Companion app

For the admin, once per app. It happens entirely in the console and needs no mobile developer.

1. Create an app in the console, or open one you already have.
2. Open Connect the BugScreen app on the app's detail page. It gives you three renderings of the same invite: a join link, a QR code, and a short code.
3. Share whichever suits your team — the link in Slack, the QR on a poster, the short code read out loud.

Accepted reports appear privately in your app’s Report Inbox for 30 days on Free or 1 year on paid plans. You can also connect GitHub, Jira, ClickUp, Linear or Slack to forward new reports automatically. You can start reporting without an integration.

Everything below is written for the tester, so you can forward it as-is. It assumes no BugScreen account and no access to the console.

1 · Install BugScreen

BugScreen is a free app. Install it, then come back to the invite your team sent you.

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2 · Pair with your team's app

Tap the join link your team sent you, or point your phone's camera at their QR code — both open the app straight onto the invite. If you have neither, open BugScreen and type the short code instead.

Then enter your name. It goes on every report you file, so whoever picks the ticket up knows who to ask. You can change it later, or leave it blank to stay anonymous — it never blocks you from reporting.

3 · Report a bug

Take a screenshot anywhere on your phone — in the app you are testing, not in BugScreen — then share it to BugScreen from your phone's share sheet. BugScreen opens with the screenshot already attached.

Or open BugScreen and pick screenshots from your gallery. That suits a run where you capture several problems first and write them up afterwards.

Either way you get the same form: describe what went wrong, attach up to four images, and submit. An accepted report appears in your app’s private Report Inbox and may also be forwarded to a connected tool. BugScreen confirms when the report has been accepted.

BugScreen checks the current app's report settings before showing the form. While they load you see a progress indicator; if the check fails, Retry keeps the screenshots you shared or picked until an admin makes the app ready.

Changing your name, switching app, or disconnecting

The cog on the app's home screen holds all three. Change app swaps which app you are reporting against — a device is paired with one at a time. Disconnect forgets the pairing on this device; re-pairing afterwards needs a fresh invite, because the app keeps no copy of the one it used.

A companion report carries no app version, no package or bundle id, and no log file. The companion app is a separate app on the same phone — it cannot see inside the app you are testing, and no amount of permission would change that. What it does collect is still true, because it is the same physical device.

When you can add an SDK to the build, do — the Android, iOS and React Native SDKs attach the app version, the build, and a rolling log buffer, and they detect screenshots automatically rather than waiting for a share.

The code doesn't work

Invites are rotated and removed from the console, and a dead one gives no reason on purpose. Ask whoever sent it for a fresh link or code.

The app says it isn't ready

Pairing worked, but the app is not ready to accept reports yet. An admin can finish its setup in the console; nothing needs re-pairing afterwards.

A report was rejected

Most often the organisation has used its monthly report allowance. The plan limits apply the same way whether a report came from an SDK or the companion app.

Something else

Get support — including the questions a tester with no BugScreen account tends to hit.