New Real Device Access API gives developers deep device-level controls to accelerate quality – no testing framework required
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / February 25, 2026 / Sauce Labs today announced general availability of the Real Device Access API, marking a fundamental shift in how the company delivers its mobile testing infrastructure. Traditional mobile testing clouds require developers to work through automation frameworks like Appium or Espresso – tools that work well for standard UI testing but lock out entire categories of use cases that AI-native applications demand. The Access API removes that constraint entirely, exposing the device itself as programmable infrastructure and giving engineers direct control through simple HTTP requests. No other mobile testing cloud offers this level of device-level access.
Mobile applications are undergoing a fundamental shift. AI capabilities are now embedded at the device and OS level, apps are consuming hardware resources in entirely new ways, and autonomous agents are beginning to interact with screens the way humans do. But the tools developers rely on to test these applications haven’t kept pace – until now.
“Think about what AWS did for cloud compute and what Twilio did for communications – that’s what we’re doing for real mobile devices,” said Shubha Govil, CPO of Sauce Labs. “The next generation of mobile applications is AI-native, and they need infrastructure designed for how developers actually build and test today. We’re not shipping another testing framework. We’re opening up the device as a platform.”
The Access API eliminates the need for costly in-house testing and removes constraints by exposing the device itself as programmable infrastructure. Engineers can allocate devices in seconds, issue Android Debug Bridge (ADB) commands for Android devices or xcrun-style commands for iOS devices, stream live video and logs, manage files, and maintain sessions up to 24 hours-all through HTTP requests. The persistent session model eliminates the setup-and-teardown cycle of traditional testing, with early adopters reclaiming up to 40% of device time usage. And with high-fidelity video streams optimized for Computer Vision and an MCP-Ready architecture, the API also serves as the perfect bridge for AI-driven testing, allowing autonomous agents to interact with devices as native tools.
During the beta period, 71 percent of participating customers rated direct device access as ‘Important’ or ‘Critical’ to their testing strategy, validating the critical need for a capability that the mobile testing industry hadn’t previously offered. Beyond AI-driven workflows, the API is proving critical for gaming QA teams running custom test logic against apps with no traditional UI, platform engineering teams orchestrating device testing through their own CI/CD tooling, security teams performing destructive root detection and malware testing, and engineering teams validating app stability through soak tests spanning 12 or more hours of continuous usage.
“The future of mobile quality isn’t another testing framework – it’s giving developers the programmable layer they need to build for the AI era,” Govil added. “Every mobile device is now an intelligent device with AI built into the hardware and the OS. The testing infrastructure has to reflect that reality, and that’s exactly what we’ve built.”
The Real Device Access API is available now as an add-on for the Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud private devices. For documentation and access, visit https://saucelabs.com/resources/blog/breaking-free-announcing-the-sauce-labs-real-device-access-api
About Sauce Labs
Sauce Labs is the leading platform for continuous quality, trusted by the world’s top enterprises – like Walmart, Bank of America, and Indeed. Billions of tests run on the Sauce Labs platform, and hundreds of thousands of users depend on Sauce Labs to help them quickly deliver the highest quality software experiences. Our unified platform powers continuous quality across the SDLC – using AI-driven analytics to identify key quality signals from development through production. With over a decade of expertise and deep roots in the Selenium and Appium open-source communities, Sauce Labs helps teams test on thousands of different devices, browsers, and operating systems – anywhere, any time, and at any scale. For more information, please visit saucelabs.com
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SOURCE: Sauce Labs
