Appium Mobile Testing: All You Need to Know About
Tags: testing
Published: 2022-12-01 17:36:16

Ever since the introduction of automated quality testing for apps, [Appium mobile testing](https://www.headspin.io/solutions/appium-mobile-test-automation) has gained a lot of popularity. Appium is an open-source platform for QA testers to work out the kinks in their apps. It can be used to run codes, test applications, conduct automated tests, and more. With the increased demand of mobile apps in the current business environment, Appium is an important asset in the hands of app developers today. Here is all the info that you need to know about Appium as a testing platform.

**History of Appium Mobile Testing**

Appium was first designed and implemented by a developer called Dan Cuellar in 2011. It was originally called “iOSAuto” and was written entirely in C#. In August 2012, Cuellar and his team released Appium as an open-source product by using the Apache 2 license. In 2013, Appium received funding from a leading development company. The team that included Appium pioneer Jonathan Lipps entirely rewrote and updated using the Node.js platform. A few weeks into the project, Jonathan Lipps was designated as the project’s lead. In a couple of days the team had a new version of Appium, which was boosted with functionalities that the previous version had missing. In 2014, Appium received an award for being the best open source software for comprehensive app testing.

**Benefits Offered by Appium**

In short, Appium is a very powerful tool that can be used to automate the testing of mobile and web applications across a variety of platforms. Here are all the reasons why you should choose Appium mobile testing for all of your app development needs:

- **Free of Cost:** As mentioned before, Cuellar released Appium as an open-source platform. This basically means that it is free of cost and can be downloaded and used by just about anyone. This is just one of the reasons why Appium is favored by companies who are just starting out.

- **Versatile and Flexible:** Appium is compatible with all of the major languages that are used in app development today. Some of the languages that you can use in tandem with Appium are Python, C#, Node.js, PHP, Java, Ruby and JavaScript. Appium is a flexible choice for your app development.

- **Easy to Learn & Understand:** Another major benefit of Appium is the fact that it is very easy to pick up and learn, even for beginners. If you’re well-versed with Selenium then you can pick it up in a week or so. The testing concepts are also very easy to grasp.

- **Compatible with All Platforms:** Appium is a powerful tool that is compatible with all kinds of platforms. Be it iOS or Android, a test written in Appium will run without a hitch no matter what. You can also use the platform to run multiple tests all at the same time.

- Complete Automation: Appium allows app developers to take advantage of automated testing processes, which let them speed up the development process. Using this product will help you to receive feedback and information almost instantaneously. Apart from Appium, there is no other platform that will help you automate testing more thoroughly.

- **Continuous Integration (CI):** Appium can also be used directly with CI platforms such as Bamboo and Jenkins. The platform can work in tandem with the CI servers to ensure better results from the QA tests. This will make the testing process efficient, productive and fast.

**Summing Up**

This has been a comprehensive list of all the benefits that Appium will bring to your app testing framework. Integrating your development machinery with Appium will provide you with many advantages.

**FAQs**

1. **Can Appium test scripts be reused in Android and iOS?**

Appium test scripts for Android and iOS are written in the same language and are nearly similar. However, you will need separate test scripts for Android and iOS as there is a significant difference in the UI elements of the two OS.

2. **Can you inspect native elements in Appium?**

Appium desktop inspector can inspect the native elements of both Android and iOS apps. The inspector works on real devices as well as simulators and emulators.

3. **Which CI tools can be integrated with Appium?**

Appium can be easily integrated with the commonly used CI tools including Jenkins, Bamboo, CircleCI, Travis, and Azure Pipelines.

4. **Can Appium be used to test web apps?**

You can test mobile web apps using the appium server and standard selenium client. You just need to use capability instead of the standard capability and Appium will launch the specified browser and get you into the web context instead of the native mobile context.