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Stack OverflowSimulators/emulators for mobile browser testing?
[+336] [22] sjstrutt
[2009-01-21 04:32:31]
[ html testing mobile-website ]
[ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/464089/simulators-emulators-for-mobile-browser-testing ] [DELETED]

I'm doing development of a web application aimed at mobile devices. What software can I use to simulate/emulate mobile browser environments?

I'm specifically looking for a way to test on Mobile Safari, the Android browser, mobile Opera, Mobile IE, the Blackberry Browser and any other common platform I'm missing.

Note: I am using Windows as my development platform, but I am able to use anything that can be installed on an x86 PC for testing.

[+212] [2009-01-21 09:10:10] Kristian J. [ACCEPTED]

There is a really good roundup of 38 mobile browser emulators here [1].

Just the names and download links of those emulators:

The URLs of these links have been updated over time, and so have diverged slightly from the linked article.

[1] http://www.mobilexweb.com/emulators
[2] https://developer.apple.com/xcode/index.php
[3] http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
[4] http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1788&Itemid=55
[5] http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/Samsung-GALAXY-Tab-Emulator
[6] http://developer.motorola.com/docstools/android-sdk-addons/addons/Motorola_SDK_Add_on_for_XOOM/
[7] http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/ec866fab-4b76-49f6-b5a5-af0631419e9c/S60_All_in_One_SDKs.html
[8] http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/cc48f9a1-f5cf-447b-bdba-c4d41b3d05ce/Series_40_Platform_SDKs.html
[9] http://developer.motorola.com/docstools/tools/
[10] http://us.blackberry.com/developers/resources/simulators.jsp
[11] http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/
[12] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=04704acf-a63a-4f97-952c-8b51b34b00ce
[13] http://developer.sonyericsson.com/cws/download/1/718/424/1263202126/102216-XPERIA-X10_SDK_Add-on_r1.zip
[14] http://nookdeveloper.barnesandnoble.com/tools
[15] http://www.opera.com/developer/tools/
[16] http://www.opera.com/mobile/demo/
[17] http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/download/
[18] http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/e920da1a-5b18-42df-82c3-907413e525fb/Nokia_Qt_SDK.html
[19] http://www.forum.nokia.com/Develop/Web/9hy25fa/
[20] http://www.phonegap.com/tools
[21] http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/devicecentral/
[22] http://developer.bada.com/apis/tools/sdk/list.do?categoryID=FC02040600&menu=MC01040800&mtb1=&mtb2=
[23] http://www.accessdevnet.com/index.php/Emulator-3.5/View-category.html
[24] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=06111a3a-a651-4745-88ef-3d48091a390b&displaylang=en
[25] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=06111a3a-a651-4745-88ef-3d48091a390b&displaylang=en
[26] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3d6f581e-c093-4b15-ab0c-a2ce5bffdb47
[27] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c62d54a5-183a-4a1e-a7e2-cc500ed1f19a
[28] http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/binary/archive/service/imode/make/content/browser/html/tool2/download/imodehtmlsimII_840.zip
[29] http://mite.keynote.com/
[30] http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wportal/devworld/downloads/download/dw-100379-semcwindowsmobilesdkbeta105?cc=gb&lc=en
[31] http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/down/cnts/toolSDK.detail.view.do?cntsId=5364&platformId=2
[32] http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wportal/devworld/downloads/download/dw-102206-sonyericssonphonegapsimulator4?cc=gb&lc=en
[33] http://developer.lgmobile.com/lge.mdn.tnd.RetrieveSDKInfo.dev?modType=T&objectType=T&menuClassCode=&saveFileName=&resourceNo=&selectedType=&tabIndex=1
[34] http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wportal/devworld/downloads/download/dw-99962-semcjavamecldcsdk2506?cc=gb&lc=en
[35] http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/down/cnts/toolSDK.detail.view.do?cntsId=7500&platformId=3
[36] http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/down/cnts/toolSDK.list.do?platformId=12
[37] http://developer.motorola.com/docstools/sdks/
[38] http://www.wacapps.net/web/portal/sdk
[39] https://developer.brewmp.com/tools/sdk

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[+26] [2009-01-21 12:29:48] Paul D. Waite

The desktop version of Opera [1] has a mode to emulate Opera Mobile. (Or at least it did — I can’t find it in recent Mac versions.)

In Opera 9 on the Mac (not sure where the option is on other versions) you want:

View > Small Screen.

Opera 11 for Windows:

View > Developer Tools > Page Information > View button > Small Screen

Note this does not change the User-Agents header sent by Opera, so sites will probably not detect that you are in “mobile” mode.

