Getting Started with VibeView

VibeView is a cloud simulator streaming platform that lets you run iOS simulators and Android emulators (including Apple TV and Android TV), plus Roku devices, in the browser, install your apps, and run AI-powered tests against them. This guide walks you through the core workflow from signup to your first AI test.

Using a coding agent? If you want Claude Code or another AI agent to install your build on a cloud device and check its own changes, start with AI Agent Control instead: it covers installing the CLI, vibeview agent-setup, and the MCP server.

Prerequisites

• A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge).
• A build of your app ready to upload: a zipped .app simulator bundle for iOS, or an .apk for Android. See Preparing Your App Build if you don’t have one yet. You don’t need one to look around: every new organization comes with sample apps you can play straight away (see Try a sample app).

1. Sign Up and Join an Organization

1. On vibeview.io, click Get Started (or Create one under the sign-in form).
2. Enter your email and create a password.
3. Name your organization. With a company email address the name is filled in from your email domain; change it if you like (you can also rename it later under Settings). The organization is created when you sign up, and all your apps, devices, and tests are scoped to it.
4. You are signed in immediately, and VibeView sends a verification email to your address. Until you verify, the dashboard shows a Verify your email screen.
5. Open the email from noreply@info.vibeview.io and click the verification link. Once your email is verified, the dashboard unlocks.

If you are joining an existing team, ask your organization admin to invite you. You will receive an invitation email with a link to complete your account setup. Because the invitation is bound to your email address, no separate email verification is needed — your account works right away.

Verifying your email

If the verification link has expired or you did not receive the email: check your spam or promotions folder for mail from noreply@info.vibeview.io, then click Resend verification email on the Verify your email screen. The button waits a minute after each email (including the one sent when you signed up), even if you reload the page or open it in another tab. Verification links expire after 24 hours; once you click a valid link, your account is fully activated.

If you mistyped your email address: click Wrong address? Change email on the same screen, enter the correct address and your password, and a new link is sent there. Links sent to the old address stop working.

If you no longer want the account: click Delete account on the same screen. If you are the only member of your organization, the organization is deleted with it.

After confirming, you may receive a short onboarding email pointing at the fastest path to your first device session, and product updates or offers from time to time. Every one of those includes an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing never affects account emails like password resets or team invites. Nothing in the product depends on those emails — everything in this guide works whether or not you receive them.

The Get started page

Get started, at the top of the sidebar, asks what you want to do and walks you to a working result in a few minutes. Right after you sign up and create an organization, it opens full screen once; Skip to dashboard leaves it at any step, and the page stays in the sidebar for later.

Pick one of these:

• Run my app on a live device: pick an app (your own, a fresh upload, or a sample) and a device, and it opens on the Devices page. Until you have an app of your own, the samples come first: Start on iPhone (or Android phone, Apple TV, Android TV) starts one on a default device in one click. A banner there leads back to Get started (ending that session) and, if you picked a sample, offers to do the same with your own app.
• Test my app with AI (beta): describe a flow one step per line and AI runs it on a live device, which you watch (view only) next to the steps. Your app is already open when the test starts. Free tests run on VibeView’s default AI model; other runs use your organization’s model, which you can change in Settings → AI configuration. On the Free plan, your organization gets two free AI tests of up to 8 steps: one on a sample app and one on your own app, so trying a sample first doesn’t use up the one for your app. If a free run stops before the AI does any work (for example, the app didn’t open), you can try again and it is still free. A React Native app needs a build that runs without Metro. Roku apps aren’t offered here yet.
• Build in the cloud: pick the platforms (iPhone and iPad, Android, Apple TV, Android TV) and have your coding agent or the terminal set up cloud builds. The page shows each build’s progress and continues when they finish; you can also continue with the builds that have finished, or follow them in Builds.
• Give my coding agent a device: set up Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another agent, and the page continues once your agent has started a session and used the app, even if it has already stopped it. See Coding agent prompts.
• Develop live: start vibeview dev for your React Native app. The page continues when the dev session is running, and tells you if it failed to start. See Live development.
• Show my app to someone: a share link that expires in 7 days, or a live session you work on together, which opens on the Devices page with the invite ready. A React Native app needs a build that runs without Metro. Roku apps aren’t offered here yet: create a Roku share link from the app’s page.
• Put my app on a website: see a sample embed, then put your own app on your site. Embeds need the Starter or Professional plan; an admin upgrades from the plan step, and after paying, Billing brings you back to choose your app. A React Native app needs a build that runs without Metro. Roku apps aren’t offered here yet: create a Roku embed from Sharing. See Embedding.

