📄 playwright-python/python/docs/emulation

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

Source: https://playwright.dev/python/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 comes with a registry of device parameters using playwright.devices for selected desktop, tablet and mobile devices. It can be used to simulate browser behavior for a specific device such as user agent, screen size, viewport and if it has touch enabled. All tests will run with the specified device parameters.

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  • Async

    from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright, Playwrightdef run(playwright: Playwright): iphone_13 = playwright.devices['iPhone 13'] browser = playwright.webkit.launch(headless=False) context = browser.new_context( **iphone_13, )with sync_playwright() as playwright: run(playwright)

    import asynciofrom playwright.async_api import async_playwright, Playwrightasync def run(playwright: Playwright): iphone_13 = playwright.devices['iPhone 13'] browser = await playwright.webkit.launch(headless=False) context = await browser.new_context( **iphone_13, )async def main(): async with async_playwright() as playwright: await run(playwright)asyncio.run(main())

playwright.dev website emulated for iPhone 13

Viewport​

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

Test file:

The same works inside a test file.

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    Create context with given viewportcontext = browser.new_context( viewport={ 'width': 1280, 'height': 1024 })# Resize viewport for individual pagepage.set_viewport_size({"width": 1600, "height": 1200})# Emulate high-DPIcontext = browser.new_context( viewport={ 'width': 2560, 'height': 1440 }, device_scale_factor=2,)

    Create context with given viewportcontext = await browser.new_context( viewport={ 'width': 1280, 'height': 1024 })# Resize viewport for individual pageawait page.set_viewport_size({"width": 1600, "height": 1200})# Emulate high-DPIcontext = await browser.new_context( viewport={ 'width': 2560, 'height': 1440 }, device_scale_factor=2,)

isMobile​

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

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    context = browser.new_context( is_mobile=False)

    context = await browser.new_context( is_mobile=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.

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    context = browser.new_context( locale='de-DE', timezone_id='Europe/Berlin',)

    context = await browser.new_context( locale='de-DE', timezone_id='Europe/Berlin',)

Bing in german lang and timezone

Permissions​

Allow app to show system notifications.

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    context = browser.new_context( permissions=['notifications'],)

    context = await browser.new_context( permissions=['notifications'],)

Allow notifications for a specific domain.

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    context.grant_permissions(['notifications'], origin='https://skype.com')

    await context.grant_permissions(['notifications'], origin='https://skype.com')

Revoke all permissions with browser_context.clear_permissions() .

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    context.clear_permissions()

    await context.clear_permissions()

Geolocation​

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

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    context = browser.new_context( geolocation={"longitude": 41.890221, "latitude": 12.492348}, permissions=["geolocation"])

    context = await browser.new_context( geolocation={"longitude": 41.890221, "latitude": 12.492348}, permissions=["geolocation"])

geolocation for italy on bing maps

Change the location later:

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    context.set_geolocation({"longitude": 48.858455, "latitude": 2.294474})

    await context.set_geolocation({"longitude": 48.858455, "latitude": 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.emulate_media() .

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    Create context with dark modecontext = browser.new_context( color_scheme='dark' # or 'light')# Create page with dark modepage = browser.new_page( color_scheme='dark' # or 'light')# Change color scheme for the pagepage.emulate_media(color_scheme='dark')# Change media for pagepage.emulate_media(media='print')

    Create context with dark modecontext = await browser.new_context( color_scheme='dark' # or 'light')# Create page with dark modepage = await browser.new_page( color_scheme='dark' # or 'light')# Change color scheme for the pageawait page.emulate_media(color_scheme='dark')# Change media for pageawait page.emulate_media(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.

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    context = browser.new_context( user_agent='My user agent')

    context = await browser.new_context( user_agent='My user agent')

Offline​

Emulate the network being offline.

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    context = browser.new_context( offline=True)

    context = await browser.new_context( offline=True)

JavaScript Enabled​

Emulate a user scenario where JavaScript is disabled.