Live Cross Browser Testing
You can run live tests of your websites on a wide variety of operating system, browser, version, and screen resolution configurations.
What You'll Need#
- A Sauce Labs account (Log in or sign up for a free trial license).
Testing on a Desktop Browser#
- On Sauce Labs, in the left navigation panel, click LIVE and then click Cross Browser.
- Click the Desktop tab.
- In the URL field, enter the URL of the website you want to test.
- If you use Sauce Connect Proxy to test apps on a local host or behind a firewall, select the tunnel from the SAUCE CONNECT PROXY dropdown.
- Under BROWSER SELECTION, select the browser version and screen resolution you want to use in your test.
- In the OS VERSION dropdown, select the OS version you want to use.
- Your recent configurations are listed in the right panel, under Recent.
- Click Start Session. You'll see a loading screen, and then the app will launch in a live test window using the configuration you selected.
Once your session launches, you can use your mouse cursor and keyboard to interact with the website under test.
Live Desktop Test Interface#
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Unpin/Pin Toolbar | Unpins or pins the live testing toolbar. |
 | Session Info | Opens the Current Session window, which includes app and device details. |
 | Take Screenshot | Takes a screenshot of the current device screen. The image is saved on the Test Details page. |
 | Invite to Session | Opens the Invite someone to watch this session window. Copy and share the generated link to allow other users to view the test. Users must be logged in to be able to view the test. |
 | Clipboard | Opens the Remote Clipboard window. |
Testing on a Mobile Browser#
With Sauce Labs you can run live tests of your web apps using native browsers for Android and iOS on both virtual and real mobile devices.
What You'll Need#
Know if your app is designed to run on internal or otherwise restricted networks. If it does and you're testing on real devices, use Sauce Connect Proxy to connect. For more information, see the Sauce Connect Proxy setup for Real Device Cloud.
Real Device#
- On Sauce Labs, in the left panel, click LIVE and then click Cross Browser.
- Click the Mobile Real tab.
- Use the filter options or Search field to find the type of real device you want to use in your test.
- To mark a device as a favorite so you can find it easily in the future, click the star next to the device name.
The default sorting for the device list is Starred First.
In the URL field, enter the URL of the website you want to test.
If you are using Sauce Connect Proxy to access the web app you want to test, select the tunnel from the dropdown.
Click Launch. You'll see a loading screen, and then the URL you entered will launch in a live test window using the real device you selected.
Live Mobile Real Device Test Interface#
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Unpin/Pin Toolbar | Unpins or pins the live testing toolbar. |
| Session Info | Opens the Current Session window, which includes app and device details. |
| Take Screenshot | Takes a screenshot of the current device screen. The image downloads automatically as a .png file. |
 | Share Session | Opens the Share Device window. For a sharable link to the device, click Get Link. Users must be logged in to be able to view the test. |
 | Rotate Device | Rotates the device between portrait and landscape. |
 | Home | Opens the device home screen. |
 | More Device Options | Set Location - Set the GPS location using coordinates or by dropping a pin on the map. |
 | Restart App | Restarts the app. |
 | Switch App Version | Opens the Switch App Version window. To change the version of the app you are testing, hover over the version and then click Choose version. |
| Clipboard | Opens the Paste Content Into Device window. |
 | Install Dependency | Opens the Install Dependent App window. |
 | Developer Options | Opens the Developer Options panel, which includes the Device Log, Device Vitals, and Dev Tools tabs. |
Device Log#
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Log Level |
|
 | Search Log | Opens the Search log interface. Enter a term or terms in the search box and select or deselect the following checkboxes as necessary:
|
 | Pause Log | Pauses the log feed. |
 | Wrap Text | Wraps text in the log for easier reading. |
 | Clear Log | Clears the log feed. |
 | Download Log | Downloads the log as a .txt file. |
Device Vitals#
Device Vitals is a feature that collects useful performance data in real time from a device during a live session. Data such as network, CPU, and memory usage helps users understand the general performance of a device and the app under test. Users can view a graph of this performance data in real time as the app is processing.
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Graph Height | Change the size of the graphs (S, M, L). |
 | Grid Layout | Displays graphs side by side. |
 | Row Layout | Displays graphs as as a list. |
 | Download Vitals | Downloads the device vitals as a .txt file. |
Performance Metrics for Android/iOS Devices
The graph and csv file will contain these performance metrics for devices.
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
cpu_total | System-wide CPU usage in percentage across all CPU cores. 4 cores at max use would be shown as a value of 400% |
cpu_user | CPU usage for user processes in percentage across all CPU cores. 4 cores at max use would be shown as a value of 400% |
cpu_kernal | Android OS CPU usage in percentage across all CPU cores. 4 cores at max use would be shown as a value of 400% |
n_threads | Total threads in use by the app |
memory_size_kb | Total threads in use by the app |
memory_resident_kb | Memory currently in use by app in kilobytes |
memory_shared_kb | Anonymous shared memory currently in use by system shared between app(s) and system |
network_wifi_receive_b | Data in bytes received over wifi connection |
network_wifi_sent_b | Data in bytes sent over wifi connection |
network_mobile_receive_b | Data in bytes received from the mobile carrier network |
network_mobile_sent_b | Data in bytes sent over mobile carrier network |
note
Device Vitals for live testing is currently in beta state, which means we are testing it on a few devices first. We will roll out to all devices in the coming weeks, please refer to this page for updates. See the full list of combinations available for beta below.
