Stop Fighting Mobile Platform Differences - Automate iOS and Android Apps Through One Interface

Mobile automation shouldn't require separate iOS and Android expertise. Mobile MCP gives your AI agents native access to both platforms through a unified accessibility-first interface that works with simulators, emulators, and real devices.

The Mobile Automation Problem You Know Too Well

You've been here: building mobile tests means maintaining separate iOS and Android codebases, wrestling with XCUITest and Espresso quirks, or dealing with flaky screenshot-based automation that breaks when the UI shifts by a pixel. Meanwhile, your AI agents are stuck in desktop browsers while your users live in mobile apps.

Mobile MCP solves this by exposing both platforms through structured accessibility data and coordinate-based interactions via the Model Context Protocol. Your agents get deterministic mobile app control without platform-specific knowledge.

Why This Approach Works Better

Accessibility-First Intelligence: Instead of teaching AI to parse screenshots, Mobile MCP provides structured accessibility trees. Your agents see buttons, text fields, and navigation elements as semantic data - the same way screen readers do. When accessibility data isn't available, it falls back to coordinate-based screenshot analysis.

Platform Agnostic: Write once, run on both iOS and Android. Your automation scripts work identically whether targeting an iPhone simulator or Samsung Galaxy emulator. No more maintaining separate test suites.

Real Device Support: Unlike browser-based solutions, this connects to actual iOS/Android devices, simulators, and emulators. Test on the hardware your users actually use.

Concrete Use Cases That Save Time

AI-Driven App Testing: Let Claude or your preferred AI model navigate through multi-step user flows. "Test the checkout process by adding items to cart, applying a discount code, and completing purchase with saved payment method." The AI handles the navigation while you focus on validation logic.

Cross-Platform Regression Testing: Run the same test script against both iOS and Android builds. Catch platform-specific UI regressions without duplicating test cases.

Data Extraction from Mobile Apps: Extract structured data from apps that don't have APIs. Perfect for competitive analysis, price monitoring, or content auditing across mobile platforms.

App Store Automation: Automate app reviews, screenshot generation, or competitive analysis by having AI agents interact with app store interfaces directly.

Integration That Actually Works

Mobile MCP plugs into your existing AI development workflow:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mobilenext/mobile-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Works with Cline, Cursor, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible agent framework. Your AI assistant can immediately start interacting with mobile devices through natural language instructions.

Example prompts that work out of the box:

• "Open Instagram, navigate to the explore page, and extract the titles of the top 10 trending posts"
• "Test the login flow with invalid credentials, then retry with valid ones and verify the dashboard loads"
• "Find a workout app with 4+ stars, download it, complete the onboarding, and start a 20-minute session"

Technical Implementation

Mobile MCP runs as a lightweight Node.js server that bridges MCP protocol with iOS/Android automation frameworks. It uses native accessibility APIs when available and falls back to visual analysis when needed.

Prerequisites: You'll need Xcode command line tools (for iOS), Android Platform Tools (for Android), and Node.js 22+. The server automatically detects connected devices, running simulators, and emulators.

Device Support: Connect to iOS simulators on macOS, Android emulators cross-platform, or physical devices with proper drivers installed.

Performance: Accessibility tree parsing is fast and deterministic. Screenshot analysis only triggers when semantic data isn't available, keeping interactions responsive.

Why Your Mobile Automation Strategy Needs This

Mobile-first user experiences demand mobile-first testing and automation strategies. Web-based testing misses native app behaviors, platform-specific gestures, and real device performance characteristics.

Mobile MCP bridges the gap between AI agent capabilities and mobile app realities. Your automation scripts work across platforms, your AI agents understand mobile interfaces, and your testing becomes as sophisticated as your mobile apps.

With 1000+ GitHub stars and active development, the Mobile MCP community is building the foundation for AI-driven mobile automation. The question isn't whether mobile automation will become AI-driven - it's whether you'll be ready when it does.

Start with npx @mobilenext/mobile-mcp@latest and see how your AI agents perform on real mobile interfaces.