iOS testing | QA Wolf

A device farm built to make magic

All the multi-tenant device farms out there have limited access controls, which restricts what you can test and when. That didn’t work for us or our customers — so we built our own.

Feature	QA Wolf	Other Device farms
Layout & interaction	✅ Full coverage of layouts, gestures, orientations, and physical button interactions.	⚠️ Limited support
Notifications	✅ Full coverage for notifications delivered to foreground and background apps, and deep-linking.	⚠️ Limited support
Camera & camera roll	✅ Full coverage for photo capture, storage, and selection tests.	⚠️ Limited support
Video recording & playback	✅ Full coverage for tests of local, streaming, and on-demand video.	⚠️ Limited support
Hardware Performance	✅ Full coverage for CPU and memory usage tests.	❌ No support
Security/ Entitlements	✅ Full coverage for user roles, entitlements, and encryption verification.	✅ Vendor dependent
Localization	✅ Full coverage for geo-location and dynamic localization.	⚠️ Limited support
Accessibility	✅ Full coverage for visual contrast, font sizing, and OS accessibility features.	⚠️ Limited support
Apple ID	✅ Full coverage for sign-in flows, account switching, and multi-device syncing.	❌ No support
Apple Pay & Apple Wallet	✅ Full coverage for payments, tickets, passes, and loyalty programs.	❌ No support
Subscriptions	✅ Full coverage for subscriptions, cancellations, and multi-device syncing.	❌ No support

Pricing

QA WOLF

Flat fee per test case

Includes:

Test creation
Device provisioning
Unlimited, unmetered, 100% parallel runs
Failure investigation
Flake detection and remediation
Unlimited test maintenance
Human-verified bug reporting

How we do it:
QA Wolf’s device cloud

WebRTC device streaming

WebRTC delivers an ultra-low latency stream of the device screen in real time, giving our QA engineers the ability to inspect, debug, and manipulate the entire device interface. Direct device interaction allows us to build tests in the same environment that we run them, ensuring stable, accurate, and repeatable results.

Single-line test execution & debugging

Our custom WebDriver agent embeds directly into the test container, giving engineers line-by-line execution control. They can select and run individual test lines to isolate failures or verify fixes, without restarting the entire session. This dramatically accelerates debugging, test authoring, and maintenance compared to generic platforms that force full-script execution every time.

Internet over USB

A wired connection eliminates the network congestion that’s typical of crowded Wi-Fi connected racks, which in turn reduces flakiness. Every device is mounted in a purpose-built rack, and connected to centralized processing servers managed by our Kubernetes infrastructure.

Custom signing & mocking system APIs

We re-sign every IPA with a custom provisioning profile during test setup. This gives us fine-grained control over system-level behavior (e.g., replacing the camera input), overriding network hardware calls, and mocking sensor data. We can even test flows that use Apple ID for login or in-app payments without triggering real transactions or prompts.

True Device-as-a-Container architecture

Each iPhone or iPad runs in its own isolated Kubernetes pod, complete with control agents, test executors, and screen streamers. Our architecture is tuned to provide predictable, reliable performance and effectively infinite scalability, unlike traditional device farms that share CPUs across devices or throttle tests to conserve overhead.

Expanded coverage with WebDriver agent

With our WebDriver agent, our QA engineers can interact with the entire screen and system—not just the app under test. From system settings to cross-app integrations like Messages or Photos, nothing is off-limits.  

AI that sees what’s on the screen

Our AI is like no other on the market. It understands the current live state of the app, so it can help our QA engineers validate selectors, refactor code, and debug tests with context. What that means for you is faster feedback, high quality releases, and none of the hassle that comes along with E2E testing on real devices. Learn more

QA Wolf supports more test cases than any other device farm

Most platforms limit you to testing inside the app. We don’t. Our platform gives us full control of the iOS device, so your tests will cover more ground—system settings, camera input, hardware conditions, and more. That means broader test coverage, fewer blind spots, and the confidence that your app works in the real world. No other platform supports as wide a range of iOS test cases.

Layout & interaction

Touch (and multi-touch) interactions

Test tap, swipe, pinch, and zoom gestures work as expected and in combination (multi-touch).

UX responsiveness

Check that UI components remain visible and usable when adapting to different screen sizes and orientations.

Notifications

Background and foreground notification handling

Test how the notifications, alerts, and badges are rendered depending on the open state of the application.

Notification display settings

Validate that the app is correctly displaying alerts and badges, and playing sounds according to the system-level permissions.

Notification deep linking

Assert the correct screen or action is taken from a deep-link push notification.

Camera & camera roll

Photo capture and storage

Test that the app can launch the camera, capture photos or video, and upload them correctly to the server or local storage.

Permissions handling

Validate that the app requests camera access appropriately and handles user denial or revocation gracefully.

Camera modes and switches

Test switching between front and rear cameras, flash modes, zoom levels, and supported resolutions.

