PonyDebugger

Overview

PonyDebugger is a debugging companion for developers building native iOS apps, especially those who want network and interface inspection inside Chrome Developer Tools. Its specialized views are useful, but app integration and a separate gateway make it less convenient than a debugger built into an existing workflow.

The project is free under the Apache License 2.0. Its strongest case is for iOS teams that can accommodate a client-and-gateway setup and want several kinds of remote inspection in one place.

Key features

Network inspection: The client proxies requests made through NSURLConnection and NSURLSession, including those from AFNetworking and other libraries using these APIs. Since it forwards traffic rather than sniffing it, HTTPS requests can be inspected. The broad automatic-forwarding option swizzles methods from private APIs, so it should be enabled only in debug builds.

Core Data browsing: Register managed object contexts to browse entities and managed objects. The stores are read-only, which suits inspection but not data changes; CoreData.framework must also be linked even if you do not use this feature.

View hierarchy: Chrome Developer Tools displays the app’s view hierarchy, can highlight matching views, and supports editing displayed attributes or removing nodes. These controls make it useful for examining interface structure, though they are not a replacement for a general-purpose layout workflow.

Remote logging: PDLog and PDLogObjects send text and recursively inspected object properties to the remote debugging session, giving developers another way to examine app behavior without relying on network or interface views alone.

Pricing

PonyDebugger is free: the PonyDebugger plan costs nothing and includes the iOS client and gateway server under the Apache License 2.0. There are no paid tiers to trade against; the cost is the engineering effort of integrating the client and running the gateway.

Platforms

The documented client targets iOS 5.0 or above and uses ARC and SocketRocket as a WebSocket client. The tool also uses a macOS-hosted gateway and a web browser for Chrome Developer Tools; the gateway can be installed in userland with virtualenv. The quick start requires Xcode Command Line Tools, and the iOS client can be installed with CocoaPods or manually. Although macOS, self-hosted, and web are among its platform labels, PonyDebugger is described as a tool for native iOS apps, not as a cross-platform app debugger.

The gateway serves Chrome Developer Tools and listens on localhost port 9000 by default. That default limits access to the local machine for security; configuring it to listen on 0.0.0.0 allows another device or computer to connect, so that change should be made deliberately.

Who it's for

PonyDebugger suits iOS developers who need to inspect proxied requests, Core Data contents, view hierarchy, or remote logs through Chrome Developer Tools and are comfortable managing both an app client and gateway. It is a poor fit for production traffic forwarding, a workflow that cannot accommodate app changes, or debugging needs outside native iOS applications.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Network, interface, Core Data, and remote logging views bring several useful inspection tasks into Chrome Developer Tools.
• Pros: HTTPS inspection works through forwarding rather than packet sniffing, and common URL-loading APIs used by AFNetworking are covered.
• Pros: The client can be installed with CocoaPods or manually, and the software is free under Apache License 2.0.
• Cons: Both an app client and gateway are required, and the quick start depends on Xcode Command Line Tools.
• Cons: Automatic forwarding of all network traffic uses private-API method swizzling and belongs only in debug builds.
• Cons: Core Data browsing is read-only, and CoreData.framework is required even when the feature is unused.

Alternatives

Browse more options in Debuggers.

• LLDB is a free debugger for a wider set of platforms, including Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows; choose it when you need a debugger beyond PonyDebugger’s native-iOS focus.
• IDA Pro offers a free tier with x86-32 and x86-64 disassembly and two cloud-based decompilers, while IDA Pro Essential costs 1099.00 USD. Consider it when disassembly and decompilation are the priority.
• Perl Debugger is included with Perl and requires the program to compile correctly before debugging, making it a fit for Perl rather than native iOS work.
• pyOCD is a free, Apache 2.0 open-source project; choose it when that is the tool you need instead of an iOS app debugging companion.
• Black Magic Debug is a free JTAG/SWD debugger for embedded microcontrollers that requires compatible probe hardware and a suitable toolchain.
• FlowStorm is free and open source; consider it as an alternative when that description fits your debugging needs.
• GDB is a free debugger with source code available under the GNU General Public License.
• OpenOCD is free, open-source software distributed through operating-system packages or source code.

Verdict

Choose PonyDebugger if you build native iOS apps and want Chrome Developer Tools access to proxied network traffic, interface structure, Core Data, and remote logs without a software fee. Its main appeal is the range of focused inspection views; look elsewhere if you need a broader debugger or cannot keep automatic network forwarding confined to debug builds.