When the mobile app testing is performed manually, it takes a lot of time. Besides that, it is important to test it multiple times to ensure quality and functionality. This can be very time consuming for most developers and create a huge problem for proper maintenance. So, the solution to this is automating the process with automation tools. And this is where Appium Automation comes into the talk.
Appium automation is a great mobile testing tool, particularly for web or hybrid apps. Testing an android app or an iOS app requires building the automation test framework. Appium allows for writing tests in major programming languages like Java, Objective C, JavaScript and many more. It has the capability to test mobile apps on more platforms than any other open source automation solution. In terms of a large user base as well as a large number of contributors, it ranks at the top.
It makes tests easy to write and maintain, and it is constantly being improved by the Appium community. Appium Introduction Almost every company with a mobile application has some sort of testing strategy in place. Whether it is manual QA, real-users monitoring or automated testing, testing strategies focus on the process of detecting and correcting bugs before customers have a chance to report them. In this blog we will cover everything about Appium automated mobile app testing. By the end you should have a good understanding of the possibilities and limitations of Appium.
Introduction to Appium Automation
Appium is an open-source cross-platform test automation framework designed to simplify the process of writing automated tests for mobile apps. Using Appium, you can write mobile application tests using standard desktop Selenium WebDriver APIs and execute those tests on iOS and Android native and hybrid applications.
- Appium is a powerful but simple open-source tool for automating native iOS and Android app testing. Appium allows test engineers or QAs to write tests using the same language and framework as web-based tests.
- Not having to learn a new testing platform or language can make it much easier to bring on new automation engineers. When you know that your team will be expanding at some point, the fact that Appium is cross-platform means that any engineer or QA with basic Selenium WebDriver experience can become up to speed extremely quickly.
- It supports iOS, Android and Windows mobile platforms and can be easily integrated into existing CI/CD pipelines and testing frameworks. Appium can perform functional testing along with acceptance testing.
Appium’s biggest advantage is that you can use your existing web testing framework and language when writing mobile tests. This makes it easy to learn and use, but also means that there are some limitations when it comes to the types of things you can automate with Appium.
You can begin your mobile app automation journey with LambdaTest’s free mobile app automation testing solution using app testing frameworks like Appium, Espresso and XCUITest. LambdaTest is an automation testing platform wherein by using its online testing infrastructure of emulators and simulators for actual devices, you may test your web and native mobile applications. Additionally, by fully removing your in-house device lab, it helps you cut overall costs to a significant level.
Reasons why Appium is the best tool for Mobile App Automation
Appium is a relatively new mobile automation testing tool, but its adoption rate has been increasing steadily. With a rising number of mobile automation tools available, one of the key things to consider is which tool is the best match for your requirements. Appium can be a good choice if you are looking for an open-source and easy-to-use mobile automation testing tool. It also offers cross-platform support for both Android and iOS apps, making it an ideal framework for cross-platform mobile app testing.
- Appium allows the tester to use their favorite framework
Testing is getting more important for mobile development as it helps to prevent glitches in the final app. Appium provides testing through multiple platforms and APIs, it can test a wide range of apps for different formats, and reach multiple customer bases.
- However, the main feature that differs it from the other testing tools is that Appium provides the option of choosing the most appropriate framework to the testers and hence makes the job easy for them. Appium is a great open source tool which delivers automation capabilities to test mobility applications on different platforms without implementing any new APIs specific to the platform.
- Appium’s protocol supports several scripting languages like Ruby, Python and Javascript which makes it more adaptable to the needed skill set. With Appium teams now have freedom to write tests using their framework of choice. The major benefit coming from this is a much greater abundance of talent that can write tests since they don’t need a specific skill-set.
- Appium also comes with a test recorder that allows you to record your mobile app user interactions and generate a test for Appium to automate. As the test is recorded, it creates the code in the language you have chosen by default i.e. Javascript. You can modify and extend the generated test and reuse it for different manual tests cases monitoring.
- Many testing engineers realized that Apple’s UI Automation was cumbersome to use. It provided a very low-level way of interacting with apps and the lack of a structured framework meant that it was difficult to automate tests. Google’s solution, uiautomator2 (written in java), provided a better experience but required Android device access which not all developers intended to give.
Appium eliminates this problem by providing a common testing platform on which tests can be written in any language or framework without requiring direct device access. In terms of a large user base as well as a large number of contributors, it ranks at the top.
- Standard API’s in Appium makes the things easier for the testers
As software testers and developers, it is their duty to provide the best quality mobile solutions to the end users by testing them with different environments and in all devices. Appium is a parametric open source automation framework that enables us to test native, hybrid as well as mobile web apps on any device with any OS.
