Mobile — Debugging Tools

Mobile debugging is a constellation: per-platform debuggers (Xcode / Android Studio), network sniffers (Charles, Proxyman, mitmproxy), cross-platform tools (Reactotron, Hermes Inspector), and Meta's deprecated Flipper. For perf profiling see Mobile — Performance Profiling. For crash reporting see Mobile — Crash Reporting.

iOS first-party

• ★ Xcode debugger — LLDB; breakpoints, view debugging, memory graph debugger.
• ★ Instruments — Time Profiler, Allocations, Leaks, Network, Energy, Hangs. See Mobile — Performance Profiling.
• View Debugger — 3D layer hierarchy in Xcode.
• Memory Graph Debugger — visual leaks/retain-cycle inspector.
• Console.app — device-side os_log / unified logging.
• Reveal (Itty Bitty) — paid; deeper view inspection than Xcode.
• Hopper Disassembler — paid; reverse engineering.

Android first-party

• ★ Android Studio Debugger — IntelliJ-shape; smart step into.
• ★ Layout Inspector — live layout tree; works for Compose (incl. recomposition counts) and View.
• Network Inspector — built into Android Studio Profiler.
• Database Inspector — live SQLite query.
• App Inspection — work-manager, background tasks live.
• adb logcat — the workhorse.
• Stetho — Facebook tool, sunset.

Network sniffers

• ★ Proxyman — modern; macOS-native; SSL pinning bypass support; paid + generous trial.
• Charles Proxy — long-running classic; paid; runs anywhere with Java.
• mitmproxy — open-source; CLI / web UI; SSL termination; the FOSS default.
• HTTP Toolkit — modern, FOSS core + paid Pro.
• Wireshark — packet-level; not HTTPS-friendly without keys.
• Burp Suite Community / Pro — security-flavored; works for app inspection too.

RN / cross-platform

• ★ Reactotron — Infinite Red; RN inspector with Redux / Zustand / network / state plugins. Free, MIT.
• ★ Hermes Debugger — connect Chrome/Edge DevTools to Hermes via the Inspector protocol.
• ★ Expo Dev Tools / Atlas — bundle visualization, route map.
• Flipper — Meta deprecated (2024). Don't start new projects on it.
• Shake — in-app bug reporting / debug; paid + free tier.
• Instabug — in-app bug reporting + crash; paid + free.

Flutter

• ★ Flutter DevTools — official; inspector, performance, network, memory, layout, CPU profiler.
• Sentry Flutter SDK — error + transaction tracing.
• Talker — third-party logger + UI.

Compose-specific

• Compose Layout Inspector — recomposition counts, modifier inspection.
• Lambdacheck / Stable Marker — find non-stable lambdas wrecking recomposition.

E2E / flow recording

• ★ Maestro Studio — record flows visually; the companion to Maestro tests. Free.
• Appium Inspector — explore element trees of a running app via WebDriver session.

On-device logging / shake-to-bug

• Sentry with screenshots/breadcrumbs.
• Bugsnag — similar.
• Instabug / Shake — in-app feedback widgets.

Pick this if…

• iOS: Xcode + Instruments + Proxyman / mitmproxy.
• Android: Android Studio Profiler + Layout Inspector + mitmproxy.
• RN: Reactotron + Hermes Debugger; do not pick Flipper.
• Flutter: Flutter DevTools.
• Cross-platform flow capture: Maestro Studio.
• Free network sniffing on any platform: mitmproxy.