- iOS
- Android
Web Tests (on Safari)
| Device/Platform | iPhone 11 | iPhone XR | iPhoneXS | iPhone X | iPhone 8 | iPhone 7 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6 Plus | iPhone 6S Plus | iPhone 5S | iPhone SE | iPad Pro 11 2018 | iPad Pro | iPad Air 2019 | iPad 9.7 2017 | iPad 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iOS 9.3.2 | ||||||||||||||||
| iOS 10.0.2 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 10.1 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 10.3.3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 11.4 | ||||||||||||||||
| iOS 11.4.1 | ||||||||||||||||
| iOS 12.2 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 12.4.1 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 13.0 | X | |||||||||||||||
| iOS 13.1 | X |
Web Tests (on Chrome)
| Device/Platform | Google Pixel XL | Google Pixel 3 | Google Pixel 3a | Motorola Moto G6 Plus | Huawei P30 | Google Pixel C | HTC U12 Plus | HTC U11 | HTC Desire 12 | Samsung Galaxy S7 | Lenovo Tab 4 | Asus Google Nexus 7 (2013) | LG G6 | LG G5 | LG G4 | Huawei P9 | Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android 5.1.1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Android 6.0 | |||||||||||||||||
| Android 6.0.1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Android 7.0 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Android 7.1.1 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Android 8.0.0 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Android 8.1.0 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Android 9 | |||||||||||||||||
| Android 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Android 11 |
Virtual Device#
- On Sauce Labs, in the left panel, click Live and then click Cross Browser.
- Click the Mobile Virtual tab.
- In the URL field, enter the URL of the website you want to test.
- If you are using Sauce Connect Proxy to access the web app you want to test, select the tunnel from the dropdown. For more information about Sauce Connect Proxy, see Using Sauce Connect Proxy.
- In the Manufacturer, Device, and OS Version dropdowns, select the specifications for the virtual device you want to use.
- Click Start Session. You'll see a loading screen, and then the URL you entered will launch in a live test window using the virtual device you selected.
Live Mobile Virtual Device Test Interface#
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Unpin/Pin Toolbar | Unpins or pins the live testing toolbar. |
| Session Info | Opens the Current Session window, which includes app and device details. |
| Take Screenshot | Takes a screenshot of the current device screen. The image is saved on the Test Details page. |
| Invite to Session | Opens the Invite someone to watch this session window. Copy and share the generated link to allow other users to view the test. Users must be logged in to be able to view the test. |
| Clipboard | Opens the Remote Clipboard window. |
Running Tests in Parallel#
You can run multiple live test sessions at the same time, with the number of tests limited by the concurrency allowance associated with your account. To run tests in parallel, open a new browser tab and follow the steps to set up the new session. You can switch back and forth between the sessions by clicking on the browser tabs.
Troubleshooting Live Cross Browser Tests#
Below are resolutions to common errors that you may experience in live cross browser testing.
Seeing a Security Error Message (Error #2048)#
This error is displayed when the ports used by manual testing relies are being blocked by a firewall on your end. This may also be caused by running apps such as Avast! antivirus software.
Below are the servers and ports used by manual testing. If you plan to launch manual tests locally installed browsers, we recommend checking with your network administrator to confirm that you can make secure websocket connections to: api.us-west-1.saucelabs.com:443 (for US-West-1 DC) or api.eu-central-1.saucelabs.com:443 (for EU-Central-1 DC).
Your Job is Not Loading#
There are two common scenarios here:
- Error message: "Uh oh! Some error occurred while connecting to the browser"
- The job seems to start, but you see only a white text box in the middle of a black screen Both errors indicate that your browser is having trouble displaying the VNC stream from the remote machine. Here are some steps to troubleshoot:
Check the Video on Sauce#
If the recorded video after the job shows a steady video stream, this indicates that the issue is in your computer or connection to Sauce Labs. However, if the Sauce Labs video shows the same issue, that indicates an issue in our service. In that case, send us the URL for the job page and a screenshot of the issue.
Confirm That Your Browser is Up to Date#
If you're on an older version, this may cause incompatibilities. Update your browser and try again.
Check Your Firewall#
Make sure that your machine allows full access for the interactive stream over the required ports (see the Sauce Connect Proxy FAQ).
Confirm That Your Internet Connection is Stable#
We recommend running Sauce tests from a machine with a wired Ethernet connection, to ensure a steady connection. If the connection flickers, this error could be thrown.
Long Load Times or Timing Out#
We've streamlined our service to provide the best possible load times. If you're experiencing slow live testing sessions, head to the Sauce Labs Systems Status page and follow us on Twitter (@SauceOps) for the latest updates on service issues and operations.
Links Opening in New Tabs Instead of New Windows#
It's possible for the manual testing VNC client to have a modifier key "stuck" down, causing any clicked links to open in new tabs. This happens if the client loses focus while a key is held down (e.g., when using Alt-Tab to switch app windows). In this case, VNC never receives the keyUp event.
To prevent this from happening: every time you focus back on the manual testing window, click in the middle of the page, then press and release all the modifier keys (i.e., Alt, Control, Command, and Shift).