Implementing iOS Remote Real‑Device Debugging: Baidu MTC Solution Presented at the 3rd China Mobile Internet Testing Development Conference

On July 15, the third China Mobile Internet Testing Development Conference, organized by Testerhome in Beijing, gathered thousands of software testing engineers and managers to discuss mobile and server testing technologies, featuring experts from Google, Intel, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and other leading companies.

Baidu MTC’s presentation introduced a zero‑to‑one iOS remote real‑device debugging solution that combines multiple technologies to break the closed nature of iOS, narrowing the testing capability gap with Android and solving the high cost and difficulty of reproducing iOS compatibility issues; the technique is regarded as industry‑leading.

Xiàng Guāngtè (Baidu MTC R&D & Test Engineer)

Head of Baidu Platform Testing Department MTC team, responsible for advancing iOS automation testing technologies.

When writing automation scripts, testers often encounter problems such as network‑induced page‑element loading delays or resolution‑related click failures, forcing them to rely on screenshots from test reports to troubleshoot, which is inefficient.

If a tool could remotely view and operate an iOS device in real time, the testing workflow would improve dramatically; however, most existing remote tools target Android, and iOS resources are scarce, prompting the question of building a custom solution.

Today’s talk shares a solution built on Apple’s official UI testing framework to achieve iOS remote real‑device debugging.

Setting up iOS devices for remote real‑device debugging

Demonstration of the screen‑capture module

Live Q&A session with active interaction between attendees and the speaker

Baidu MTC’s complete solution relies on the following iOS developer essentials:

A Mac computer

An iOS device running iOS 9 or later

An Apple Lightning cable

An Apple developer certificate

Achieved effects:

Remote viewing of the device screen at 20–30 fps

Remote mouse‑click simulation of touch actions with latency under 200 ms

Remote debugging directly via Xcode

Compatibility test configuration:

Supports up to 70 iOS models and the top 600 Android models

Senior Baidu QA engineers write and debug scripts covering core workflows

Result analysis and reporting to locate issues and provide recommendations

Supports mainstream test frameworks such as UiAutomator2.0, Robotium, and Appium

Baidu MTC vertical solutions:

Smart hardware – connectivity and compatibility testing between smart devices and phones

App store – large‑scale compatibility testing of apps across various phone manufacturers for rapid market approval

Games – real‑device compatibility, live‑experience testing covering client, server, and user ends

Banking – compatibility, performance, functional, user‑experience, and security testing services

The Baidu MTC booth attracted many technical developers seeking information

Instructor Xiàng Guāngtè introduced the testing interface to visitors

Attendees exchanged contact information with the instructor at the booth

Visitors watched a simulated remote debugging demonstration and listened to staff introductions

Developers personally experienced iOS remote real‑device debugging

Baidu HR representative Yǐn Shūmíng invited on‑site developers to join Baidu

【Baidu looks forward to your joining】

Baidu’s Emerging Business Group and Technology System Quality Department are recruiting Cloud Test Development Engineers, Security Test Engineers, Data Mining and Cloud Computing R&D Engineers. Interested candidates may send resumes to [email protected].