Mobile Setup
Probe captures traffic from any phone or tablet on the same Wi-Fi network as your computer. The phone sends its HTTP/HTTPS through Probe, Probe decrypts it with a per-host leaf cert signed by its CA, and the requests show up in the Devices section of the sidebar alongside your desktop traffic.
The setup is the same shape on every platform: get on the same network, point the phone’s Wi-Fi proxy at your computer, then install and trust Probe’s CA on the phone.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”- The phone and your computer are joined to the same Wi-Fi network. Cellular data won’t reach a LAN proxy.
- Probe is running on the computer. The status card in the toolbar shows the listen address — for example
192.168.1.42:9099. - You know your computer’s LAN IP. Probe shows it in the toolbar status card; you’ll use the same IP for both the proxy (
:9099) and the cert download page (:9098).
The four-step flow
Section titled “The four-step flow”Every mobile platform follows the same four steps. Pick your platform below for the exact menu paths.
- Find the host LAN IP — read it off Probe’s status card (e.g.
192.168.1.42). - Set the phone’s Wi-Fi proxy — manual proxy, host = LAN IP, port =
9099. - Install Probe’s CA — open
http://<host-ip>:9098in the phone’s browser and follow the platform install flow. - Trust the CA — enable trust in the phone’s certificate settings (iOS) or move it to the right store / opt in via Network Security Config (Android).
Once all four are done, open any app or browser on the phone. Within a few seconds, an entry for the phone’s IP appears under DEVICES in the sidebar, with a domain tree of the traffic that device is generating.
Pick your platform
Section titled “Pick your platform”iOS configures HTTP proxies per Wi-Fi network. Settings stick until you forget the network or change them manually — joining a different Wi-Fi network does not carry the proxy over.
The CA install on iOS is a two-step flow: download the profile in Safari, then explicitly enable it under Certificate Trust Settings. Both steps are required — the cert is installed but inactive until you flip the trust toggle.
See Debug an iPhone for the exact taps and screenshots of where each setting lives.
Android sets the proxy under the network’s Advanced options when you long-press a saved Wi-Fi network. Like iOS, the setting is per-network.
The CA install is straightforward — download the .der, install via Settings → Security → Install a certificate. The catch is Network Security Config: from Android 7 (API 24) onward, apps don’t trust user-installed CAs by default. Browsers do, so web traffic works immediately, but your own app needs to opt in.
See Debug an Android Phone for the menu paths and the Network Security Config snippet.
What you’ll see in Probe
Section titled “What you’ll see in Probe”When traffic starts flowing, the sidebar’s DEVICES section lights up. Each remote IP gets its own entry with an expandable domain tree — tap a device to filter the log to just that phone’s requests, or drill into a single domain.
Desktop traffic from your own computer doesn’t appear under DEVICES — it shows process names (Safari, curl, Slack) instead, since loopback connections get resolved to a local PID and labelled with the owning binary.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”- No traffic at all — confirm both devices are on the same SSID, and that no firewall is blocking inbound
:9099on the host. On macOS, System Settings → Network → Firewall is the usual culprit. - HTTPS shows as
CONNECT-only with no body — the CA isn’t installed or isn’t trusted yet. Re-check the trust step for your platform. - Some apps work, others don’t — apps with certificate pinning (banking, some social, most payment SDKs) won’t accept Probe’s CA by design. There’s no clean workaround; debug those apps against a non-pinned build. Probe flags pinned hosts automatically — see Pinning Detection.