Introduction:
As a front-end developer, testing your projects on mobile devices is crucial for ensuring responsive design and a seamless user experience across platforms. However, accessing your locally hosted development server from a mobile device isn’t always straightforward. This guide will make your front-end project accessible on your mobile device, allowing for efficient testing and debugging in a real mobile environment.
Whether you’re working with React, Vue, Angular, or any other frontend framework, these steps will help you bridge the gap between your development environment and mobile testing. By following this guide, you’ll be able to view your work-in-progress directly on your smartphone or tablet, all while leveraging the power and flexibility of your development machine.
Step 1: Ensure both devices are on the same network:
Your computer and mobile device must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Step 2: Find your computer’s local IP address:
On Windows: Open Command Prompt and type “ipconfig”
On macOS/Linux: Open Terminal and type “ifconfig” or “ip addr”
Step 3: Run your front-end project:
Start your frontend project on localhost.
Step 4: Access from your mobile device or any other device:
Open a browser on your mobile or any other device connected to the same network and enter:
http://[YOUR_LOCAL_IP]:[PORT]Replace [YOUR_LOCAL_IP] with the IP address you found in step 2 and [PORT] with your front-end application port.
That is it
By following these steps, you can view and interact with your front-end project on your mobile device or any other device connected to the same network while it runs on your local development machine.
Tips
Sometimes it will not work in the Ubuntu operating system because Ubuntu’s default firewall (ufw) might be blocking connections.
Here is how to fix it.
Step 1: Confirm your IP address: Open a terminal and run
ifconfigLook for your WiFi interface (usually wlan0) and note the inet address.
Step 2: Check your firewall:
Ubuntu’s default firewall (ufw) might be blocking connections. Try:
sudo ufw statusIf it’s active, allow port your frontend application running on:
sudo ufw allow 3000By mastering the technique of running localhost on mobile devices, you’ve added a valuable tool to your web development toolkit. Keep exploring, keep testing, and keep creating amazing web experiences for all your users, regardless of their chosen device.
