enable safari developer tools 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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How To Open Developer Tools In Safari

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Introduction

When it comes to web browsing, Safari stands out as a popular choice for Mac and iOS users. Whether you're a web developer, a tech enthusiast, or simply someone curious about the inner workings of the websites you visit, Safari's Developer Tools can provide valuable insights and functionalities. These tools empower users to inspect, debug, and optimize web content, making them indispensable for anyone involved in web development or simply interested in understanding the technical aspects of the internet.

In this article, we'll delve into the process of opening Developer Tools in Safari on both Mac and iOS devices. By the end, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of how to access these powerful tools, enabling you to explore the underlying structure of web pages, analyze network activity, and experiment with various web development features.

Let's embark on this journey to uncover the hidden capabilities of Safari's Developer Tools, empowering you to gain a deeper understanding of the web and its intricate design. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a curious individual eager to peek behind the digital curtain, the following sections will equip you with the knowledge to harness the full potential of Safari's Developer Tools.

Opening Developer Tools in Safari on Mac

Opening Developer Tools in Safari on a Mac is a straightforward process that provides access to a wealth of powerful features for web development and debugging. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a curious individual eager to explore the inner workings of websites, Safari's Developer Tools offer a comprehensive suite of functionalities to aid in understanding and optimizing web content.

To initiate the process of opening Developer Tools in Safari on a Mac, you can follow these simple steps:

Using the Menu Bar:

• Launch Safari on your Mac and navigate to the menu bar located at the top of the screen.
• Click on "Safari" in the menu bar to reveal a dropdown menu.
• From the dropdown menu, select "Preferences" to access Safari's settings.

Accessing the Advanced Settings:

• Within the Preferences window, click on the "Advanced" tab located at the far right.
• Check the box next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar" to enable the Develop menu within Safari.

Opening Developer Tools:

• Once the Develop menu is enabled, navigate back to the menu bar at the top of the screen.
• Click on "Develop" to reveal a dropdown menu containing various web development tools and options.
• From the dropdown menu, select "Show Web Inspector" to open the Developer Tools panel.

Upon completing these steps, the Developer Tools panel will appear, providing access to a wide array of functionalities such as inspecting elements, analyzing network activity, debugging JavaScript, and much more. This powerful suite of tools empowers users to delve into the underlying structure of web pages, identify and rectify issues, and optimize the performance of web content.

By familiarizing yourself with the process of opening Developer Tools in Safari on a Mac, you gain the ability to harness the full potential of these tools, enabling you to explore, analyze, and enhance the web browsing experience. Whether you're a web developer seeking to fine-tune a website's performance or simply intrigued by the technical aspects of the internet, Safari's Developer Tools on Mac provide a gateway to a deeper understanding of web development and design.

Opening Developer Tools in Safari on iPhone or iPad

Accessing Developer Tools in Safari on an iPhone or iPad allows users to gain valuable insights into the technical aspects of web content and perform various web development tasks directly from their mobile devices. Whether you're a web developer on the go or simply curious about the inner workings of websites, Safari's Developer Tools provide a convenient way to inspect, debug, and optimize web content on iOS devices.

To initiate the process of opening Developer Tools in Safari on an iPhone or iPad, follow these simple steps:

Launching Safari: Begin by unlocking your iPhone or iPad and locating the Safari icon on the home screen. Tap the Safari icon to open the Safari browser .

Enabling Developer Tools: With Safari open, navigate to the website or web page you wish to inspect and debug. Once on the desired web page, tap the address bar at the top of the screen to reveal the URL and other options.

Accessing Developer Tools: In the address bar, enter "inspect://" followed by the URL of the web page you are currently viewing. For example, if you are on the website "example.com," you would enter "inspect://example.com" in the address bar and tap "Go" or the "Enter" key on the on-screen keyboard .

Upon completing these steps, Safari's Developer Tools will be activated, providing access to a range of functionalities such as inspecting elements, analyzing network activity, debugging JavaScript, and more. This powerful suite of tools empowers users to delve into the underlying structure of web pages, identify and rectify issues, and optimize the performance of web content directly from their iPhone or iPad.

By familiarizing yourself with the process of opening Developer Tools in Safari on an iPhone or iPad, you gain the ability to harness the full potential of these tools, enabling you to explore, analyze, and enhance the web browsing experience while on the go. Whether you're a web developer seeking to troubleshoot a website's functionality or simply intrigued by the technical aspects of the internet, Safari's Developer Tools on iOS devices provide a convenient gateway to a deeper understanding of web development and design.

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How to Open Safari Developer Tools & Enable Mobile View Mode

John on May 12, 2021

In this tutorial, we will learn how to open the Safari developer console and enable mobile view for responsive web development.

