How to view JavaScript console on Android (and iOS)?

I am creating a purely browser based app – HTML and JavaScript.

I do not have an Android IDE installed (nor one for iOS) – and would prefer not to have to install one and perform remote debugging.

Developing on my PC, I use the Chrome browser and the developer tools to view the JavaScript console in order to debug.

How can I do that on an Android tablet (or, later, iOS)? I prefer a purely browser based solution, but could accept an Android/iOS based app.

Answer

For Android you can use remote debugging through chrome as described here

I’ll summarize/rewrite the steps (for browser based debugging) here in case the link ever goes down.

Requirements:

• For browser tabs: Android 4.0+ and Chrome for Android
• A USB cable to plug in your Android device
• Chrome 32 or later installed on your development machine

Set up:

• Enable USB debugging on your device.
• Navigate to chrome://inspect/#devices on your desktop Chrome browser. (Alternatively, to get to the same screen, you can select Chrome menu > Tools > Inspect Devices)
• After connecting, you may see an alert on the device requesting permission for USB debugging from your computer. Tap OK
• Chrome should now display the connected device
• Open up chrome on your Android device and navigate to the page you want to debug/inspect. The page should show up on your desktop browser and you should be able to inspect it.

If for some reason you have an older version of chrome and cannot upgrade. There is a plugin that you can install to accomplish the same thing.