Test maintenance is stealing your team’s time. Between manual payment flows, flaky accessibility checks, and missing browser version support, your best engineers are drowning in mid-sprint scrambles instead of shipping features.
Beginning this month, we are offering a monthly review of the latest product development and news. We will continue to announce releases via the changelog and include more release information in our monthly newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter by sharing your email and checking the newsletter box here.
Here’s what’s new — and why it matters for your release cycle.
REAL DEVICE CLOUD
Apple Pay Automation on Real Device Cloud
End-to-end automation support for Apple Pay payment flows on real iOS private devices, covering both web and native app integrations.
Why it matters: Payment flows are the most critical step in any user journey, and teams can now validate them automatically every release rather than relying on manual spot checks.
Automate the full Apple Pay flow — from cart to confirmation — on real iOS private devices with no manual intervention
Covers both web-based and native app Apple Pay integrations with no gaps in checkout coverage
Plugs directly into existing CI/CD regression suites alongside continued live testing support
Every payment failure you catch automatically is one your users won’t see in production. Learn how to automate Apple Pay testing.
iOS Live Accessibility Testing on Real Device Cloud
A built-in Accessibility Inspector for iOS live testing on real devices that enables keyboard navigation, audio feedback, and VoiceOver validation across all iOS 15+ devices.
Why it matters: With the European Accessibility Act enforcement underway, accessibility isn’t optional anymore. Teams can now validate screen reader compliance on real hardware at scale — without managing physical devices.
Full keyboard navigation following VoiceOver element ordering, with audio feedback reading each element's label, type, and position
Automatic screen change detection repositions the cursor to the first element on each new screen
Works across your app, system dialogs, permission prompts, and web views
Accessibility compliance becomes a natural part of testing, not a separate, manual process. Explore iOS accessibility testing on real devices.
Android 17 Beta on Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud
Support for Android 17 Beta on Sauce Labs Real Device Cloud, enabling teams to test against Google's latest mobile OS before its public release.
Why it matters: Android 17 introduces breaking changes to permissions and network security that could silently impact production apps if not caught early.
Test against new privacy-first contact picker and local network permissions
Validate app behavior with cleartext HTTP traffic blocked by default
Verify large screen compatibility under new mandatory resizability and orientation constraints
Catching these breaking changes in testing prevents the scramble at launch. Test on Android 17 Beta now.
SAUCE ERROR REPORTING
Error-Free Rate Widget on Sauce Home
A new Sauce Home dashboard widget that surfaces real-time error-free rates and project health data from Error Reporting directly on your homepage.
Why it matters: Production crash data and pre-production test results now live in one place, giving engineering and release teams a continuous, end-to-end view of application health without switching tools.
View all accessible projects at a glance with real-time error-free rates displayed alongside each application
Understand user impact through an error-free metric calculated from unique device IDs, showing the percentage of users experiencing your app without errors
Bridge pre-production testing and production performance in a single view, connecting Sauce Labs testing strategy directly to production stability
Teams with visibility ship faster and with more confidence. See how to track app health in real time.
MOBILE APP DISTRIBUTION
New API Endpoints for Visibility and Control in Mobile App Distribution
A set of new REST API endpoints that give teams programmatic control over build metadata, tester group access, and audit trails within Mobile App Distribution.
Why it matters: Manual build management kills velocity. Engineering and security teams can now automate access reviews and build management directly through the API, eliminating manual overhead in CI/CD pipelines.
Query tester group relationships, projects, and builds with paginated responses for large datasets
Track admin and tester access changes through dedicated audit trails with full before/after values
Update build metadata — release notes, tags, and tester group assignments — without re-uploading the binary
Governance becomes a non-blocking, automated step in your release pipeline with the new MAD API endpoints.
Identity Access Management Improvements for Mobile App Distribution
OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication support for API access, allowing teams to replace static API keys with short-lived JWT tokens issued by their existing identity provider.
Why it matters: Static API keys are a persistent security liability — OIDC tokens expire automatically, never leave your own infrastructure, and generate a verifiable audit trail for compliance.
Compatible with any OIDC-compliant provider, including Okta, Auth0, Azure AD, Google Cloud Identity, Keycloak, and PingIdentity
Short-lived tokens validated via JWKS public keys, with your client secret never leaving your infrastructure
Define required scopes (e.g., uploads:write, sessions:read) for an additional layer of granular access control
Security and compliance stop being barriers to innovation. Learn about OIDC authentication for MAD.
BROWSERS & FRAMEWORKS
Q1 2026 Quarterly Browser Testing Update
A new quarterly format consolidating all browser version releases and framework updates from the first quarter of 2026 into a single reference post.
Why it matters: A single quarterly digest replaces scattered monthly posts, making it faster for teams to stay current on browser versions, deprecations, and framework compatibility changes.
Chrome 144–146, Edge 144–146, Firefox 147–149, and Safari 26 all released and available in the Sauce Labs Platform Configurator
Playwright 1.58.1 now supported on macOS 14 and 15 ARM — the first version to run on Apple Silicon on Sauce Labs
Cypress 15.9.0 is available with support for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and experimental WebKit on macOS and Windows
Keep tests aligned with what users actually run. Review the Q1 browser and framework updates.
SAUCE CONNECT
Sauce Connect 5.5.1
A security-focused patch release that updates Golang standard library dependencies to address vulnerabilities in older versions, with no changes to application logic or functionality.
Why it matters: Keeping your tunnel software current is the simplest way to protect your testing infrastructure from known vulnerabilities without disrupting any existing workflows.
Addresses vulnerabilities identified in older Golang standard libraries
No changes to application logic or functionality
Part of Sauce Labs' ongoing commitment to platform security and reliability
Keep your testing infrastructure secure. Update to Sauce Connect 5.5.1.
How to Learn More
Every update in this roundup addresses a piece of the testing puzzle that's been slowing your team down. Together, these product updates help you ship faster and safer.
If you’d like to explore these new features, follow the links for the online documentation or reach out to us for a demo and discussion. See you next month!
