Automation does not do what testers used to do, unless one ignores most things a tester really does. Automated testing is useful for extending the reach of the testers work, not to replace it.

General setup

Before you start with Appium installation, there are a few more tools to install, and steps to take.

Make sure you have installed:

• one of the latest Xcode versions
  • Xcode update might require you to update your macOS as well
• Xcode command line tools

To use Appium, you also need to install:

• Homebrew
• Java
• Android Studio
• npm
• node.js

See Appium requirements for more details.

Android SDK tools

The easiest way to install Android SDK tools is through Android Studio.

1. Open Settings
2. Open Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK
3. Open the SDK Platforms tab
4. Select the checkbox next to the API version(s) you want to install
5. Open the SDK Tools tab
6. Select the Android SDK Platform-Tools checkbox
7. Select the Android SDK Build-Tools checkbox
8. Click Apply and wait for the packages to install

Environment variables

Set JAVA_HOME and ANDROID_HOME environment variables.

1. Open the profile file:
   • zsh: open ~/.zshrc
   • bash: open ~/.bashrc
2. Type in the following (make sure to use your username and versions):

export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/<username>/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/<version>
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home`
export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:$PATH
export PATH=${PATH}:${JAVA_HOME}

Install Appium

Appium 1.x is no longer being maintained. Make sure you use Appium 2.x.

Appium 2.x does not include drivers by default. They have to be installed separately for each platform on which you intend to run the tests. See Installing Appium 2.0 for more details.

1. Install Appium
   • npm install -g appium
2. Install Appium Doctor
   • npm install -g @appium/doctor
3. Install xcuitest (iOS) driver
   • appium driver install xcuitest
4. Install uiautomator2 (Android) driver
   • appium driver install uiautomator2
5. Check dependencies are installed correctly
   • Run the appium-doctor command in the terminal
   • The necessary dependencies should have a green check mark

Capabilities

Capabilities are parameters that you need to define to start an Appium session. They have to be defined as key-value pairs.

Some are mandatory, such as platformName and udid. Most are optional but can be very useful in your project. For example, accepting all permissions by default without having to do it in your tests.

Example:

capabilities = {
   "appium:app": "project/builds/b1.103.ipa",
   "appium:automationName": "XCUITest",
   "appium:platformName": "iOS",
   "appium:platformVersion": 17,
   "appium:udid": 1R2TV3BD,
   "appium:deviceName": "iPhone",
   "appium:xcodeOrgId": "A1B5C3D5E2",
   "appium:xcodeSigningId": "iPhone Developer",
   "appium:useNewWDA": False,
   "appium:usePreinstalledWDA": True,
   "appium:updatedWDABundleId": "com.appiumApp.WebDriverAgentRunner",
   "appium:autoAcceptAlerts": True,
   "appium:noReset": True,
}

NOTE:

• Some capabilities should be combined since they might interfere with each other.
  • See Reset Strategies for more details.
• If you use autoAcceptAlerts (iOS only), it could happen that some of the native app dialogs get accepted / declined when you don't expect it.
  • You might want to avoid this capability and handle the dialogs within the test.
• If using useNewWDA, it might not work as expected due to Apple restrictions.
  • Set it to true if you want to apply different startup options for WebDriverAgent for each session.
  • It should be stable on Simulator. However, it gets tricky with real devices.
  • For real devices it is better to have WebDriverAgent client installed manually, without having it reinstalled during each session.