Responsively App Review: My Go‑To Tool for Rapid Responsive Testing

Why I Reached for Responsively

As a solo web designer juggling client deadlines, I needed something faster than Chrome DevTools’ device toggle. Responsively App (free & open‑source) loads my site in dozens of device frames side‑by‑side, so layout glitches jump out instantly. It’s been on my desk for months, and while I’m in no way sponsored, I wouldn’t ship a site without it.

Key Features I Lean on Every Day

See every breakpoint at once

The app ships with 30‑plus popular device presets—iPhone 15 Pro Max down to old Moto G—and you can add your own custom sizes.

Mirrored interactions

Click, scroll, or navigate on one frame, and every other frame follows in real time. It even syncs form inputs, which makes checkout‑flow tests painless.

Hot‑reload & live‑edit

Hook it up to your local dev server and CSS tweaks refresh across all frames instantly—no manual reloads.

Accessibility helpers

A built‑in colour‑blindness simulator lets you preview eight common vision deficiencies without extra plugins.

One‑click screenshots

Grab a full gallery of device screenshots for client proofs or portfolio shots with a single shortcut.

Preview suits & layouts

Save device sets (e.g., “marketing site,” “web‑app”) and swap between vertical or grid layouts depending on the task. Recent updates even added better drag‑and‑drop re‑ordering.

Workflow in Practice

1. Start local dev (npm run dev) and open the site URL in Responsively. Hot‑reload picks up changes automatically.
2. Scroll once—header stickiness, lazy‑loaded images, and animations reveal issues across widths simultaneously.
3. Navigate through the app; deep links update on every frame so I never lose context.
4. Snapshot the final passes for documentation and client sign‑off.

This routine cuts my responsive QA time by at least half compared to juggling multiple browser windows.

Things to Know

• Electron‑based: Memory usage can spike with many frames open; closing unused devices helps.
• No browser extensions: It’s a standalone desktop app, so you still need DevTools in parallel for network or performance profiling.
• Totally free: The project survives on GitHub stars and sponsors—no hidden paywall. But toss them a coffee if you end up relying on it.

Verdict

Responsively App is the rare devtool that feels obvious once you try it. It doesn’t replace your primary browser, but it does remove 90 % of the tab‑flipping that responsive design used to require. If you’re building sites in 2025 and haven’t given it a spin, download it, open your next project, and prepare to spot issues you didn’t know were there.

Again, this isn’t a paid endorsement—just one developer sharing a tool that earns its place in my daily stack. 🚀