Diagnose Web Problems in Mobile Devices with Fiddler

Fiddler is a great help when diagnosing problems with Web sites, investigating performance concerns and modifying requests sent to Web servers. Because mobile devices are responsible for more traffic to Web sites, you should know how to use Fiddler for mobile clients, as well.

You can simply run Fiddler on your PC on its default port of 8888, configure it to "allow remote computers to connect" in Fiddler Options on the Connections tab, and ensure any firewall allows traffic on that port. Use ipconfig on the PC to determine its IP address. Then set the proxy server on the mobile device to point at the given IP address and port 8888.

In iOS, you'd set this on the Wi-Fi connection under the HTTP Proxy section by choosing Manual. Open the browser on the device and as you visit Web sites, you'll see all the traffic in Fiddler. Now use all the great features in Fiddler you’re used to for mobile clients.

Robert Boedigheimer works for Schwans Shared Services LLC providing business solutions with Web technologies and leads Robert Boedigheimer Consulting LLC. He’s been designing and developing Web sites for the past 18 years including the early days of ASP and ASP.NET.

Posted by Robert Boedigheimer on 05/01/2015