And of course it’ll emulate Opera Mobile as it was when that version of full Opera was released, rather than the latest version.

Alternatively, Opera now provides a mobile emulator on the desktop: http://www.opera.com/developer/tools/mobile/

[1] http://www.opera.com/

+1 for small screen - solomongaby
(6) Opera 11 for Windows: View -> Developer Tools -> Page Information -> View button -> Small Screen. Note this does not set User-Agents so sites will probably not detect that you are in "mobile" mode. - hova
It just creates a weird small-column width that may be appropriate for checking OpenWave type browsers, but isn't effective for the Android or iPhone browsers. - Kzqai
@Tchalvak: yes, but the OP asked for “a way to test on Mobile Safari, the Android browser, mobile Opera, Mobile IE, the Blackberry Browser and any other common platform I'm missing” (emphasis mine). - Paul D. Waite
This does bot have the same features as mobile browsers like auto-zoom, auto-scale, etc. - Julien
@Julien: correct, but it does have the same features as Opera Mobile (or at least an older version of Opera Mobile), and the OP mentioned “mobile Opera” in his question. - Paul D. Waite
@Julien: the small screen mode does NOT have the same features as Opera mini. Websites render completely differently in fact. - DevAntoine
@koskoz: as far as I know, Opera’s small-screen mode emulates Opera Mobile. Opera Mini is different from Opera Mobile (unless they’ve been merged since I looked at them, which is entirely possible, it‘s been some years). - Paul D. Waite
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[+14] [2011-09-27 08:18:34] David d C e Freitas

There's a free tool (Chrome Extension) called Ripple [1]:

Test and debug your HTML5 mobile applications for multiple platforms. All from within your browser and in a fraction of the time.

UPDATE: It has now evolved into a standalone product, Ripple Emulator for Blackberry WebWorks [2]. It is also open-source now [3].

Ripple Mobile emulator

It has the following emulation options at least:

  • Apache Cordova / PhoneGap
  • BlackBerry 10 WebWorks
  • WebWorks
  • WebWorks-TabletOS
  • Mobile Web
[1] http://developer.blackberry.com/html5/download/
[2] https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/html5/download/ripple
[3] http://blackberry.github.com/ripple/index.html

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[+12] [2009-01-23 22:18:17] Asaf R

As a rule of thumb the emulator provided by the device manufacturer, or OS provider, is the closest to real device testing.

  • For Android - download the Android SDK [1].
  • For Mobile IE - I guess you can use the Windows Mobile emulator that comes with Visual Studio.
  • For iPhone - the SDK by Apple requires a Mac; perhaps the new Symbian S60 WebKit based browser is similar. If so you can use Symbian emulators.

You didn't ask about Nokia, but in general these can be found at forum.nokia.com [2], which is where you get Symbian S60 emulators as well.

I haven't looked into Blackberry and Opera yet.

[1] http://code.google.com/android
[2] http://forum.nokia.com

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[+11] [2009-01-21 04:44:46] RedWolves

Blackberry emulators [1]

[1] https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=060AD92489947D410D897474079C1477

Note: Windows-only - jholster
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[+8] [2010-11-01 18:26:37] jitbit

We use this one to emulate iPhone and iPad browser on Windows: iBBDemo [1]. It's actually Air-based, so it's cross platform. The tool is free and open-source.

[1] http://code.google.com/p/ibbdemo2/

(6) I downloaded iBBDemo (2 Beta) and played with our company site on my iPhone (4) and in the emulator. The emulation isn't very accurate. - cfouche
This is indeed not a real emulator. - Panique
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[+7] [2010-10-29 20:04:14] chris

that testiphone.com is a joke. a pathetic joke actually. It just loads any website in a Iframe of the size of a iphone screen! Its just an Iframe! so, if you use IE and open a site and you open the same site on testiphone BUT using firefox this time, the results are, of course, different!

so, of course is going to ignore user agent, or any peculiarity of the iphone browser


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[+4] [2009-01-21 05:01:04] Gordon Wilson

You can use Microsoft Device Emulator [1] to run Windows Mobile [2] on your desktop, giving you access to Mobile IE.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A6F6ADAF-12E3-4B2F-A394-356E2C2FB114&displaylang=en
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1A7A6B52-F89E-4354-84CE-5D19C204498A&displaylang=en

not to forget opera and opera mini - Davy Landman
and skyfire, and iris - Gordon Wilson
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[+4] [2012-05-19 05:57:47] DaveAlger

if you just want to quickly view how a webpage would render at various mobile device resolutions then synthphone.com is a nice little webpage...

http://synthphone.com

you can even set custom dimensions and link directly to a url via query string params. for example, click the link below which points to the Sencha Touch 2 carousel on a device with width: 444 and height: 333.

http://www.synthphone.com/?u=http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/touch/examples/production/carousel/index.html&w=444&h=333 [1]

(Use your mouse like a finger to slide around the images etc.)

i made it in just a couple hours and use it to demo some sencha touch html5 apps for my ui/ux team.

no authentication required, no account needed, no ads... enjoy!

