The Pulse
TestMu Brings Real Android and iOS Phones to Kane CLI
TestMu AI’s Kane CLI 0.9 can run plain-English mobile tests on real Android and iOS devices in the company’s cloud from macOS, Windows or Linux. Real-device sessions require eligible plans, and the interactive live view opens in Chrome.
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
TestMu AI’s Kane CLI can now send a plain-English mobile test to a real Android phone or iPhone in the company’s cloud, then show the device’s screen as the test runs. TestMu announced the real-device support on October 16, 2026, after publishing a detailed Kane CLI 0.9 post on October 15. Developers can start tests from macOS, Windows or Linux without installing Xcode or Android Studio on their machine.
Kane CLI 0.9 adds real-device targets
The new targets are android and ios, which connect a test to physical devices rather than Android emulators or iOS simulators. A developer supplies a natural-language objective and an app build; the CLI asks TestMu’s device hub for a phone, installs the app and carries out the steps. Developers can request a device model or operating-system version, or let the hub assign an available device.
Android builds can be supplied as APK or AAB files, while iOS requires an IPA. TestMu says the CLI uploads a local build the first time and can reuse the account’s existing copy on later runs. Each session installs the app fresh, so tests begin from a clean app state.
In the interactive terminal interface, a view-only window shows the device screen while Kane CLI works through the test; the live view requires Chrome. TestMu says app permissions on Android and system alerts on iOS are handled automatically. Test runs, steps and screenshots are saved in TestMu’s Test Manager, and saved tests can be replayed without the agent deciding each tap again.
Real-device sessions have plan limits
“Real device testing has always been the part of mobile QA that teams put off because it needed hardware, a Mac, and a separate tool. We wanted it to be one line in the terminal,” Mudit Singh, co-founder of TestMu AI, said in the company’s announcement. The announcement says real-device support is available in Kane CLI 0.9.0 and later, for customers on eligible plans.
“Real device testing has always been the part of mobile QA that teams put off because it needed hardware, a Mac, and a separate tool. We wanted it to be one line in the terminal.”
Mudit Singh, Co-Founder, TestMu AI
TestMu lists two qualifying options: KaneAI Max, which allows one real-device session at a time, or KaneAI credits paired with Real Device Plus Automation Cloud, whose concurrency depends on the plan’s parallel-test allowance. Sessions beyond the account limit can wait in a queue for up to 15 minutes before failing if a device does not become available.
There are also differences from virtual-device testing. Adaptive healing is off on real devices, so a failed replay step is reported as a failure rather than repaired. Each session installs the app fresh, which means the no_reset option is not supported.
TestMu is extending Kane beyond simulators
Before version 0.9, Kane CLI’s mobile runs used an iOS Simulator or Android Emulator, and TestMu’s account of the earlier workflow said those runs depended on a Mac with Apple Silicon and local development tools, or a HyperExecute job. The new targets move device execution to TestMu’s cloud, while leaving developers with a terminal-based way to launch and inspect tests. TestMu says its broader real-device cloud covers more than 10,000 Android and iOS devices; that figure describes the wider service, not a promise that every phone is immediately available to every Kane CLI account.
The change brings physical-device checks into a command-line workflow used by developers and coding agents, while retaining plan limits and the need to verify behavior on specific hardware. For teams using Kane CLI, tests can now run on a cloud-hosted phone from a Windows or Linux terminal, as well as from a Mac.