How I use Proxyman to see HTTP requests/responses on my iPhone?

#ios #debugtool #proxy

Last month, I’ve found a newly developed application called Proxyman. It is a native macOS app and its features are so handy for debugging that I really want to share with others. In this post, I used the app to see Response content from Unsplash app on my device.

1. Configuration:

1.1/ Download the app

I downloaded the newest version from its website https://proxyman.io/
The UI is pretty clean and I can see all the requests coming right after opening the app

1.2/ Setup Certificate for my iPhone

Then go to Certificate -> Install Certificate on iPhone Device. There would be an instruction to guide you how to configure certificate on iPhone/ iOS Simulator

1.3/ Config Wifi pointing to Proxyman

Go to Setting -> Wifi -> (Select current Wifi) -> Configure Proxy -> Manual . Then I used the same Server and Port on Guideline to configure Proxy on my iPhone

1.4/ Allow permission to install Proxyman

At this step, I saw all requests coming from my device on Proxyman app. However, in order to see content of Responses, I will need to install Proxyman Certificate

On my iPhone, I go to Safari -> http://proxyman.io/ssl -> Accept permission for installing Proxyman Certificate

1.5/ Install Certificate from /ssl

Then go to Setting -> General -> Profile -> Select Proxyman -> Install

1.6/ Trust Certificate on iPhone

It is said that since the iOS 10.3+, we need to trust certificate manually. Thus, final step is go to Setting App -> General -> About -> Certificate Trust Settings -> Turn ON “Enable full trust for root certificates”

You can see that all my iPhone’s requests showed up after I finished configuring proxy

2. Time to debug Unplash

OK, enough config. It’s time to actually see HTTP requests/ responses coming from Unsplash app

2.1/ Search a domain

I searched for app Unsplash with Command+Shift+F (You can also search the app using Search bar)

2.2/ Pin a domain

This is one of interesting features of this app. I can Drag, Drop a specific domain into Pin section. I find it pretty useful to organize and focus, especially when I have to work with several applications, domains.

2.3/ See HTTP content

If you double click a request, you would see the Request and Response on the right panel. However, to see content of a Response, you will need to Enable domain and Reload the request.

2.4/ Open content with Editing tool

There is a small button on the top right corner. When I click to that, the app reveals some Editing tools that I am currently using. I can open my Response content to edit, which I found pretty convenient.

## What going next?

If you are a tester or front-end developer, the odds are that you have been familiar with debugging tools like Charles. It is a powerful debugging app, but somehow it doesn’t fit me. Meanwhile, Proxyman is not fully-developed yet, but it seems to have many potentials. On the next post, I’ll compare some key features between Charles’s and Proxyman’s and what I think about the pros and cons of these 2 apps. How about you? What do you think about Charles and Proxyman?