As you probably know, a webpage is composed of various elements arranged in a visual manner to create the illusion of being one. Each of these elements needs to be understood, how they interact with each other, and how they are displayed on a page.
Right-clicking on any webpage provides the “Inspect element” option for Windows and Mac users. Using this feature, a website’s source code can be examined, all of its components can be seen, and the code in each one can be edited. You can edit Javascript, HTML, CSS, and all of the other media files on the site. As a result, you not only learn how to use a webpage, but you can also make modifications in your browser without affecting the webpage itself.
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It’s not only developers who benefit from inspect option since it is known as a “developer” tool. Using this tool, beginners and non-developers alike can learn how websites work and how their various elements work together. This post can provide you with an explanation of how to use the inspect element chrome mobile option while surfing the web on an iPhone.
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Is it possible to Inspect Element on iPhone directly in Safari?
This question cannot be answered simply.
For viewing a webpage’s development, Safari on iOS does not have a native inspect tool like many other mobile browsers. We believe it is because smartphones have small displays that there isn’t such an option available from Apple. Apple doesn’t provide a reason for this. As the display size may be smaller, users may have to place their cursor carefully when editing a webpage’s code or finding one when the display is smaller.
In addition, smartphones may not have enough processing power. It may be tricky to view a website’s page information since not all websites are created equal even though modern iPhones are powerful enough to run graphics-intensive games. The resources and layers on the site may be carefully crafted so that it looks seamless, but when examined they may take a long time to load.
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How to inspect Element on iPhone?
Apple’s Safari app does not support the ‘Inspect Element’ tool natively, but there are workarounds for iOS users. This article lists three ways for users of Safari on iPhone to view web elements.
Method #01: Using Safari on your Mac
Safari is available for Macs and iPhones, so you can inspect webpages on both devices.
Even if you also enjoy macOS, you’ll be able to take advantage of the Safari app to access webpages. Although it’s relatively simple to setup a site, it may take a little longer than you expect. You need not worry, we will walk you through the setup process in the simplest way possible and show you how easy it is to inspect pages.
Enable Web Inspector on iOS
On iOS, you need to enable Web Inspector first before you can debug web elements. In Settings, select Safari.
To do this, scroll to the bottom of Safari and select ‘Advanced’.
The next screen will appear after you tap the green toggle next to ‘Web Inspector’.
Initial setup on Mac
It is now time to set up Web Inspector for Safari on your Mac once you have enabled Web Inspector for Safari on your iOS device. You can edit Safari preferences on a Mac by opening the Safari application, clicking on the Safari menu option from the menu bar, and selecting ‘Preferences’.
You can see the ‘Develop menu in the menu bar’ by selecting the ‘Advanced’ tab from the top of the window.
You will now see the ‘Develop’ option at the top of the Menu bar.
Use the USB cable that came with your iPhone to establish a connection between your Mac and iPhone. You can see if your iPhone appears in the list of devices on the Mac’s menu bar by clicking ‘Develop’ when your iPhone is connected. Click on your iPhone in the list.
The next time you open the iPhone menu, click on ‘Connect via Network’. This will enable you to inspect webpages without requiring a USB cable like you did just now.
So, your iPhone will no longer need to be connected to your Mac in order for you to check out web pages.
Using iOS on a Mac, inspect webpages
By enabling ‘Connect via Network’ in the ‘Develop’ menu, you can examine page content directly on your Mac from Safari on iOS. Debugging webpages can only be done through a wireless network if the iPhone and Mac are connected.
Go to the web page you wish to examine in the Safari app on your iPhone.
You can open the Safari application on your Mac after unlocking your iPhone and opening the selected webpage. By clicking ‘Develop’ on the menu bar, you can access the iPhone menu.
A list of open web pages will appear when you hover your mouse over your ‘iPhone’. This list is selectable.
The Mac will load a new window displaying all the information available on the selected webpage.
By looking for the blue area on your iPhone during the inspection, you can see where a line of code is located on the page.
Blue indicates that the code that’s highlighted on this particular web page is the code that you’re hovering over on your Mac. This blue highlight on your iPhone changes as you move between lines of code.
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Method #02: Using Shortcuts on iOS
Those who do not have a Mac or just want to view a website directly on their iPhone will appreciate the iOS Shortcuts app’s availability. Within the Safari app, the Shortcuts app offers a number of pre-made options, such as viewing a page’s source code, editing a website, grabbing and viewing older versions. The short cut for full-featured web debugging on iOS is not available in a single location, so you will have to add shortcuts individually.
From iOS, the following shortcuts make it easy for you to perform debugging directly on websites. Here are the shortcuts:
View Source – By using this shortcut, you can see a web page’s source code in an HTML-like format.
Edit Webpage – Edit a webpage locally so you can see how it appears on your iPhone if you change the design or format.
Get Images from Page – It is sometimes inconvenient to save non-interactive images or to examine them on a page. Using this shortcut, all images from a website will be grabbed and previewed simultaneously. According to the screenshot below, you can view each and every image that is displayed on the selected webpage.
Wayback Machine – You can view previous versions of a webpage by using this shortcut, which takes you to Wayback Machine.
Any of these shortcuts can be added to your iPhone by clicking the relevant links below or searching in Shortcuts > Gallery according to how you wish to view web pages on iOS.
Your iPhone will display a list of search results where you can select a shortcut.
You can add a widget at the bottom of the preview screen by tapping on the ‘Add Widget’ option.
Those shortcuts will appear in Safari’s Share sheet as well as My Shortcuts > All Shortcuts.
Safari will open the webpage and you can inspect it by selecting the ‘Share’ button at the bottom.
You can find the shortcuts you added by scrolling down the Share sheet.
You may directly edit parts of the webpage by selecting ‘Edit Web Page’.
The other three options will prompt you whether to access the webpage with a shortcut. Tap on ‘Allow Once’ here.
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Method #03: Using third-party apps
It is possible to examine the elements of a webpage with third-party applications if the above results are not satisfactory. Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and other popular browsers have no way of inspecting a web page like Safari does. Instead, you’ll need to use an app made specifically for this task, and finding apps like these is not always easy.
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There are several apps available for inspecting web elements on the App Store, but not that many of them are available for free or are highly rated. You can inspect and edit JavaScript, CSS, and HTML elements by installing the Inspect Browser or Gear Browser apps from the App Store, which are suggested by several user reviews.
Inspect Element on iPhone is as simple as that.