I assume that the majority of have experience using the Charles application or similar tools to capture network traffic on real devices. There are numerous online guides available for this purpose. However, when it comes to using with an emulator, I noticed a lack of recent articles addressing this specific scenario. Although the process is relatively simple, I’ve decided to create this guide to assist those who may be seeking guidance in this area. QA engineers Charles Setting up Charles on Android Emulators To get started, open the Android Emulator and install your app. You can do this by dragging and dropping your APK file into the emulator window. Just keep in mind, that for sniffing traffic, you’ll need a custom version provided by developers that works with Charles. In the emulator: Connect to this network. Settings -> Network & Internet -> Internet -> Tap on the available Wi-Fi connection (in my case it’s “AndroidWifi”). Open the settings for this Wi-Fi network by clicking on the gear icon. Click on the pencil icon (top right corner). . You’ll need to fill in the ‘Proxy hostname’ and ‘Proxy port’ fields. The Proxy Port should be set to 8888. To find out the Proxy Host Name on a Mac, you can check it here: (next to your Wi-Fi network). Or in Charles: . So now we can fill in the ‘Proxy hostname’. Proxy -> Manual System settings -> Wi-Fi -> Details Help -> Local IP Address Perform an action in your emulator, such as opening the app you intend to use later. Then, switch to Charles and click on 'Allow'. After that, you need to install the certificate, following the same process as on a real device: open the browser, enter 'chls.pro/ssl' – the certificate download will happen automatically. You can find it in the notification shade. All we have left to do is install the certificate. Here's how: Go to your Android settings, search for 'CA,' choose 'CA certificate,' and install the certificate while approving any prompts. Done! Now you can launch the app and monitor the traffic. iOS For iOS simulators, it's easier. You only need to follow these three steps: Launch a simulator. Open Charles, then go to -> -> . Help SSL Proxying Install Charles Root Certificate in iOS Simulators You will see this success screen: Open the simulator, then navigate to -> -> -> . Enable the Charles Proxy CA. Settings General About Certificate Trust Settings 😎 That’s all! Now you can see the traffic of the app.
