Upload and Test an iOS Build in the Browser

What you need

An iOS simulator build — a .app bundle, compressed as .zip, .tar.gz, or .tgz
A browser
A VibeView account

The browser session does not require a Mac, an Xcode install, or a local simulator runtime. You need a simulator build to begin with — see Preparing Your App Build if you only have a device build (.ipa) today.

For React Native or Expo projects without a build yet, cloud builds can compile one from Windows or Linux.

Steps

Upload your build. From the sidebar, open Apps, click Upload app, and select your zipped .app bundle. An .ipa won’t work here — that’s a device build, and simulators need a build compiled against the simulator SDK instead. The file is validated on upload, so a mismatched file is caught immediately rather than at launch.
Start a session. On the Apps page, click Play on your app’s row. Devices opens with your app preselected. Choose an available iOS device and click Start session. The app installs and launches as the session starts.
Interact with the app. Tap, scroll, and type directly in the browser. Tap into a text field before typing with your keyboard. Rotate, beside the device, switches between portrait and landscape; the iPhone Home screen itself stays portrait, while apps that support landscape turn.

Building for the foldable iPhone Duo? It is in the device picker on the iOS 27.1 beta runtime, marked Foldable. The session starts closed, and you can fold it to a preset or an exact hinge angle from the Device tab. See the iPhone Duo simulator for what it can do, or iPhone Duo simulator not showing in Xcode 27.1 if you are trying to run it locally.

How you’ll know it worked

Wait for the video stream and the selected app to appear, then tap a control and confirm that the app responds. A session may queue when matching devices are busy, and app installation can take longer than session activation.

For a React Native debug build, connect Metro using Live Development. For an independent preview, use a simulator build with bundled JavaScript.

Simulators do not expose device hardware. Camera capture, cellular radios and biometric authentication behave differently from a physical handset — flows that depend on them need testing elsewhere.

Troubleshooting

The upload is rejected. The most common cause is uploading an .ipa — that’s a device build and won’t install on a simulator. Export a simulator .app bundle instead; see Preparing Your App Build for per-framework steps.

The app installs but immediately closes. This is usually a crash on launch rather than an install failure. Reproduce it in the session and check the logs from the session view.

Typing does nothing. Tap into the text field first so it takes focus, then type.

Next steps

Getting started — the full product walkthrough
VibeView compared with Appetize — if you’re evaluating options
Run an iOS simulator in your browser — the full platform page, including device coverage, supported build formats and the live-session workflow