Charles SSL Certificate Android and iOS

If you want to view and decrypt SSL connections (https) sent from your mobile device or if you are getting the message “ssl proxying not enabled for this host: enable in proxy settings, ssl locations” then you came to the right place. Here is a tutorial on how to do that:

Charles SSL certificate iPhone

  1. Make sure your iOS device is connected to the network using Charles debugger. To do that, Using your device, go to Settings, Wi-Fi, Select your network, expand network settings details view and go to HTTP Proxy, select manual, enter the IP address of the host on which Charles is listening (Your laptop IP address). Enter the port number as well (default 8888)
  2. In Charles, go to Main menu, Proxy, SSL Proxying Settings, Check Enable SSL Proxying. Also you need to add the list of hosts to proxy SSL for. Click Add, in the host field, you can just enter * for all hosts
  3. On the device, open Safari and point to [ http://www.charlesproxy.com/getssl ]. Safari will prompt you to install Charles SSL certificate. Follow all the screens on your device until installation is complete.

That is all, you should be able to view SSL encrypted data in plain text in Charles logs.

How to install Charles certificate on Android

  1. Go to Settings, Wi-Fi, Tap and hold your network, modify network, advanced options, set proxy to manual, type in the IP address and port for Charles. Save and exit.
  2. Follow step 2 above
  3. Open browser (Chrome) and open [ http://www.charlesproxy.com/getssl ]. It will ask you to enter a name for the SSL certificate. Enter any name (ex. CharlesSSLCertificate). It might also ask you to set a pin number to lock the screen.

Test

To make sure your setting is working fine do the following. Try to login to a secure site from your phone such as email, if step 2 above is not enabled then you should see gibberish when you try to view a login request. If it is enabled then you should be able to see the email address and password that you just typed in plain text.

Note

  1. This Charles ssl proxy tutorial does not apply to SSL pinning
  2. You can achieve similar results using Charles ssl proxy alternative software such as Fiddler, Mitmproxy, Burp proxy, etc.

What do you think of the article ? is it useful ? Please use the comments section below for questions, corrections or feedback. Happy Debugging.

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