A path you’ve finished shows Done and where the result lives, and you can do it again. When you run a test or make a share link with a sample app, the result offers the same path with your own app next. Each path starts by asking which app to use, except after a result: Try something else keeps the app you just used for the next path, and Change app picks another. Viewers see only Run my app on a live device, since the other paths create apps, tests or links.

Try a sample app

Your organization starts with a few sample apps, so you can see a live device before you upload anything: Atlas (iOS and Android), TV Catalog (Apple TV) and JetStream (Android TV). They are labelled Sample on the Apps page, and until you upload an app of your own, Developers and Admins see an Add your own app panel above the table that offers one to play, next to the ways to add your own build.

1. From the sidebar, navigate to Apps.
2. Hover a sample app’s row and click Play.
3. Pick a device and click Start session. The app installs and launches once the device is ready.

Sample apps behave like apps you upload, so you can also record a test against one or share it. See Apps for details.

2. Upload Your First App

1. From the sidebar, navigate to Apps.
2. Click Upload app.
3. Drop in or select your build file:
   • iOS: zipped .app bundle (a simulator build from Xcode — see Preparing Your App Build)
   • Android: .apk
4. Optionally add a note describing the build (e.g., a version or branch name).
5. Click Upload. The file is validated and stored, and the app name and package identifier are extracted from the binary automatically. Uploads are limited to 500 MB.

Each upload creates a new build version, so you can track changes over time and install any version on a simulator later.

No build yet? Your coding agent can make one. See Let your coding agent build and upload it.

3. Launch a Simulator

1. From the sidebar, open Devices.
2. Pick a device in the device list on the left of the page — models are grouped by platform (iOS Phones, iOS Tablets, Android Phones, Android Tablets, and TV devices).
3. Click Start session.

The simulator boots in the cloud and streams to your browser via low-latency WebSocket streaming. You can interact with it directly — tap, swipe, type, and press hardware buttons — just as you would on a physical device. This is how you explore a bare device without any app installed.

4. Install and Run Your App

To run your app, open Devices from the Apps page instead — it is the app-centric entry point, and Devices installs your app automatically:

1. From the sidebar, navigate to Apps.
2. Hover your app’s row and click Play. To test a specific build instead of the latest, open the app and click the play button next to that build in Build history.
3. Devices opens with your app preselected. Pick a device and click Start session.
4. Once the session is active, the selected build installs and launches automatically. You can interact with it in real time through the browser.

5. Run Your First AI Test

VibeView includes an AI agent that can execute test steps on a simulator using natural language instructions.

1. From the sidebar, open Tests.
2. Pick your app at the top, and click Create test.
3. On Describe, write what the test should check, for example “Open Settings and check that my email is shown”, and click Draft steps. (Prefer to show it? Choose Record: Devices opens and records what you do once your app is running, and Generate with AI turns the recording into steps.)
4. Review the steps in Review steps, for example:
   • Tap the "Sign In" button
   • Type "user@example.com" into the email field
   • Verify "Welcome" is visible
5. Click Save and run. The test is saved and the Run dialog opens on it.
6. Pick a device and click Run. VibeView starts the device, installs your app and runs the test, and the run’s page shows the result.

The AI agent executes each step. It reads the UI tree to locate elements, performs actions, and checks the results your Verify ... steps describe. Results appear in a step-by-step timeline showing pass/fail status for each step.

AI use

Under Advanced in the Run dialog, pick how each step runs:

• Smart (default): replays previously recorded actions first, then falls back to the AI agent for any steps that cannot be replayed. This is the fastest option for regression testing.
• No AI: replays recorded actions and never calls AI, so it uses no usage credit. A step without a recording is reported as not checked.
• AI only: every step is handled by the AI agent from scratch. Use this when testing new flows or when the UI has changed significantly.

The same three are available from the CLI (--mode, as hybrid, replay and ai) and the API (mode). See Running tests for the whole dialog.

Next Steps

• Choose your AI setup — AI tests work out of the box on VibeView-provided models, billed to your plan’s included usage credit. Prefer your own provider account? Add an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or OpenRouter under Settings → AI configuration (BYOK) — BYOK runs bypass usage credit entirely.
• Invite your team — Add teammates to your organization so they can access shared apps, devices, and test results.
• Explore groups — Put related tests into groups, run them in batch, and review results across builds.
• Integrate with your CI pipeline — Use the VibeView CLI to upload builds and run tests from your build system — see the Integration Guide.