Select browsers and devices

Learn about the capabilities that you can use to run tests on a particular browser / OS.

Following are a list of capabilities which can you can use to specify which browser / os / device combination you want to run your test on. You can create a unique combination from either the BrowserStack specific capabilities or Selenium capabilities.

BrowserStack-specific capabilities (Desktop)

Here is the list of custom capabilities offered by BrowserStack to easily specify the required browser and OS on desktop.

Sample script showing capability declarations for desktop browsers

DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.setCapability("os", "Windows");
caps.setCapability("os_version", "10");
caps.setCapability("browser", "Chrome");
caps.setCapability("browser_version", "latest");  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...

var capabilities = {
"os" : "Windows",
"os_version" : "10",
"browserName" : "Chrome",  // can select "IE", "Edge", "Firefox" , "Safari"
"browser_version" : "latest"  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...
}

// for chrome
ChromeOptions capability = new ChromeOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os", "Windows", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "10", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser", "Chrome", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser_version", "latest", true);  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...

// for firefox
FirefoxOptions capability = new FirefoxOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os", "Windows", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "10", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser", "Firefox", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser_version", "latest", true);  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...

// for edge
EdgeOptions capability = new EdgeOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os", "Windows");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "10");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser", "Edge");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser_version", "latest");  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...

// for safari
SafariOptions capability = new SafariOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os", "OS X");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "Big Sur");  // can select "Catalina", "High Sierra", etc
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser", "Safari");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser_version", "14.0");

$caps = array(
"os" => "Windows",
"os_version" => "10",
"browser" => "Chrome",
"browser_version" => "latest"  // can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...
)

desired_cap = {
"os" : "Windows",
"os_version" : "10",
"browser" : "Chrome",
"browser_version" : "latest"  # can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...
}

caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.new
caps["os"] = "Windows"
caps["os_version"] = "10"
caps["browser"] = "Chrome"
caps["browser_version"] = "latest"  # can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...

my $extraCaps = {
"os" => "Windows",
"os_version" => "10",
"browser" => "Chrome",
"browser_version" => "latest"  # can select "latest-beta", "latest-1", "latest-2" ...
}

BrowserStack-specific capabilities (Mobile)

Here is the list of custom capabilities offered by BrowserStack to easily specify the required device and OS version in mobile. Note that you will need to be on the Automate Mobile plan to be able to run tests on mobile and tablet devices.

Sample script showing capability declarations for mobile devices

DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
caps.setCapability("os_version", "11.0");  // select "14" for iOS 14
caps.setCapability("device", "Samsung Galaxy S20");  // choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
caps.setCapability("real_mobile", "true");

var capabilities = {
  "os_version" : "11.0",  // select "14" for iOS 14
  "device" : "Samsung Galaxy S20",  // choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
  "real_mobile" : "true",
  "browserName" : "Android"
}

// for android
ChromeOptions capability = new ChromeOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "11.0", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("device", "Samsung Galaxy S20", true);
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("real_mobile", "true", true);

// for iPhone
SafariOptions capability = new SafariOptions();
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("os_version", "14");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("device", "iPhone 12 Pro Max");
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("real_mobile", "true");

$caps = array(
  "os_version" => "11.0",  // select "14" for iOS 14
  "device" => "Samsung Galaxy S20",  // choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
  "real_mobile" => "true"
)

desired_cap = {
"os_version" : "11.0",  # select "14" for iOS 14
"device" : "Samsung Galaxy S20",  # choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
"real_mobile" : "true"
}

caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.new
caps["os_version"] = "11.0"  # select "14" for iOS 14
caps["device"] = "Samsung Galaxy S20"  # choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
caps["real_mobile"] = "true"

my $extraCaps = {
  "os_version" => "11.0",  # select "14" for iOS 14
  "device" => "Samsung Galaxy S20",  # choose "iPhone 12 Pro" etc.
  "real_mobile" => "true"
}

DesiredCapabilities caps = new DesiredCapabilities();
// Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
caps.setCapability("device", "Samsung Galaxy S21");  
//Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
caps.setCapability("browser", "Samsung"); 

var capabilities = {
  // Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
  "device" : "Samsung Galaxy S21",  
  //Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
  "browser" : "Samsung"
}

// for android
ChromeOptions capability = new ChromeOptions();
// Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("device", "Samsung Galaxy S21", true);
//Skip this capability when using Chrome as browse
capability.AddAdditionalCapability("browser", "Samsung", true);

$caps = array(
  // Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
  "device" => "Samsung Galaxy S21", 
  //Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
  "browser" => "Samsung"
)

desired_cap = {
    #Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
    "device" : "Samsung Galaxy S21", 
    #Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
    "browser" : "Samsung"
}

caps = Selenium::WebDriver::Remote::Capabilities.new
#Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
caps["device"] = "Samsung Galaxy S21"  
#Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
caps["browser"] = "Samsung"

my $extraCaps = {
  #Device can only be set as "Samsung Galaxy S21".
  "device" => "Samsung Galaxy S21", 
  #Skip this capability when using Chrome as browser.
  "browser" => "Samsung"
}

Selenium capabilities

Here is a list of capabilities offered by Selenium to specify the browser and OS. If you are writing your tests from scratch, we recommend you use the BrowserStack-specific capabilities as we will add new features (like specifying versions as latest flags) there, but won’t change the behaviour of the default Selenium capabilities.

Capability override rules

• If browser and browserName are both defined, browser has precedence (except if browserName is either android, iphone, or ipad, in which case browser is ignored and the default browser on those devices is selected).
• If browser_version and version are both defined, browser_version has precedence.
• If os and platform are both defined, os has precedence.
• os_version can only be defined when os has been defined.
• platform and os_version cannot be defined together, if os has not been defined.
• The value ANY if given to any capability that supports that value is same as the capability preference not specified.
• Default browser is Chrome on desktop when no browser is passed by the user or the selenium API (implicitly).