring order and control to tabs by allowing you to group similar ones—or those you often use together—into folders. Ideally, you can use the feature to separate search results and websites related to work from those you open during casual browsing.

To create a Tab Group, follow the steps listed below:

• View all your tabs by tapping the Tab button in the bottom-right corner.
• Now, tap the text box at the bottom of the screen—it mentions the number of tabs open.
• In the menu that appears, tap New Empty Tab Group or the second option, New Tab Group with X Tabs .
• Name the Tab Group according to your liking and hit Save .

The X in the second option will vary based on the number of tabs open when creating a Tab Group.

3. Use Safari Extensions

Like Chrome, you can install Safari extensions to improve your browsing experience. For those unaware, these are applications built for web browsers that bring additional functionality and make your life easier.

For example, you can install applications that scour the web for coupon codes and bring them up when you're making a purchase or add ones that help edit written content to ensure you aren't making silly errors.

Adding extensions to Safari on an iPhone is a bit different compared to installing and removing extensions in Safari on a Mac . To do this, follow the steps listed below:

• Go to Settings > Safari on your iOS device.
• On the next screen, find Extensions under the General subsection and tap on it.
• You'll now see a list of extensions available. In case you see no options, tap More Extensions to visit the Safari Extensions store.

You may sometimes see options without having installed an extension before; these are present due to an application—that offers Safari extensions—installed on your iPhone from before.

Once you've installed an extension, activate it in Settings using the same steps above and then do the following:

• Open Safari and tap the AA button in the address bar.
• Now, tap Manage Extensions and select the extension you want to activate.

4. Choose Websites to Automatically Use Reader

Reader in Safari is a nifty add-on that lets you read content from a website with minimal distractions and no ads. It makes the experience quite simple and offers options like changing the page color, font, and font size.

Activating Reader is quite simple; tap the AA button in the address bar when you're on a supported webpage and choose Show Reader . However, if you frequently visit a specific website, you can configure Safari to load all its webpages in Reader. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the desired website and tap the AA button.
• In the context menu that appears, tap Website Settings .
• Now, toggle on Use Reader Automatically . Each supported webpage will now open in Reader, making it easier to read the content.

5. Set Tabs to Open in Background

Despite it being easy to access AI tools like ChatGPT on mobile for learning about things, if you prefer getting deep into the weeds when doing research, you may want to view many of the following webpages in new tabs.

By default, opening a new tab via a hyperlink will leave the old tab behind and move you to the new tab. While this behavior is fine, it can feel like a chore if you'd like to open multiple results from a search page.

Fortunately, you can change this behavior. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the Settings app, and scroll down to the Safari option.
• On this page, under the Tabs subsection, tap on Open Links .
• Now, choose In Background .

6. Configure Safari to Automatically Close Tabs

Lastly, while the ability to open many tabs in Safari is a boon, knowing ways to organize your browser and keeping it clutter-free can help you focus better and increase productivity. And keeping only a few tabs open can be a part of this regime.

Safari on iPhone also helps with this, with the ability to automatically close tabs after a set period of time; we've detailed the steps to activate the feature below:

• On this page, under the Tabs subsection, tap on Close Tabs .
• Now, choose from the available options: After One Day , After One Week , or After One Month .

Become a Safari Power User With These Changes

Each customization method listed above will help improve your Safari experience, be it with a new background image that makes the app feel more personal or a setting that keeps it clutter-free.

Overall, Safari is an excellent browser that can be made even better for power users with a few changes. And some of Apple's exclusive features make a strong case for the app, especially if you're a Mac user.

Safari User Guide

• Get started
• Go to a website
• Bookmark webpages to revisit
• See your favorite websites
• Use tabs for webpages
• Import bookmarks and passwords
• Pay with Apple Pay
• Autofill credit card info
• View links from friends
• Keep a Reading List
• Hide ads when reading
• Translate a webpage
• Download items from the web
• Add passes to Wallet
• Save part or all of a webpage
• Print or create a PDF of a webpage
• Interact with text in a picture
• Change your homepage
• Customize a start page
• Create a profile
• Block pop-ups
• Make Safari your default web browser
• Hide your email address
• Manage cookies
• Clear your browsing history
• Browse privately
• Prevent cross-site tracking
• See who tried to track you
• Change Safari settings
• Keyboard and other shortcuts

View your Favorites in Safari on Mac

View your Favorites from the Smart Search field: Click in the Smart Search field to see your Favorites in the start page view, then click the icon of the website you want to visit. The start page view goes away if you start typing, and it doesn’t appear if you click the field while you’re viewing the start page.

You can also see your favorite websites when you open new tabs. If you don’t see your Favorites in new tabs, see Change General settings .

Show the Favorites bar: Choose View > Show Favorites Bar. A bar with your favorite websites appears below the toolbar.

Go to a Favorite website: Click in the Smart Search field, then click a website below Favorites, or click a website in the Favorites bar (or use the Touch Bar ).