App testing is crucial in the fast-changing world of mobile technology. Mobile apps are essential for organizations to engage consumers as mobile devices become more common. Effective Selenium mobile testing assures an app’s proper functioning and user-friendliness across various devices. This technique detects flaws before releasing the software, improving the user experience and customer happiness.
Selenium supports a wide range of browsers and programming languages. It is flexible for developers and testers. Selenium streamlines web application testing with comprehensive, browser-based regression automation suites and tests.
Using their capabilities, web applications may be tested for functionality and performance across environments. Selenium makes web testing simpler, but mobile app testing requires additional technologies.
Mobile app testing technologies are needed as the digital world shifts toward mobile. Selenium is excellent for online applications but cannot test mobile apps on different operating systems or mobile device interactions.
Applications like Appium have emerged to fill this need. Appium enhances Selenium WebDriver to automate mobile applications. It tests and automates iOS and Android native, mobile web, and hybrid apps. Appium is vital for developers who want their apps to work on all mobile platforms.
What Is Mobile App Testing?
When you test a mobile app, you ensure it works properly and meets all the needs. Different phones must be used to test every part of the app to ensure it works well, is safe, and is simple.
The following are a few goals for testing mobile apps:
- Functionality: Making sure the software runs as expected and accomplishes its goals.
- Usability: Confirm that the application offers a satisfactory user experience by being simple to use and intuitive.
- Performance: Examining how the program performs under various circumstances, including varying network speeds, a range of hardware and operating systems, and intensive usage.
- Compatibility: The assurance that a program functions as intended across a range of screens, hardware, and operating systems is known as compatibility.
What Is Appium And Its Features?
Mobile app testing on several platforms is automated using an open-source tool, Appium, and more. It allows mobile app developers and testers to automate tests without requiring changes to the app code. This is particularly helpful for developing cross-platform apps that function on iOS and Android smartphones.
Appium was created with the belief that you should be able to use your favorite testing procedures, frameworks, and tools and that testing native applications shouldn’t involve adding an SDK or recompiling your program.
Here are some features of Appium –
- Cross-Platform: Native, hybrid, and mobile web apps are the three categories of mobile applications that Appium can evaluate. It allows code reuse across Windows, iOS, and Android test suites using the same API.
- Flexibility in Programming Languages: Appium may be used with various programming languages, such as Java, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, and C#, as it is compatible with the Selenium WebDriver API.
- No App Code Modification: Tests are conducted using the actual app; no extra code has to be added or altered, increasing test reliability and accuracy.
- Native App Testing: Appium fully supports testing of native mobile applications, which are built using iOS or Android SDKs. It can communicate with any mobile component, including buttons inside the device (such as the power and volume buttons).
- Automated Testing: Appium makes it easier to automate functional, regression, and scenario testing, which helps to speed up the release cycle and guarantee higher-quality mobile apps.
How Do You Set Up Appium For Mobile App Testing?
Setting up Appium for mobile app testing involves a few steps. Once everything is configured correctly, you can start designing and running tests on the iOS and Android platforms.
To get you started, check out our comprehensive how-to guide:
Step 1: Install Pre-requisites
For Both Android and iOS:
- Node.js & npm: Install Node.js, which includes npm (Node Package Manager). This is essential as Appium is a Node.js server. You can download Node.js from Node.js official website.
For Android:
- JDK, or Java Development Kit: Install it after downloading from Oracle’s website. Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable.
- Android Studio: Install Android Studio by visiting their website. It includes the Android SDK and necessary tools for Android development.
For iOS (Mac only):
- Xcode: Install Xcode from the Mac App Store. This is necessary for iOS development and testing.
- Carthage: Set up the macOS application dependency management Carthage. You may use Homebrew to install it:
Brew install Carthage
Step 2: Install Appium
You can install Appium using npm or as a desktop application (which provides a GUI).
- Using npm: npm install -g appium
- Another option is installing Appium Desktop, a graphical user interface for the Appium server. Get it from Appium’s GitHub release page.
Step 3: Configure Environment Variables
For Android:
- Add ANDROID_HOME to the Android SDK location. When you open Android Studio, go to Preferences > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK to find where your SDK is stored.
- To your PATH variable, add the paths to the SDK’s platform tools and tools folders.
Example on Windows:
set ANDROID_HOME=C:\Users\<Your-Username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk
set PATH=%PATH%;%ANDROID_HOME%\tools;%ANDROID_HOME%\platform-tools
Example on Mac:
export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/SDK
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
For iOS:
- It is essential to select the command line tools and set up Xcode.
sudo Xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app
Step 4: Start Appium Server
- Using Appium Command Line: Simply start the server by typing:
- Using Appium Desktop: Click the start button to launch the server after opening the Appium Desktop application.
Step 5: Write and Run Tests
- Write test scripts in your preferred language and framework (Java with TestNG, Python with PyTest).
