Debugging

How to inspect element on iPhone

iPhone Safari has no built-in inspector. The full Web Inspector runs on a Mac, but there are honest alternatives for Windows, Linux and the phone on its own, each with clear limits.

Updated 7 November 2026

Short answerWith a Mac, turn on Web Inspector on the iPhone (Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced), connect it, and choose the page from Safari’s Develop menu. On Windows or Linux, use a remote-debugging bridge such as ios-webkit-debug-proxy or inspect.dev. With only the phone, load an in-page console such as Eruda or use an on-device inspection tool.

With a Mac: Safari Web Inspector

This is the full toolset: elements, styles, console, network, storage, breakpoints and performance, attached to the real page on the phone.

On the iPhone, open Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced and turn on Web Inspector.
On the Mac, open Safari’s settings, choose Advanced, and turn on Show features for web developers. A Develop menu appears.
Connect the iPhone with a cable and trust the computer if asked. Open the page on the phone.
In the Mac’s Develop menu, choose the iPhone, then the page.

After the first wired session you can choose Connect via Network for the device in the Develop menu and inspect over Wi-Fi. The same steps inspect web views in apps built for debugging. If the iPhone doesn’t appear, check the Web Inspector switch again, unlock the phone and reconnect: that covers most of the reports in Apple’s developer forums.

On Windows or Linux

Apple doesn’t ship Web Inspector for other platforms, and people have asked about it on Apple’s forums for years. The working options use the iPhone’s remote-debugging protocol through a bridge:

ios-webkit-debug-proxy (open source) exposes the iPhone’s pages over USB. Projects such as ios-safari-remote-debug-kit pair it with a copy of WebKit’s inspector that runs in Chrome or Edge.
inspect.dev is a commercial app for Windows, macOS and Linux that does the same with less setup.
Cloud device labs such as BrowserStack let you open devtools on a real remote iPhone from any browser, at a monthly cost.

With only the phone: an in-page console

Eruda is an open-source console that runs inside the page itself. It gives you a console, an element panel, network requests and storage, with no computer at all. Save this as a bookmark in Safari (edit the bookmark’s address to the code) and tap it on the page you want to inspect:

javascript:(function(){var s=document.createElement('script');s.src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/eruda';document.body.appendChild(s);s.onload=function(){eruda.init()}})();

Or include it only in development builds of your own site. Its limits: it only sees what happens after it loads, so errors during the first paint are missed; a strict Content Security Policy blocks the bookmarklet; and it can’t show engine-level detail such as layers or paint timing.

What to check on a phone

Horizontal overflow. Something wider than the viewport makes the whole page scroll sideways. Look for fixed widths, long URLs, wide tables and images without max-width: 100%.
Input zoom. iOS zooms in when a focused input’s text is smaller than 16 px. Set form controls to at least 16 px.
Tap targets. Apple’s guidance is at least 44 × 44 points for anything tappable.
Viewport height. 100vh ignores Safari’s toolbars; 100svh and 100dvh don’t.
Console errors that only happen on mobile, often from features the desktop browser has and Safari doesn’t, or from blocked third-party scripts.

Quick checks on the phone with ViewPortal

ViewPortal covers the everyday checks without a cable. Tap any element to see its size, padding, margin, font and colours, or measure the gap between two elements. It shows JavaScript console errors as the page runs and has an overflow finder that highlights anything spilling past the viewport edge. All of that works at any preset size, so you can inspect the Mac layout of a page from your iPhone.

It is not a replacement for Web Inspector: there is no DOM tree editing, network panel or debugger. For those, use a Mac or one of the bridges above. ViewPortal is £4.99 once, with no accounts and no tracking.

ViewPortal on the App Store

Questions people ask

Can you inspect element on an iPhone?

Not in Safari on its own. Turn on Web Inspector in Settings, Apps, Safari, Advanced, then inspect the page from Safari’s Develop menu on a Mac, or use an in-page console such as Eruda on the phone.

Can I use Safari Web Inspector from Windows?

No, Apple only ships it on macOS. On Windows, ios-webkit-debug-proxy with a browser-based inspector, or the paid inspect.dev app, connect to the iPhone over USB.

Why doesn’t my iPhone show up in Safari’s Develop menu?

Usually Web Inspector is off on the phone, the phone is locked, or the computer isn’t trusted. Check the setting, unlock the phone, reconnect the cable and accept the trust prompt.

Does Eruda work in Safari on iPhone?

Yes, as a bookmarklet or a script in your development build. It only sees what happens after it loads, and a strict Content Security Policy can block it.

Why does my iPhone zoom in when I tap an input?

Safari on iOS zooms when the input’s font size is below 16 pixels. Set inputs, selects and text areas to 16 pixels or more.