📄 playwright-python/java/docs/emulation

File: emulation.md | Updated: 11/18/2025

Source: https://playwright.dev/java/docs/emulation

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Introduction​

With Playwright you can test your app on any browser as well as emulate a real device such as a mobile phone or tablet. Simply configure the devices you would like to emulate and Playwright will simulate the browser behavior such as "userAgent", "screenSize", "viewport" and if it "hasTouch" enabled. You can also emulate the "geolocation", "locale" and "timezone" for all tests or for a specific test as well as set the "permissions" to show notifications or change the "colorScheme".

Devices​

Playwright can emulate various devices by specifying setDeviceScaleFactor, setHasTouch, setIsMobile, setScreenSize, setUserAgent and setViewportSize options when creating a context with Browser.newContext() .

Viewport​

The viewport is included in the device but you can override it for some tests with Page.setViewportSize() .

Test file:

The same works inside a test file.

// Create context with given viewportBrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setViewportSize(1280, 1024));// Resize viewport for individual pagepage.setViewportSize(1600, 1200);// Emulate high-DPIBrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setViewportSize(2560, 1440)  .setDeviceScaleFactor(2));

isMobile​

Whether the meta viewport tag is taken into account and touch events are enabled.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .isMobile(false));

Locale & Timezone​

Emulate the browser Locale and Timezone which can be set globally for all tests in the config and then overridden for particular tests.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setLocale("de-DE")  .setTimezoneId("Europe/Berlin"));

Bing in german lang and timezone

Permissions​

Allow app to show system notifications.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setPermissions(Arrays.asList("notifications")));

Allow notifications for a specific domain.

context.grantPermissions(Arrays.asList("notifications"),  new BrowserContext.GrantPermissionsOptions().setOrigin("https://skype.com"));

Revoke all permissions with BrowserContext.clearPermissions() .

context.clearPermissions();

Geolocation​

Grant "geolocation" permissions and set geolocation to a specific area.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setGeolocation(41.890221, 12.492348)  .setPermissions(Arrays.asList("geolocation")));

geolocation for italy on bing maps

Change the location later:

context.setGeolocation(new Geolocation(48.858455, 2.294474));

Note you can only change geolocation for all pages in the context.

Color Scheme and Media​

Emulate the users "colorScheme". Supported values are 'light' and 'dark'. You can also emulate the media type with Page.emulateMedia() .

// Create context with dark modeBrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setColorScheme(ColorScheme.DARK)); // or "light"// Create page with dark modePage page = browser.newPage(new Browser.NewPageOptions()  .setColorScheme(ColorScheme.DARK)); // or "light"// Change color scheme for the pagepage.emulateMedia(new Page.EmulateMediaOptions().setColorScheme(ColorScheme.DARK));// Change media for pagepage.emulateMedia(new Page.EmulateMediaOptions().setMedia(Media.PRINT));

playwright web in dark mode

User Agent​

The User Agent is included in the device and therefore you will rarely need to change it however if you do need to test a different user agent you can override it with the userAgent property.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setUserAgent("My user agent"));

Offline​

Emulate the network being offline.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .setOffline(true));

JavaScript Enabled​

Emulate a user scenario where JavaScript is disabled.

BrowserContext context = browser.newContext(new Browser.NewContextOptions()  .javaScriptEnabled(false));