- Use your programming language’s Appium client library to interact with the server.
- Before beginning your experiments, ensure your emulator or device is set up and connected.
Step 6: Additional Setup for Real Device Testing
For Android:
- On your Android smartphone, enable USB debugging and developer settings.
For iOS:
- Register your iOS device with your Apple developer account.
- Installing WebDriverAgent, an iOS WebDriver server implementation for remote device control, requires Xcode.
Benefits Of Using Appium For Mobile App Testing
Some people like using Appium instead of automatic testing for iOS and Android apps. It is free and open source. Its success is ascribed to several notable advantages that attract testers and developers.
The following are a few of the main benefits of testing mobile apps using Appium:
- Cross-Platform Capability
Using the same API, Appium enables you to develop tests for Windows, Android, and iOS platforms. This reduces the time and effort needed to maintain separate codebases by enabling code reuse across iOS and Android test suites.
- Support for Multiple Programming Languages
Appium supports all leading programming languages with Selenium Webdriver client libraries, as it functions as a server and uses the WebDriver interface. These offer the ability to create test scripts in the languages that developers are most familiar with, including Java, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, PHP, and C#.
- No Need to Modify App Code
One of its most outstanding features is that Appium can automate an application without requiring changes to the original code. You may test the app in its native state using Appium, which uses common automation frameworks supplied by the operating systems (such as UI Automator on Android and XCUITest on iOS).
- Native, Hybrid, and Mobile Web Apps Testing
Mobile web applications and hybrid and native apps may be tested using Appium. Mobile web applications may be viewed with a mobile browser; native apps can be created using the iOS or Android developer kits; hybrid apps are web apps that combine a native wrapper with an iOS or Android application.
- Real Device and Emulator/Simulator Testing
Testing apps on devices, emulators, or simulators is vital to understanding their performance. Adaptability helps identify issues specific to surroundings and devices.
- Use of Standard Automation APIs
Appium communicates with mobile apps using the standard WebDriver interface. It implies that Appium is simple to learn and connects with Selenium grids for scaling testing for anyone acquainted with Selenium WebDriver.
- Community and Ecosystem
Being an open-source tool, Appium has a large and active community. The tool’s capabilities are increased, and problems may be swiftly resolved thanks to abundant accessible resources, plugins, and integrations.
- Integration with Continuous Integration (CI) Tools
Jenkins, Travis CI, and other tools easily integrate with Appium because they fit within CI/CD workflows. It contributes to the build cycle’s automation of the testing phase, which ensures high-quality builds and expedites releases.
- Accessibility Testing
To create inclusive software that is usable by people with impairments, Appium facilitates testing mobile apps’ accessibility features.
- Rich Set of APIs
Testers can execute intricate operations like swiping, scrolling, and tapping using Appium’s extensive collection of APIs. They can also receive a vast amount of data from the device, which is helpful for thorough testing.
Appium is a preferred solution for mobile application testing among developers and testers, as the advantages are clear. With its ability to handle various app kinds and platforms and strong community support, Appium is an entirely automated mobile app testing solution.
Mobile app testing systems hosted in the cloud provide advantages that mitigate many of the drawbacks of more conventional testing techniques. These platforms, such as LambdaTest, use cloud technology to provide scalable, adaptable, and practical solutions that significantly improve the mobile application testing procedure. It is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.
It provides a full range of testing solutions to meet the demands of contemporary organizations striving for digital excellence.
You may use LambdaTest to access a wide range of genuine devices and browsers, including the newest models, such as the Google Pixel 8 and iPhone 15. It makes it unnecessary for you to have an expensive mobile device lab. It lets you thoroughly test your application across various platforms, guaranteeing a consistent user experience.
With LambdaTest, you can perform parallel tests and use remote test labs to expedite your mobile app testing process. This feature enables faster responsiveness to market needs by reducing time to market and increasing release frequency.
It is possible to interact with well-known CI/CD systems, which makes continuous testing and deployment easier. By detecting and resolving defects early in the development cycle, this integration improves the caliber of the finished product.
LambdaTest offers strong support for both automated scripts and manual testing, depending on your preference. You may manually test your apps on actual devices using a cloud platform or automate your testing operations using frameworks like Selenium, Appium, and Espresso.
Conclusion
With its many features that meet the demands of contemporary mobile development environments, Appium stands out as a solid and adaptable solution for automated mobile app testing.
It is an indispensable tool for developers and testers who want to guarantee high-quality apps because of its capacity to test all kinds of mobile applications, support many platforms and languages, and interface easily with different development tools.
Additionally, Appium’s approach to testing without requiring app code modification preserves the authenticity of testing scenarios and simplifies the process. The robust community support further enhances its appeal by providing resources and collective knowledge.
All these features collectively make Appium an optimal choice for organizations seeking efficient, reliable, and scalable mobile testing solutions.