How to Enable Safari Developer Tools

If you don't have developer tools enabled in Safari, you will need to do this before the console can be opened by using the following steps:

• From the main menu go to Safari > Preferences (or use the CMD + , keyboard shortcut.)
• Go to the Advanced tab.
• Check "Show Developer menu in menu bar"

Open the Safari Developer Console

Now open the developer console in responsive mode by going to the menu and selecting Develop > Enter Responsive Design Mode :

Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + CMD + R to enter responsive developer mode.

Now you can work on your website in a variety of different mobile device screen sizes by selecting them at the top of the page:

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Use the developer tools in the Develop menu in Safari on Mac

If you’re a web developer, the Safari Develop menu provides tools you can use to make sure your website works well with all standards-based web browsers.

If you don’t see the Develop menu in the menu bar, choose Safari > Preferences, click Advanced, then select “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”

Open Safari for me

How-To Geek

How to turn on the develop menu in safari on mac.

The Develop menu lets you view page source in Safari on Mac.

Quick Links

How to enable the develop menu in safari on mac, how to view page source in safari on mac.

When you right-click on any web page in Safari on Mac, it doesn't reveal the Show Page Source and Inspect Element buttons. To see these, you need to enable the Develop menu---we'll show you how to do that.

Once you've enabled the Develop menu, right-clicking a blank space on any website will reveal the Inspect Element and Show Page Source buttons. These allow you to take a look at the source code of any website, which is useful for things like downloading images from websites and debugging code or finding out what it looks like behind any site (for website designers).

You can easily turn on the Develop menu in Safari by following a couple of steps. Open Safari on your Mac and click the "Safari" button in the menu bar.

Next, select "Preferences." Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command+, (comma). This will also open up Safari preferences.

Go to the "Advanced" tab.

Check the box for "Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar."

Now the Develop menu will appear between Bookmarks and Window at the top.

Apart from being able to view the page source, this will allow you to access developer-focused features, such as disabling JavaScript on any website.

Once you've enabled the Develop menu, there are a couple of ways to view the page source in Safari.

Open any website in Safari and right-click the blank space on the page. Now, select "Show Page Source." You can also get to this menu by using the keyboard shortcut Option+Command+u.

If you're looking for images or other media elements from any web page, Safari makes it easy to find these. In the left-hand pane, you will see various folders such as Images, Fonts, etc. Click the "Images" folder to quickly find the photos that you need.

After selecting an image, you can view its details easily by opening up the details sidebar. The button to open this is located at the top-right of the console, just below the gear icon. You can also open this with the shortcut Option+Command+0.

Click "Resource" at the top of the details sidebar to view details, such as the size of the image and its full URL.

You can change the position of the page source console easily, too. There are two buttons at the top-left of this console, right next to the X button. Click the rectangle icon to move the console to a different side within the browser window.

If you'd like to open the page source console in a separate window, you can click the two-rectangles icon. This will detach the console and open it in a separate window.

To check out the code for any specific element on the page, you can right-click that element and select "Inspect Element." This will take you directly to the code for the element that you selected.

Whenever you're done looking at the code, click the X button to close the page source console and return to browsing on Safari. You can also check out how to view a website's page source in Google Chrome  here.

Related: How to View the HTML Source in Google Chrome

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Debugging websites in Chrome on iOS 16.4+

From Chrome 115 you can enable Safari Web Inspector debugging for Chrome on iOS. This post explains how to get started.

Prior to Chrome 115, debugging webpages required building Chrome for iOS from source, as the release version of WKWebView did not support remote Web Inspector debugging. In Chrome 73, we added the chrome://inspect page which locally displays JavaScript logs to assist in debugging webpages. Now that WKWebView allows Web Inspector debugging in release (as of iOS 16.4), we have added a setting in Chrome 115 to enable this feature and further improve the developer experience.

Getting started

On your iOS device you need:

• iOS 16.4 or greater.
• Chrome 115 or greater.

On your Mac you need:

• The Safari Develop menu enabled. Enable this from Safari application settings, Advanced Settings tab.

On your iOS device launch the Chrome app and navigate to Settings . In Content Settings , enable Web Inspector. Relaunch Chrome for iOS after changing this setting.

Debugging your site

With the setting enabled, you can debug any page running in Chrome for iOS by following these steps.

• Connect your iOS device to a Mac with a cable.
• In Chrome for iOS, navigate to the website which you'd like to inspect.
• On your Mac, launch Safari. From the Develop menu, hover over the name of your connected device and select the url of the website which you would like to inspect.

The displayed Web Inspector window will allow debugging of the current web view. For more details about using Safari Developer Tools, refer to Apple's documentation .

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License , and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License . For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies . Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2023-07-18 UTC.

Apple details how superfast Safari upgrades help developers make web apps bigger and faster than ever before

Safari is now faster than ever.