[1] http://www.synthphone.com/?u=http://dev.sencha.com/deploy/touch/examples/production/carousel/index.html&w=444&h=333

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[+3] [2009-01-21 04:47:12] Marc Novakowski

For BlackBerry you can download a simulator [1] for almost any handset and OS version you'd like. The simulators contain all of the native apps including the browser.

[1] http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/simulators.jsp

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[+3] [2009-09-16 16:48:02] Nick Sillik

You can use DeviceAnywhere (http://www.deviceanywhere.com) to test on a TON of mobile phones. Anything from the Moto RAZR to the Palm Pre. It is quite expensive though, but it's worth it if your doing mobile web development for a company who is willing to spend the cash.


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[+3] [2010-02-13 19:08:14] Roman A. Taycher

Mobile firefox (fennec) has versions for PCs(with Windows/Linux/Mac OS)


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[+3] [2012-03-27 14:15:52] Amit Upadhyay

http://www.browserstack.com/mobile-browser-emulator is a great way to test on mobile emulators.


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[+2] [2010-11-03 21:05:32] jvol

The Opera Mobile emulator (Windows/Mac OS X/Linux) can be found on the Opera Developer Tools page [1].

You can use the shortcuts created when installing the emulator or command-line options to change device width/height and input mode (keypad or touch).

Note: Opera Mobile defaults to a page width of 850 pixels (the "viewport" meta tag can override this).

[1] http://www.opera.com/developer/tools/

Keypad mode controls can be found at dev.opera.com/articles/view/… - jvol
14
[+2] [2012-12-12 15:28:55] gls123

Electric Plum is very good and reasonably priced

http://www.electricplum.com/

For windows developers it allows you to launch from Visual Studio 2012, which is a very useful feature.

I use this alongside IETester to cover all my bases.

http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage


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[+1] [2009-01-21 04:43:06] Adeel Ansari

How about Openwave Simulator [1].

Here is the Simulator ofr iPhone Safari [2].

[1] http://developer.openwave.com/dvl/tools_and_sdk/phone_simulator/index.htm
[2] http://www.seifi.org/iphone/iphone-browser-simulator.html

THe OpenWave SDKs (including simulators) are now available wapreview.com/blog/?p=3733 - Matt Lacey
16
[+1] [2010-06-30 14:28:46] magallanes

For the record: -Does not spend your time with the blackberry emulator.While it work but it is a pain in the butt to find the way to connect to Internet. I tried in different rig and does not work. -The iphone emulator runs only on OSX and require XCode. -Iphoney does not use a correct user agent, i.e. is useless for most project.

A cheap way (fast) to do the job is to :

  • use firefox.
  • use firefox user agent.
  • use developer toolbar (for change the browser size).

while the render may be is not 100% equal than the browser but is a fast solution.


Generally, all you need to do to get the BlackBerry simulators connected to the Internet is to use the BlackBerry MDS Simulator, which is included with any version of the JRE (SDK). - Chris Hutchinson
(3) All user agent does is sidestep browser-sniffing code, typically Microsoft products that only allow you to use IE, by altering a JavaScript property and maybe branching code on the fly for IEs busted DOM API. It doesn't swap rendering engines and JavaScript interpreters and is not a testing tool. - Erik Reppen
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[+1] [2013-09-21 18:46:16] Panique

Excellent ANDROID-Emulator-Suite, loading real virtual machines running Android, perfectly emulating mainstream smartphones (gestures, dimensions etc.):

http://www.genymotion.com/


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[0] [2009-09-07 12:04:24] solomongaby

for opera mini the emulator is here [1]

[1] http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/

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[0] [2010-05-18 15:31:09] Tim Plaster

This is what I use for Windows browser emulators. A little slow, but works great.

http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/


20
[0] [2011-04-14 08:47:18] pc0

We are developing a tool for this that does not required downloading, it is tentatively called imitatr.com [1] happy to take feedback on specific features people would like to see.

[1] http://www.imitatr.com

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[0] [2012-06-29 08:32:13] julesanchez

To emulate Android browser on Mac, i use VirtualBox and add a generic Android virtual disk that you can find on android official website.

It's really faster than Froyo Emulator.


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