Photo selection

Validate the app correctly selects a photo from the device’s library.

Camera roll access permissions

Verify the app respects access permissions and handles denials gracefully.

Video recording & playback

Local and streamed video playback quality

Ensure that both locally stored and streamed videos play smoothly at the expected resolution without playback glitches.

Mid-stream network change

Verify that the app adjusts video quality based on network changes and shows helpful error or fallback UI when streaming fails.

Live and on-demand stream playback

Confirm that both live and on-demand video content plays correctly and responds properly to user controls.

Video capture and storage

Check that video and audio is recorded as expected, saved, and uploaded.

Camera and microphone permissions

Verify the app respects access permissions and handles denials gracefully.

Picture-in-picture support

Test video playback when minimized into PiP mode (where supported) and confirm proper behavior when switching apps or multitasking.

Hardware Performance

App launch times

Measure the time it takes for the app to launch and become usable and verify that it meets performance benchmarks.

Mobile memory usage

Validate that memory consumption and CPU utilization stay within desired limits.

Security & Entitlements

Data encryption in transit and at rest

Verify that sensitive user data is encrypted during transmission and while stored on the device.

User roles and permissions

Confirm that data and functionality are enabled or disabled to match the user’s profile (e.g., Premium features).

Session timeout and re-authentication

Ensure that inactive sessions expire after the expected time and require re-authentication.

Simultaneous session handling

Verify how the app handles multiple accounts on the same device; and how the same account is managed across multiple devices simultaneously.

Localization

Language functionality

Confirm the app switches to the selected language and displays all text correctly.

Regional settings

Verify that the app displays the correct date, time, and currency formats based on the device’s region settings.

Accessibility

Color and contrast

Check that the app complies with WCAG’s visual impairment accessibility standards and iOS settings for enhanced color and contrast.

Text resizing functionality

Confirm the app’s layout and functionality isn’t disrupted by iOS system font size settings.

Backward and forward compatibility

Backward compatibility

Check app performance on older devices and versions of iOS, and that OS or hardware-specific features that are not supported fail gracefully.

Forward compatibility

Test against upcoming versions of iOS (Note: Test runs may be limited by device availability).

Apple ID

“Sign in with Apple” support

Test authentication with Apple ID, including 2FA flows; and validate regional-specific behaviors.

Multi-device Apple ID sync

Validate expected behaviors when an Apple ID is used on multiple devices.

Apple Pay & Wallet

Payment flow testing

Test payments using physical and digital cards associated with the Apple Pay account, Apple Cash balances, and “Apple Pay Later” financing.

Add-to-Wallet functionality

Confirm that tickets, passes, and loyalty programs can be added to Apple Wallet and accessed from the lock screen.

Subscriptions

Purchase flow validation

Test the end-to-end subscription process, including Apple ID authentication, payment confirmation, and in-app acknowledgment.

Renewal and cancellation flow

Validate automatic renewal behavior and user-initiated cancellations from the Settings app and from within the app itself.

Cross-device subscription recognition

Confirm that subscriptions purchased on one device are recognized and unlocked on any device using the same Apple ID.

FAQs

Can I use iOS simulators instead of real devices for end-to-end testing?

Simulators work for basic UI flows, smoke tests, and non-hardware logic. But they can’t test cameras, GPS, push notifications, or performance or anything else. To test anything beyond the simplest flows, you need real devices.

What devices does QA Wolf have in their cloud?

iPhone 15 with iOS 17 or iOS 18 installed and Gen 11 iPads. Device & OS combinations are available upon request.

What types of tests can QA Wolf perform on my mobile app?

We can handle functional, performance, security, usability, and just about anything you can throw at us. We customize our approach to fit your app's specific needs.

Does QA Wolf support testing IPA files?

Yes, QA Wolf fully supports testing IPA files.

Are there any concurrency or speed limitations, etc.?

In general, mobile workflows on real devices are slower by nature, but that is the only limitation on the speed of our tests. Our service includes unlimited concurrency.

Is QA Wolf using real devices or emulators?

We use real devices for our iOS testing because it’s the most accurate representation of the application’s behavior on the hardware that’s actually used.

Can QA Wolf test mobile apps in non-US locations?

We can mock non-US locations or use proxy servers depending on your test case, but the physical devices reside in the US.

Which frameworks does QA Wolf use to write mobile tests?

We use Appium, which uses XCUITest, and WebdriverIO to write automated tests. Both are open-source, so you aren’t locked in. If you ever need to leave us (and we hope you don’t), you can bring your tests with you, and they’ll still work.

Is pixel-perfect visual testing supported?

Yes, pixel-perfect visual testing is supported. WebdriverIO and Appium use visual diffing to compare screenshots pixel-by-pixel, flagging any visual changes or discrepancies during tests.

Automated testing on real iPhones and iPads. Flake-free and fully parallel.

iOS app testing for continuous deployment