- It allows you to test your app’s UI on different devices using Selenium and automates its functions with code libraries such as Appium. It has the natural API in all the platforms. It helps to identify bugs easily. One can easily modify the codes or recompile the application as it uses the standard API in all the platforms.
- It is a revolutionary tool and makes it very easy to control your application. With the help of this tool, you don’t have to create separate scripts for both Android and iOS. Thus, saving up lots of time and money. Appium has reusable libraries that are necessary for application automatization.
- Appium doesn’t require any modification of codes or recompilation of your app. It is easy to develop using the standard API and it comes with a uniform API which is compatible with all the existing platforms. Appium can be used on iOS and Android with the same code.
Appium provides a way to do all test activities on your testing app without any modification required on your app. It is the best tool for automating native and hybrid mobile applications.
- Perfect Open-Source Platform
Testing is an inevitable part of any software development life cycle. However, it may be quite difficult and complex to test the mobile apps across multiple platforms. Appium is the best cross-platform test automation tool used to test your well-designed mobile apps across multiple platforms. The most important part is to write tests that are independent and easy to maintain and this is what Appium offers.
- Since Appium allows testing of native, hybrid, and web applications on both Android and iOS hardware, it can be used in multiple different software companies. It’s not necessary to maintain separate code bases for the two operating systems.
- Being an open source testing framework, Appium has become a popular choice for cross-platform mobile automation. It is easy to install and use owing to the easy setup API and JSON wire protocol. It is a robust cross-platform mobile UI testing automation tool that has been written mainly in Node.js and Java.
- The Appium framework is one of the greatest frameworks that makes testing dozens of native, hybrid, mobile web applications and real devices with different operating systems and configurations possible.
Automating the testing of an application used to be a very time consuming and tedious task. Moreover, by giving the option of Open Source Platform Appium, it makes it easy for the testers to understand exactly what is required and hence it makes the work to be done in quite less time.
- Appium allows the testers to use any WebDriver compatible language
Appium is the only cross-platform test automation framework for any native, hybrid and mobile web apps. Appium eliminates the need of a physical device as it can simulate on any system. With Appium, test scripts can be created immensely faster as it is easy to setup and use
- However, sometimes the testing tools are just allowed to use some specific languages and hence the testers might find it difficult to learn it during the testing. And here, Appium Automation is the perfect tool as it uses WebDriver for testing.
- Appium WebDriver is an open source tool for automating mobile apps. This tool was developed to be used on the Android and iOS platforms. Appium’s goal is to break down the walls separating different test frameworks by providing one standard API for each mobile platform.
- Appium makes use of node.js as its core and webdriver as the mobile automation framework which can be used for writing tests for android and iOS apps. This takes out the load of learning a new language for testing and gives the testers an advantage over other tools.
With Appium, test automation becomes easier with the support of all popular mobile operating systems. Moreover, Appium can run on several platforms like Windows, Mac and Linux etc. It also has transparent support for hybrid apps and web views.
- Appium allows Cross-Platform testing for better results
Appium is a tool for automating native, hybrid and mobile-web applications on iOS and Android platforms. It is an open source test automation tool that has been developed for test-automation of native and hybrid apps on these two popular operating systems. This piece of software supports WebDriver to interact with the devices on a UI level. However, it requires a good understanding of the underlying mechanism to work effectively.
- Appium is a platform for cross-platform mobile app automation and comes with built-in support for web-based testing with Selenium. Appium has a well-maintained repository of device profile information which makes it easier to write tests.
- It also comes with an easy to use API that enables writing automation test cases in the programming language of choice — Java, Objective C, JavaScript, Swift, Python, PHP and Ruby.
- Appium is a cross-platform mobile test automation framework developed to mimic the actions of a human using a mobile device. Appium enables you to write mobile tests in your favorite programming language, which is great for engineers who have extensive experience with one particular language or have garnered their skills through years of practice.
Appium eases the process of writing tests for mobile apps. You can write a test using this tool, and run it on your device without having to install any additional software. It offers both Android and iOS fragmentation testing tools but you can do it just with one platform.
Conclusion
Unlike many other tools, Appium started out as an open source tool and has been contributing to its popularity ever since. It can be used to automate web applications with Selenium WebDriver on the Chrome browser. Appium is one of the most popular mobile automation frameworks that supports apps on both Android and iOS platforms. The software is used by developers to automate native, hybrid and mobile web apps. Furthermore, the Appium Automation is the perfect tool for anyone who is looking to keep the mobile apps up to date. The library present in Appium is the perfect source for anyone to understand which files and features are used to operate it and hence to test the apps easily.
