In the fast-paced world of mobile engineering, the ability to move quickly is often hampered by the very tools meant to help us. While traditional mobile clouds provide essential scale and coverage, they are often optimized for standard, short-lived regression scripts that follow a predictable path.
For many high-maturity engineering teams, these standard workflows can become a bottleneck. When you need to perform deep system-level debugging, run complex game loops, or integrate emerging AI-driven tools, the standard testing frameworks for cloud devices can feel restrictive.
Today, we are excited to bridge that gap with the launch of the Real Device Access API. This framework-agnostic interface delivers the deep, programmatic device control of a local lab with the enterprise reliability of the Sauce Labs cloud.
What is the Real Device Access API?
The Real Device Access API, the industry’s first modern programmable mobile cloud, provides developers with deep, device-level control to accelerate AI-driven workflows. This framework-agnostic approach bypasses the constraints of standard testing frameworks to unlock custom use cases and AI-ready workflows—while eliminating the drain of in-house testing.
With low-latency device access at cloud-scale security, deep observability, and persistent session models, teams can reclaim innovation time and build the future-proof foundation that modern mobile engineering needs.
From framework constraints to full device freedom
The Real Device Access API moves beyond simple "testing" and provides a powerful gateway to real mobile hardware. It allows you to build custom, high-performance testing environments at scale, and delivers these key capabilities:
Direct device interaction: Execute raw adb shell and xcrun commands via secure WebSocket tunnels to manage system settings, files, and processes directly.
Extended session persistence: Maintain a single device allocation for up to 24 hours to support sequential testing without cleaning cycles.
Real-time visibility: Access live WebSocket streams of system logs (Logcat/Syslog), network traffic (HAR), and high-fidelity video for fast debugging.
Programmatic management: Use the API to force app updates, clear data, or programmatically reboot and recover devices.
AI and agent-ready infrastructure: Leverage an MCP-ready architecture and high-speed visual control surfaces designed for autonomous AI agents.
When is Access API the right fit?
The Access API is built for high-maturity teams who have outgrown standard automation and need deep, programmatic control over mobile hardware. This includes:
Platform and DevOps engineers: Teams looking to integrate flexible device testing into CI/CD pipelines and build internal developer portals.
SDETs and mobile architects: Technical users who have hit the limits of standard frameworks and need to run sophisticated QA scenarios, such as gaming loops or security audits.
To determine if the Real Device Access API can break through the testing bottlenecks your team is facing, consider your answers to these questions:
Could your productivity increase if you eliminated downtime spent on device resetting and app reinstallation between every test script?
Are you unable to run "soak tests" or long-duration monitoring because your current framework forces a session timeout after just an hour or two?
Is your debugging process a "guessing game" based on static logs and video replays rather than a live, interactive tunnel into the device internals?
Does your testing break on non-standard apps (like those built with Flutter or Unity) because your framework cannot interact with anything outside the standard object tree?
Are you forced to maintain an expensive, flaky local device lab just to get "root-like" administrative control (such as ADB shell or device reboots)?
An API that’s unique to the market
The Real Device Access API is the only API testing solution that offers a unique combination of flexibility and efficiency:
Zero framework lock-in: Decouple device control from rigid automation frameworks to gain true infrastructure flexibility.
Unmatched control at scale: Get local-device precision at cloud-scale security with programmable access to real devices.
Maximized efficiency: Reclaim your innovation time by eliminating the setup-and-teardown cycle of traditional testing with a persistent session model.
Deep observability: Get real-time diagnostic data, WebSocket streams, and more to understand exactly why a failure occurred.
Future-proof AI-ready foundation: Scale AI-driven testing and integrate emerging tools with an architecture that allows autonomous agents to interact with devices as native tools.
Graduate to unmatched mobile infrastructure
The Real Device Access API allows your best engineers to stop managing infrastructure and start focusing on what matters: shipping world-class mobile experiences. By decoupling device access from restrictive scripts, you gain the freedom to build the exact testing experience your application requires.
Ready to see it in action?
Request a demo today to learn how you can turn your private cloud into a programmable device lab.
