Connect Android mobile devices

You can connect Android devices to the Digital Lab server, or to a connector machine.

Initial device configuration

When connecting the device for the first time, there are a few steps that you need to perform on each device that you intend to connect to Digital Lab. After the initial connection has been set up, the device is "plug-and-play".

  1. Check that your devices are supported by Digital Lab.
  2. Enable Developer options. In general, on most devices with Android 4.2 and higher, you can do this by navigating to Settings > About phone and tapping the Build number seven times.
  3. Under Developer options, enable the following:

    • Stay awake
    • USB debugging
    • Allow mock locations

      To enable GPS simulation when using Android 6.0 and higher, set the mock location app to Digital Lab Agent after connecting the device to Digital Lab. (Settings > Developer options > Select mock location app). If you reinstall the Agent for any reason, you need to repeat this step.


  4. Under Developer options, disable Verify apps via USB (available in Android 4.20 and higher).
  5. Enable the following additional settings:
    • In Settings > Display, select Auto rotate screen.
    • If you simulate GPS events during your test, prevent collisions with your real location from WiFi/3G/LTE by enabling GPS only in Settings > Location > Mode.
  6. If required by the apps being tested, make sure that there is an active Internet connection.

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Connect devices to Digital Lab

Devices can be connected directly to the UFT Digital Lab server, or to a connector machine. If you are connecting devices to a connector machine, see Install the connector on a Windows machine, Install the connector on a Mac machine, or Install the connector on a Linux machine machine.

Before connecting a device, clean the device of all apps that were installed using a previous version of Digital Lab.

To connect a device to the UFT Digital Lab server:

  1. Connect the device to the server machine using a USB cable.

    Note: On some devices, when you connect the device via USB, a security message opens requesting you to allow USB debugging or trust the connected computer. Accept the warning.

    Several apps and services including the following are installed on the connected device:

    • Services for the remote viewer
    • The Agent application

    A number of settings are also configured on the device.

  2. Wait until the Agent is running on the device. If the automatic connection to the Agent does not succeed, see Troubleshooting Android devices.

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Troubleshooting Android devices

For device-specific issues, see Known Issues in the Connect devices to Digital Lab section.

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See also: