Simulators and devices

Getting ready

Piye gets the phones ready itself the first time you run an app on one: it downloads Android's SDK parts and emulator images and makes the phones. The only thing you install yourself is Xcode, from the Mac App Store, for iPhone and iPad simulators (Mac only).

Settings, iPhone and Android shows where each platform stands on this computer, in plain words, with sizes, and lets you read Google's licence before Android's parts download.

Devices

The Devices tab of the Apps view (and Visual's Real simulator) lists:

• iOS: device types and system versions, and the simulators you have;
• Android: device profiles and system images, and the emulators you have;
• Your phones: Android phones paired over Wi-Fi or plugged in by USB with USB debugging on, and iPhones you've plugged into this Mac.

Create a simulator or emulator, boot it, and Run app on this device. Filter the list to find one.

Inside a simulator

• Rotate it, switch light or dark, and set a location (for example London, New York, Lisbon or Tokyo).
• The screen streams into Piye's window, and you use it with your mouse and keyboard.
• Foldables and wide-screen phones are in the list, to check layouts that open, fold or stand.

Real phones

• Expo apps open in Expo Go from a QR code.
• Native Android apps install over Wi-Fi from your computer, or by USB. Pair a phone once with Wireless debugging (Android 11 or newer) for one-click installs.
• Native iPhone apps install over a cable the first time (with Developer Mode on in the iPhone's settings), then over Wi-Fi.

The step-by-step version is in Try it on your phone.

The Code agent and phones

The Code agent can use simulators too: list and create them, open your app on one, look at the screen, tap through it, rotate it and set its appearance, so it can check its own work on a phone.