Apple might have finally agreed to allow things like game streaming apps into the App Store but there are still plenty of apps that are only available via web-based alternatives in Safari. Those apps need to be bigger and faster than ever before and making that possible means being at the forefront of web-based technology and performance. Safari has historically been pretty quick, especially on the iPhone, and now the team behind it has detailed some recent speed improvements.

Safari is based on the WebKit web browser engine and it's the WebKit team that has detailed some changes that have been made to the underlying technology to enable web developers to build the kinds of experiences that they wouldn't normally be able to do.

Specifically, the Apple WebKit team says that it has been able to improve performance by around 60% of late, although it did take multiple different updates to the Safari app over the course of months in order to make that happen. Regardless, the upshot is the same — Safari is now faster than ever, and that's good news for developers and users alike.

Faster than fast

According to the blog post on the WebKit website, the speed improvements were made thanks to the introduction of the Speedometer 3.0 benchmarking system which in turn allowed WebKit developers to get a better understanding of how its software performs.

Discussing the tool, the WebKit team said that "these tooling improvements allowed us to quickly identify bottlenecks" with those bottlenecks then giving the team something to aim for.

The blog post then continued to detail what Apple was able to do including building a "shared understanding of web performance so that improvements can be made to enhance the user experience."

So how successful was it? As it turns out, pretty successful. "With all these optimizations and dozens more, we were able to improve the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by ~60% between Safari 17.0 and Safari 17.4," the post explains. "Even though individual progressions were often less than 1%, over time, they all stacked up together to make a big difference." The post continued, adding that the team is " thrilled to deliver these performance improvements to our users allowing web developers to build websites and web apps that are more responsive and snappier than ever."

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It's important to note that the improvements to performance when using Speedometer 3.0 don't just mean a better score for those running the tests, but rather real-world improvements that users of web apps across the world — and across Apple's platforms — can expect to be of benefit when running real apps.

It's also worth noting that outside the EU, all web browsers available for download via the best iPhone and iPad App Stores use the same WebKit browser engine at their core. That should ensure that these speed improvements will also benefit those who use other browsers on their devices, no matter which company makes them.

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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

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Apple to expand repair options with support for used genuine parts

Text of this article

April 11, 2024

New parts calibration process will begin this fall; Activation Lock to limit use of parts from lost or stolen devices

Today Apple announced an upcoming enhancement to existing repair processes that will enable customers and independent repair providers to utilize used Apple parts in repairs. Beginning with select iPhone models this fall, the new process is designed to maintain an iPhone user’s privacy, security, and safety, while offering consumers more options, increasing product longevity, and minimizing the environmental impact of a repair. Used genuine Apple parts will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts.

“At Apple, we’re always looking for new ways to deliver the best possible experience for our customers while reducing the impact we have on the planet, and a key part of that means designing products that last,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “For the last two years, teams across Apple have been innovating on product design and manufacturing to support repairs with used Apple parts that won’t compromise users’ safety, security, or privacy. With this latest expansion to our repair program, we’re excited to be adding even more choice and convenience for our customers, while helping to extend the life of our products and their parts.”

The process of confirming whether or not a repair part is genuine and gathering information about the part — often referred to as “pairing” — is critical to preserving the privacy, security, and safety of iPhone. Apple teams have been hard at work over the last two years to enable the reuse of parts such as biometric sensors used for Face ID or Touch ID, and beginning this fall, calibration for genuine Apple parts, new or used, will happen on device after the part is installed. In addition, future iPhone releases will have support for used biometric sensors. And in order to simplify the repair process, customers and service providers will no longer need to provide a device’s serial number when ordering parts from the Self Service Repair Store for repairs not involving replacement of the logic board.

Apple will also extend its popular Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts in order to deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts. Requested by customers and law enforcement officials, the feature was designed to limit iPhone theft by blocking a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated. If a device under repair detects that a supported part was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted.

As device longevity increases, Apple believes it’s important that a device’s second or third owners have access to its full part and repair histories. With Parts and Service history, located within Settings on iOS, Apple is the only smartphone company that transparently shows owners whether their device has been repaired and provides information about the parts used. This fall, Apple will expand Parts and Service History to additionally show whether a part is a new or used genuine Apple part.

This upcoming enhancement to Apple’s repair processes is another step forward in the company’s commitment to improving access to safe and affordable repairs. In the last five years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to genuine Apple parts, tools, and training to more than 10,000 Independent Repair Providers and Apple Authorized Service Providers. For those who have the relevant experience repairing electronic devices, Self Service Repair gives access to the manuals, genuine Apple parts, and tools used at Apple Store and Apple Authorized Service Provider locations. Launched in 2022, Self Service Repair now supports 40 Apple products in 33 countries and regions, and 24 languages.

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Apple confirms innovative iphone 16 pro upgrade.

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Updated April 13: article originally posted April 10.

