Features
Live device mirror
Section titled “Live device mirror”The mirror streams the Android device’s screen into Studio using OrbiStream, the app’s first-party streaming engine built on Android’s MediaProjection API. You watch tests interact with the real device in real time, and you can switch quality modes depending on what you are doing:
- Auto, balanced default.
- Low Latency, when you are interacting and responsiveness matters most.
- High Quality, when you are reading small UI text or reviewing visual detail.
ADB screenshot capture remains available as a fallback and for one-off snapshots. The first time you start the mirror, Android shows a screen-capture permission dialog on the phone, approve it once and streaming begins.
UI Inspector
Section titled “UI Inspector”The Inspector opens in its own window and dumps the UIAutomator hierarchy, the same element tree your tests see. Click any node and Studio highlights it on the live preview, so you can connect “this thing on screen” to “this node with this resource ID”. From a selected node you can:
- Copy its locator for use in a test.
- Generate ready-to-use tap code (
await orbit.tapById("login_button")) straight into your script. - Inspect bounds, text, content description, and attributes, the raw material for choosing stable selectors.
This is the tool that answers “why did my tap miss?” and “what should I wait for on this screen?”, the two questions that dominate mobile test debugging.
Device logs (logcat)
Section titled “Device logs (logcat)”The Logs panel captures Android logcat without a terminal. The filters are the point, raw logcat is a firehose, and finding your app’s ten relevant lines in it is the skill Studio automates:
| Filter | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Package name | See only your app’s output (Studio resolves the PID for you). |
| PID / Tag | Narrow to one process or one logging tag. |
| Severity level | Hide debug noise; show warnings and errors. |
| Text match / Regex | Find specific messages or patterns. |
| Time range | Focus on the seconds around a failure. |
Filtered results can be copied or downloaded as a file, ready to attach to a bug report.
Test runner, reports, and evidence
Section titled “Test runner, reports, and evidence”Studio runs the active test file against any connected device with one click. Live stdout/stderr streams to the Console panel while the mirror shows the device. Each run produces a full artifact folder, and every run generates an HTML report with pass/fail status, the action log, the final screenshot, and a device recording.
Reports open in-app with a frame evidence player, you can step through the recording frame by frame, in fullscreen if needed, to see exactly what the device showed at the moment a step failed. Run configurations control the evidence level:
| Configuration | Trace | Smart Report | Video recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Run | Off | On | Always |
| Trace Run | On | On | Always |
| Evidence Run | On | On | Always |
| Minimal Run | Off | Off | Off |
Built-in IDE and Companion app
Section titled “Built-in IDE and Companion app”The workspace is a VS Code–style environment scoped to your test project: file explorer, Monaco editor (the same editor component VS Code uses) with tabs and dirty-state tracking, an integrated terminal, Git source control, and an npm package manager. For writing and maintaining mobile tests, you rarely need a second editor.
On the device side, Studio installs Orbittest Companion, a lightweight Android APK that enables the device bridge, OrbiStream screen capture, and diagnostic tooling. Studio deploys it directly over USB; you approve the install on the phone once.
Frequently asked questions
Section titled “Frequently asked questions”Can I use my own editor instead of the built-in one?
Section titled “Can I use my own editor instead of the built-in one?”Yes. The project is a normal folder; edit it in anything. Studio picks up file changes, and its editor remains handy for quick fixes next to the mirror.
Does the mirror work while a test is running?
Section titled “Does the mirror work while a test is running?”Yes, that is its main use: watching automation interact with the real device live, with the console streaming alongside.
What does the Companion app run as?
Section titled “What does the Companion app run as?”A normal user-level APK using public Android APIs (MediaProjection for capture). It shows Android’s standard permission prompts and can be uninstalled like any app.
Related pages
Section titled “Related pages”- What is Studio? — Orbittest Studio explained: a Windows desktop IDE that puts device mirror, inspector, logcat, editor, and test runner in one app.
- Quick Start — From new project to first passing mobile test: connect a device, write a smoke test, run it, and review the video evidence.
- Mobile Test API — The complete orbittest/mobile reference: app lifecycle, gestures, selectors, typing, waits, device state, and evidence capture.
- Troubleshooting — Fixes for unauthorized devices, missing devices, blocked Companion installs, black mirror screens, and empty log panels.