Welcome to HTTPBot
HTTPBot is an API client for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS that lets you build, send, and inspect HTTP requests. Whether you're poking at a public API, debugging your own backend, testing responses, or automating calls, HTTPBot gives you a full request editor, a rich response viewer, and tools to organize and reuse everything you build — all from your phone, tablet, or Mac.
If you're brand new, head straight to Your First Request for a hands-on walkthrough. Otherwise, read on for a tour of what HTTPBot can do.
What you can do
HTTPBot covers the whole lifecycle of working with an API. Here's a quick tour, with links to the page for each topic:
- Build requests — Choose a method, enter a URL, and add query parameters and headers in simple key/value editors. See Building a Request.
- Send request bodies and GraphQL — Attach JSON, form data, raw text, or file uploads, or switch into the GraphQL editor for queries and mutations. See Request Body and GraphQL.
- Authenticate — From Basic and Bearer tokens to OAuth, AWS, JWT, and more. See Authentication.
- Use environments and variables — Keep hosts, tokens, and other values in
reusable variables with
{{placeholder}}substitution, and switch between setups like staging and production. See Environments & Variables. - Organize with collections — Group related requests into Collections and folders to keep your work tidy and easy to find. See Collections & Folders.
- Import from other tools — Bring in requests from Postman, OpenAPI, HAR files, and cURL commands, and sync with your Postman account. See Importing and Postman Sync.
- Inspect responses — Read the status, body, headers, and timing of every response, with pretty-printing and syntax highlighting. See Viewing Responses.
- Filter responses — Pull out just the parts of a response you care about using JQ, JSONPath, or XPath. See Filtering Responses.
- Write tests — Add assertions that run automatically after each send so you can confirm an API behaves the way you expect. See Tests.
- Stream events — Subscribe to Server-Sent Events or open a WebSocket connection for real-time data. See Server-Sent Events and WebSockets.
- Use client certificates — Configure mutual TLS (mTLS) with client certificates for APIs that require them. See Certificates.
- Automate with Shortcuts — Run your saved requests from the Shortcuts app and weave them into your automations. See Shortcuts.
Where HTTPBot runs
HTTPBot is built for Apple platforms:
- iPhone — the full request editor and response viewer, sized for one hand.
- iPad — a roomier, multi-column layout that's great for editing a request and reading its response side by side.
- Mac — the macOS app brings the same workflow to a desktop window. Like the iPhone and iPad apps, it's a free download.
Your Collections, Environments, and other saved items can sync across your devices, so you can start a request on your iPhone and finish it on your Mac.
Free vs Pro
HTTPBot is free to download and use for everyday request building. A one-time look at the table below shows what's included for free and what unlocks with HTTPBot Pro.
| Capability | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Build and send HTTP requests | Yes | Yes |
| All HTTP methods (GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS, and more) | Yes | Yes |
| Basic, Bearer, and API Key authentication | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced auth (OAuth 1.0a, OAuth 2.0, AWS, JWT, Digest, Hawk, NTLM) | — | Yes |
| Viewing responses | Yes | Yes |
| Environments and variables | Yes | Yes |
| Basic collections | Yes | Yes |
| Sending requests from imported collections | — | Yes |
| Saved requests | Up to 5 | Unlimited |
| cURL import and export | Yes | Yes |
| GraphQL | Yes | Yes |
| WebSockets | — | Yes |
| Shortcuts automation | Yes | Yes |
| macOS app | Yes | Yes |
Pro features are marked throughout this documentation with a PRO tag and a short note, so you'll always know when something requires an upgrade.
HTTPBot Pro is a subscription, handled through your Apple ID. If you'd rather not pay on a recurring basis, a one-time lifetime purchase is available as an alternative that unlocks Pro for good. You can subscribe, restore a purchase, or manage your subscription at any time from the Settings screen — see Settings & Storage for where to find the Upgrade to Pro and Manage Subscription options.
New to HTTPBot?
The fastest way to learn HTTPBot is to send a request and look at the result. Our step-by-step guide walks you from an empty screen to a saved, reusable request in just a few minutes:
- Your First Request — create a request, send it, and read the response.
From there, explore the topics above as you need them. Every page is short, practical, and cross-linked, so you can follow your curiosity.
Finding help
This documentation lives inside the app under Settings → Help, so you can always come back to it. See Settings & Storage for a tour of everything in Settings, including your Saved Credentials, Cookies, Environments, Global Variables, Response Filters, and disk usage.
Happy testing — and welcome to HTTPBot.