It may be the latest buzzword on Android, but Apple’s iPhone is not seen as an AI-infused smartphone. That’s set to change, and we now know one way in which Tim Cook and his team plan to catch up.

Experiencing the iPhone 15 during a launch event (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The details come in a newly released research paper by researchers from Cornell University working with Apple. Titled " Ferret-UI: Grounded Mobile UI Understanding with Multimodal LLMs ,” it details a multimodal large language model that can be used to understand what is displayed on a screen, specifically the elements in a mobile user interface, such as the display of an iPhone.

Thanks to a large supply of training data, it is possible to pick out icons, find text, parse widgets, describe in text what is on screen, parse the interface elements, and interact with the display while being guided by open-ended instructions and prompts.

Ferret was released in October 2023 and designed to parse photos and images to recognise what was on show. This upgrade to the snappily titled Ferret-UI will offer several benefits to those using it with their iPhone and could easily fit into an improved AI-powered Siri.

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Being able to describe the screen, no matter the app, opens up a richer avenue for accessibility apps, removing the need to pre-program responses and actions. Those looking to perform complex tasks or find obscure options on their phone could ask Siri to open up a complex app and use an obscure function hidden away in the depths of the menu system.

Developers could use Ferret-UI as a testing tool, asking the MLMM to act as if it was a 14-year-old with little experience with social networks to perform tasks or simulate a 75-year-old user trying to connect to Facetime with their grandchildren.

The logo of the speech recognition software Siri (Photo Illustration by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek ... [+] via Getty Images)

Update: Saturday April 13: Along with the academic paper pointing towards an AI-upgrade for Siri, backend code discovered by Nicolás Álvarez points to new server-side tools for individual iPhones.

The features are labelled “Safari Browsing Assistant” and “Encrypted Visual Search.” Both of these tie into features described in the Ferret-UI research, although these discoveries do come with some caveats. This is server-side code, so it would be straightforward to change these features to use different code; they could tie to more prosaic code rather than utilising AI; or these could be placeholders that may or may not be used in future products.

It’s worth noting that Visual Search has been seen tucked away in the code for visionOS and the Apple Vision Pro headset, but that feature has yet to be launched.

While these are not strong signals of Apple’s path to AI on their own, they are part of a growing body of evidence on Apple's approach.

Google publicly started the rush for AI-first smartphones on October 4th, a little more than three weeks after the launch of the iPhone 15. Tim Cook and his team did not make any noticeable announcements or draw attention to the AI improvements tucked away in its photo processing or text auto-correction, giving Android a head-start on AI and allowing Google’s mobile platform to set expectations.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference takes place in June, and it will be the first moment Apple can engage with the public to discuss its AI plans as it lays the foundations for the launch of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro in September.

Until then, we have the academic side of Apple’s AI approach to be going on with.

Now read why the iPhone’s approach to AI is disrupting the specs for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus...

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Apple Responds to Criticism Over iPhone's 'Parts Pairing' Process

Apple today announced that customers and independent repair shops will be able to repair select iPhones with used genuine Apple parts starting later this year. Alongside the announcement, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus spoke with TechCrunch about the iPhone's controversial "parts pairing" process.

Ternus argued that iPhones still work with most third-party parts:

"'Parts pairing' is used a lot outside and has this negative connotation," Apple senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, tells TechCrunch. "I think it's led people to believe that we somehow block third-party parts from working, which we don't. The way we look at it is, we need to know what part is in the device, for a few reasons. One, we need to authenticate that it's a real Apple biometric device and that it hasn't been spoofed or something like that. … Calibration is the other one."

One exception is third-party parts related to Face ID and Touch ID, which do not work in iPhones for security reasons, according to Ternus:

"You think about Touch ID and Face ID and the criticality of their security because of how much of our information is on our phones," says Ternus. "Our entire life is on our phones. We have no way of validating the performance of any third-party biometrics. That's an area where we don't enable the use of third-party modules for the key security functions. But in all other aspects, we do."

Apple does alert customers if an iPhone part is not genuine. If an iPhone has been repaired, a "Parts and Service History" section appears in the Settings app under General → About, and it shows if non-genuine Apple parts have been installed.

Ternus said this transparency surrounding repairs is important:

"We have hundreds of millions of iPhones in use that are second- or third-hand devices," he explains. "They're a great way for people to get into the iPhone experience at a lower price point. We think it's important for them to have the transparency of: was a repair done on this device? What part was used? That sort of thing."

Apple says it will be expanding the "Parts and Service History" section to show whether a used part is a genuine Apple part later this year. For more details about used parts being allowed for repairs, read our earlier coverage .

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Top Rated Comments

Greed or not I don’t care, I don’t want non oem parts in my stuff be it tech or otherwise. I’m tired of all these trash parts out there that are used in repairs.

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