Is Appium the best Mobile Automation testing tool?

[Daragh]

There are a number of Mobile Automation testing tools out there but how can you tell which one is the best? A lot of people have suggested that Appium is the number one Mobile Automation testing tool and Thoughtworks has supported this notion by adding this tool to it’s Tech Radar recently as something to assess.

Have you used Appium? What other Mobile Automation testing tools are worth a mention?

[Stephen]

I’ve used Appium and find that it is pretty good. Since it went to version 1.0 it seems to have become more stable.

The key thing with mobile automation at the moment is that we are where we were with web automation about 5-6 years ago. There are a lot of solutions, some are better than others, some are better supported than others, and some are more expensive than others. We chose Appium for the following reasons:

• It’s free and (mostly) open source
• It has a very well supported and active Google group
• It does not require anything to be installed on the device – no server or code changes required
• It’s in the Selenium 3 spec so should be future proof
• It supports both Android and iOS

Saying that, it’s not perfect. It’s more difficult to do certain gestures, etc than some of the other solutions out there (we piloted Calabash which was better in this respect). But it’s getting there.

Other automation tools worthy of consideration – iOS driver and Calabash. Alistair Scott has written a good overview post on the available solutions (iOS focussed) – http://watirmelon.com/2013/11/04/the-current-state-of-ios-automated-functional-testing/

[Naveen]

Hi ,

I have used the Appium and feel its good to use however only concern is how much market device it can capture , it does not support the low version of Android .
Appium Supports API 17 + version only .

Why Appium

1) Easy to Use.
2)Easy to work .
3) Good Support
4)No need to decompile any app, can work directly .
5) Hybrid App automation is possible .
6) Can be integrated with other tools with the help of java

Must go for Appium ,will bring revolution in Mobile testing .

[Jennifer]

Tools can automate your Android and iOS testing and you needn’t jailbreak, unlock or root your device. It is also possible to make your mobile tests data-driven by using SQL, CSV, Excel or Simple Table data connectors.

[Paul]

@Jennifer, please read our community guidelines regarding linking to external sites.

If a member of Ranorex’s testing team wants to add something valuable to the discussion, they are welcome to do so. Commercial promotion is not what this forum is about.

[Prachi Singh]

@Jennifer.., With Ranorex the problem is that one has to recompile the app which is not good.Second thing is that it doesn’t supports independent browsers when testing web based applications on mobile devices.It has its own web view.They claim that they are as same browser but what about google Chrome on Android.

[Prachi Singh]

@ Jennifer…
Ranorex recompiles the app
No support to independent browsers for web application testing on mobile devices(like Chrome on Android)

[Daragh]

Hi Prachi Singh,

You sound like you have experience with other mobile automation tools besides Appium. Would you agree that Appium is the best or is there other tools out there that you would prefer?

[Prachi Singh]

Hi Daragh,

Actually I was finding a best testing tool for my mobile team.Since we started with Ranorex but due to some issue(recompiling app) .We thought to
try Appium. But Appium has biggest issue that the latest version GUI keep crashing.So I used UIautomator of Android for object reorganization. But there are a lot of technical complexities involved.So one need to be really ready to invest in time and resource to have Appium inhouse.
For simulation of gesture one need to have java script wrapper.Such kind of issues are their. So indeed its nice tool but one needs to be ready to deal with technical issues.

Regards
Prachi

[Rui]

Hello,

I’m a new tester and i join recently to a mobile team. I want to introduce automation in this area but i’m having difficulties to choose a tool. The application that i want to test is available in iOS, Android and Windows Phone and there are not many tools supporting this three SOs.

Can you help me choose the right tool for me?

Regards,
Rui Fernandes

[Daragh]

Hi Stephen, Jennifer, Naveen & Prachi. Do you have any advice for Rui?

A great resource for someone who is new to mobile testing would be Stephen‘s webinar on The Current State of Mobile Testing

[Sushant Gupta]

Hello,

Just now I moved to mobile automation, Can you suggest any tool to automate third party native apps in ios like (box,getbox,facebook etc).

Thanks in advance

[Saurabh]

Hi All,

I have been involved in manual testing of mobile apps since a couple of years, and have started moving towards automation for the same.

From what i have learnt till now, Appium “looks to be” the current tool of choice that i would be exploring. Sure it has its own set of limitations and challenges, but it seems that compared to the other solutions, those are relatively easier to deal with.

I will post more opinion and experiences on the same as i explore this tool!!

Regards,
Saurabh

[Rui]

Hello Saurabh,

The apps that you test are available in Windows Phone? How do you use Appium for Windows Phone platforms?

Best regards,
Rui Fernandes

[Daragh]

Hi Saurabh,

I look forward to reading your updates 🙂

[Ronan Healy]

According to Google, this is the most popular thread on Test Huddle. I wonder does it reflect the rising popularity of mobile testing or just that a lot of people are searching for reviews on Appium?

Have you any thoughts on Appium?

[Prathamesh]

Hello all,
As a suggestion i’d like to share that ‘Calabash’ is the best open source test automation tool for mobile apps. You can automate native, hybrid or web apps on Android or iOS. and also a good option for the techies who hates programming 🙂
just you have to deal with this simple framework:”Given-When-Then”.
Best Regards,
Prathamesh

[Lior Reuven]

There are few alternatives to appium .
Appium has an abstraction over uiautomator ( Google) and uiautomatiom ( Apple instrumentor ) and has many installation and moving parts .
Have a look at espresso , testdroid and more for native apps.
For mobile web If you are looking for a different approach for testing , which fits Contiuesdelivery have a look at catjs .
http://catjsteam.github.io/

[Anoop]

Hello Experts,

Greetings!!!

Can we test Titanium Appcelerator Mobile Apps using Appium?

Please help me as this is urgent.

Regards,
Anoop

[Steve]

Hi there!

Of course, it is. Because

• It is an open-source automation testing tool
• It supports both native and hybrid apps
• It supports android and iOS
• Appium desktop GUI is easy to use
• Supports all browsers
• It allows all test scripts such as Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, and Selenium.
• Appium is easy to learn

[Venessa]

While there are many types of mobile test automation tools available, with their exceptional capacities, I think Appium evolved as the best. Most of the tools require an additional agent that needs to be compiled with most of the application code so that the tool can communicate with the native mobile app.

Here’s why I like Appium –

1) Appium functions as a server and runs in the background like a Selenium Server.

2) Has the capability to synchronize with TestNG testing framework

3) Appium has a built-in UI Automator, capable of producing a detailed information log and generating a detailed reporting structure such as Ranorex.

4) Appium targets to automate with any mobile app developed in various programming languages and different types of frameworks.

5) You can take control with full access to back-end APIs and databases from test code.

6) It aims tests developed using development tools irrespective of most of the programming languages and with the Selenium WebDriver API and language-specific client libraries.

[Author]

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