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When developing mobile apps, you need your device or emulator to reach your local backend API. ngrok makes this simple by providing a public HTTPS URL that routes traffic to your local development server.

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How it works

  1. Install ngrok
  2. Start your backend API on your development machine
  3. Run ngrok http <port> to get a public HTTPS URL
  4. Point your mobile app at the ngrok URL instead of localhost
  5. Test your app against your local backend from any device

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Quick example

ngrok http 8080
Use the HTTPS forwarding URL in your mobile app’s API configuration. Since ngrok provides a valid TLS certificate, your app works without any certificate pinning workarounds.

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Benefits for mobile development

  • Test on real devices: Access your local server from physical phones and tablets on any network.
  • No deployment required: Skip deploying to staging just to test a backend change.
  • HTTPS by default: ngrok provides a valid TLS certificate, so your app’s HTTPS requirements are satisfied automatically.
  • Inspect traffic: Use the Traffic Inspector to see exactly what requests your mobile app is making and what responses it receives.

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Stable URLs

On paid plans, you can use the --url flag to get a consistent domain for your endpoint. This way you don’t need to update your mobile app’s configuration every time you restart ngrok: 
ngrok http 8080 --url your-app.ngrok.dev

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Next steps