Latest Articles

Fix bug with Java VM installation script for Charles Proxy 4.5.6

I encountered an error when trying to install the Charles Proxy (4.5.6) root certificate on my Java VM. I use the 4.5.6 version because the root certificate has a 50-year expiry date. The solution for me, was to fix a typo in the installation script with a sed command. TL;DR

iOS Simulators and Charles

10 Aug 2022, updated 03 Oct 2023 The easiest way to set up your simulator is to treat it the same as a physical iOS device. There is only 1 slight difference you need to be aware of. Once you’re familiar with these variances, continue to the iOS device setup instructions HERE.

How Charles Proxy works with Zscaler

01 Feb 2022, updated: 10 Aug 2022 If you have to use Zscaler, for example to access a corporate network, you may run into issues and need to debug your problem. This article gives a high level overview of how the 2 tools work together How the tools work together Charles uses the “External Proxy…

Expired Charles Proxy Root Certificate

Originally published 29 Dec 2021, updated: 22 Jul 2025 To comply with Apple’s rules regarding MacOS certificate expiry dates, Charles’ root certificates have much shorter expiry dates (read article here). This change came into effect on September 1 2020. From version 4.6 of Charles onwards, new root certs will have a 1-year expiry, instead of…

Android 11 devices and Charles

07 Jul 2021, updated: 21 Oct 2021 This tutorial will show you how to configure Charles and your Android 11 device so you can view your app’s network traffic in plain text. FYI, the root certificate installation steps are slightly different to older Android versions NOTE: Since Android Nougat (7.1), Google have blocked tools like…

Android Emulators and Charles

30 Jun 2021, updated: 21 Oct 2021 The only slight difference between configuring Charles to work for physical devices and emulators, is the wifi network. Emulators only have 1 available wifi network. All other setup task are the same as for a real physical Android device Android Wi-fi network You will notice that there is…

Rewrite rules – Common Problems

23 Jun 2021, updated: 29 Dec 2021 Rewrite rules are an awesome tool but there are a few gotcha’s you should be aware of when using them. This post might save your future self hours of futile debugging! # Using multiple Rewrite rules # Unescaped characters # Rewrite Rules and the OPTIONS method # Debug…

3 ways to Reduce unwanted network traffic

16 Nov 2021 Other than using the “Filter” field, there are 3 other ways to reduce the amount traffic your Charles sessions captures Recording Settings Exclude traffic from being recorded Add the URL(s) to the “Exclude” tab of the “Recording Settings…” feature Proxy -> Recording Settings -> Exclude Focused Host Focusing on specific hosts As…

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