Tripod DevicesDevices
Each kind of device Tripod Devices drives, what each one needs, and what Developer Mode on or off allows.
All five kinds share one list, one stage and one set of tools. When a device cannot do something, the app says so and says why. An agent can ask first: device_capabilities lists what each device supports.
iOS Simulators
Boot, shut down, install, launch, tap, type, read the UI tree and the logs. The mirror shows the simulator's live surface. Simulators come from your Xcode install.
- Xcode Device Hub or Simulator can take over a simulator's input. The window then shows "Input was taken over" with Take Back, and agent input fails with a reason instead of sending nothing.
- Lean is available on the Tune tab, or through the pair.
Apple Watch simulators
Screen, touch, the Digital Crown (scroll wheel and buttons) and the side button, in a watch frame. Agents can turn the crown and press the side button. This is new in the alpha. Other tools on a watch, such as accessibility reads, are still open.
Android emulators
Boot and erase them, tap, type, read the UI tree and logcat. Emulators come from your Android SDK.
- Android Back is Command-Delete while the mirror has focus and no text field is typing.
- Lean boots a managed copy of your AVD with trimmed settings and keeps mirroring. Headless is for ATD images and has no screen. Create one under Performance > Tune > Create a Tuned Emulator.
- Snapshots of a Lean emulator can be saved, loaded and deleted from the Tune tab.
iPhones
A live screen on your Mac over USB.
Two different Developer Modes
Tripod has its own switch. Developer Mode in Tripod (the Device menu item that shows or hides advanced tools) is separate from Developer Mode on the iPhone in Settings > Privacy & Security.
| iPhone's own Developer Mode | What you get |
|---|---|
| On | The CoreDevice route, with touch and typing after you approve touch for the connection. |
| Off | The wired screen-capture view only. The row shows a "View only" badge. Turn Developer Mode on in Settings > Privacy & Security, then restart the iPhone, to touch and type. |
A real iPhone is always asked about in the window, and reading its screen counts. It starts view only. Turning on touch is a separate sheet that asks you to confirm the exact phone, with Cancel as the default.
Over Wi-Fi. Once your Mac has paired with an iPhone for network use, the app can reach it without a cable. The setup can need a USB cable once, and the app walks through it. The phone must be on the same Wi-Fi as the Mac, and macOS may ask for Local Network access. This is the least tested route in the alpha. Forgetting a pairing removes only Tripod's saved record, not the Mac's trust.
Android phones
Live screen, taps, typing and the UI tree through a small helper that the app puts on the phone. The helper needs Android 12 or newer. Logs come from logcat.
- USB debugging must be on. A phone that adb lists counts as having it on.
- Wireless debugging (Android 11 and newer) works through Pair over Wi-Fi. The app never runs
adb tcpip, never changes a phone setting, and joins a Wi-Fi transport to a phone only after its serial matches. - Quality follows the link, so a slow Wi-Fi connection gets a lower bitrate.
Tripod Developer Mode: on and off
Tripod's own Developer Mode is the Advanced Tools item in the Device menu. On a Mac with Xcode or the Android SDK, it starts on.
| Developer Mode on | Developer Mode off | |
|---|---|---|
| Simulators and emulators | Listed and usable. | Hidden from the workspace. A session an agent holds is not interrupted. |
| Tools | Inspector, Logs, Crashes, Device State, Conditions, Performance, App Data, Saved, Network, Build, Caches and Studio. | Apps and Agents only. |
| Always available | Device selection, USB and Wi-Fi setup, connection status, screenshots, supported recording, control handoff, disconnect and Send Feedback. | The same. |
Turning it off also closes any device windows for simulators and emulators.
Where a device cannot do something
Each device answers unsupported for what it will not do this session, with a reason. For example, a wired iPhone has no accessibility reader, so it answers unsupported and agents fall back to OCR. Simulator results say nothing about a real phone, and the reverse is true too.