Real devices in South Africa, directly to your browser.
STX Device Lab hosts real iPhone and Android phones and desktop browsers in Johannesburg. Test them live from your browser or from your CI pipeline, record any session, and pay in rands.
- Hosted in Johannesburg
- Priced in rands
- Test data stays in South Africa
One lab for your phones, browsers and pipelines
Everything a test team needs to check an app on the devices your customers carry, without buying, charging and updating them yourself.
Test
- Real phones, hosted in Johannesburg
- iPhones and Samsung Android phones on a growing device shelf, not emulators.
- Live manual testing
- Tap, swipe, type and install apps on a real phone from your browser.
- Desktop browsers
- Chrome, Edge and Firefox, live or automated, at desktop, tablet and phone widths.
- Automated testing
- Appium for phones; Selenium and Playwright for Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
Find out why
- Debugging evidence
- Video, screenshots, device logs, network traffic as HAR files and crash detection.
- Real-world conditions
- Slow a phone to a busy evening network, set its GPS location, time zone or language.
- Insights
- Pass rates, coverage gaps and errors over time, and a monthly usage report per team.
Fit your workflow
- Secure tunnel
- Reach internal and staging apps from the lab, only the hosts you allow.
- App library for CI
- Upload a build once and install it from your pipeline or the console.
- A queue, not a failure
- Busy? Tests above your limit wait in line and start by themselves, so pipelines do not break.
How it works
From sign-in to a defect with the evidence attached, in four steps.
Sign in
Your team gets its own accounts and roles, with two-step sign-in and, if you want it, access only from your company network.
Pick a phone or a browser
Choose a real iPhone or Android phone, or Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If it is busy, get in line and it is held for you.
Test live or from CI
Drive it in your browser, or point your test suite at the lab with an API token.
- Appium
- Selenium
- Playwright
Share what you found
Raise a defect with the video, screenshot and logs attached, and send it on.
- Jira
- Azure DevOps
- GitHub
- Slack
- Teams
Built here, for teams that ship here
A device cloud that bills in your currency, runs in your time zone and keeps your test data in your country.
- Priced in randsQuoted and invoiced in rands, so your budget does not move with the exchange rate.
- Hosted in JohannesburgLower latency from South Africa, and your recordings, screenshots and logs are stored here, which keeps POPIA simple.
- Local support, in SASTA team in your time zone that answers during your working day.
- Devices South Africans useThe phones your customers carry, on a shelf that grows with what our clients ask for.
- Security built inTwo-step sign-in, IP allow-listing per client, encryption at rest, 90-day retention and a full audit trail.
- Honest fair use and queuesThe session rules are written down and shown in the console. At your limit you wait in line; nothing fails silently.
| What matters | STX Device Lab | Typical global device cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Price | In rands, invoiced in South Africa | Usually in US dollars, so the rand cost moves with the exchange rate |
| Where the devices are | Johannesburg | Usually overseas |
| Where test data is kept | South Africa | Usually outside South Africa |
| Support hours | South African business hours | Often another time zone |
| Devices | Phones used in South Africa, on a growing shelf | Large global catalogues |
| At your limit | Tests wait in a queue and start by themselves | Depends on the provider |
A general comparison: providers differ, and a global catalogue is larger than ours today. Ask us about the models you need.
Plans for how your team tests
Pay for shared capacity where breadth matters and dedicated phones only where they count. Every plan includes the whole platform.
Free 14-day trial Coming soon
Try the lab with your own apps before you commit. Register your interest to be first when trials open.
Register interest- 2 public phone sessions at once
- 1 private phone, just for your team
- 14 days with the full platform
Public sessions
Per session at once
A shared pool of real phones. Run as many tests at once as you have sessions, on any free phone. Cleaned after every session.
Private devices
Per device
Phones dedicated to your team and never shared, invisible to everyone else. Choose the models you need.
Browsers
Per session at once
Chrome, Edge and Firefox for live and automated testing, including responsive checks at phone and tablet widths.
Virtual devices
Coming later
Android emulators and iOS simulators for fast, low-cost early testing.
Priced in rands. Ask us for a quote for your team.
Ask for a quoteSecurity you can explain to your risk team
Built into the lab from the start, and switched on per client.
Two-step sign-in
Codes from an authenticator app, and the lab can require them for every role.
IP allow-lists
Limit each client team to its own office or VPN addresses.
Encrypted
AES-256 for recordings, screenshots and logs at rest, and TLS on every connection.
90-day retention
Test artefacts are deleted 90 days after the session by default, or sooner if you ask.
Audit log
Every session and every admin action is recorded.
Clean phones
Shared phones are cleaned after every session; private phones are only ever used by your team.
POPIA-minded
Data stays in South Africa. We provide a POPIA statement and a data processing agreement template.
Your own network
The tunnel reaches only the internal hosts you and the lab both allow.
The lab's live settings, where everything is kept and for how long, are on the trust page.
Questions
Something else? Ask in the message box when you register your interest.
Which devices can I test on?
Real iPhones and Samsung Android phones today, plus Chrome, Edge and Firefox on the desktop. The shelf is growing: tell us which models your customers use and we will look at adding them.
Can I test apps on our internal or staging network?
Yes. A small connector runs on your side and opens one encrypted tunnel to the lab, so phones and browsers can reach only the hosts you allow.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Live testing runs in your web browser. You only run the connector if you test internal apps, and your own test tools if you automate.
How does automation connect?
Through standard endpoints with an API token: Appium for phones, and Selenium (WebDriver) or Playwright for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Upload builds to the app library once and use them from CI. Tests above your limit wait in a queue.
Where is our data stored?
In the lab in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recordings, screenshots and logs are encrypted at rest and deleted 90 days after the session by default.
When does the free trial start?
Soon. Register your interest and we will contact you first when trials open. The trial will give you 2 public phone sessions and 1 private phone for 14 days.
How is pricing done?
In rands: per session at once for shared phones and browsers, and per device for private phones. Ask us for a quote for your team.
Register your interest
Tell us what you need to test. We will contact you about the free trial and a quote for your team. It takes about a minute.
Your details and POPIA
What we keep: what you type in this form, when you agreed to be contacted, and the network address and browser it was sent from (only to stop abuse).
Why: to answer your enquiry and, only if you tick the box, to send you news about STX. We never sell or share it.
Where and how long: in South Africa, until you ask us to delete it. To see or correct your details, reply to any email from us. To have your details deleted, reply to any email from us or ask in a new sign-up message.
Thank you
We have your details and will be in touch soon. You can ask us to delete them at any time.
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