Appium Reviews

My main use case for Appium is to work on mobile applications to automate them, focusing on end-to-end functionality, end-to-end automation, and UI automations for mobile applications across different kinds of mobile applications such as hybrid, native, and mobile web app applications.

A quick specific example of how I used Appium in one of my projects is that I am currently automating a healthcare smart care application which is used for healthcare professionals, including hospital staff such as nurses and doctors, where they can communicate. I have used Appium to automate this end-to-end application functionality across all scenarios.

I have automated various workflows within that healthcare app with Appium, specifically focusing on messaging, alerts, and calling, including one-to-one calling, broadcast calls, urgent calls, and notifications.

Appium's major usefulness is for mobile application testing.

Appium has positively impacted my organization by increasing productivity, which was vital before the introduction of Appium MCP. Previously, we wrote all the end-to-end mobile application functionality automation manually, but with Appium MCP, our productivity has increased tenfold as it can generate scripts, debug, and auto-heal itself, reducing the time spent in scripting and debugging test cases.

I have seen improvements in test coverage because previously, writing a single test case took hours, involving understanding functionalities, navigating through Appium's DOM structure, writing page objects, converting them to behavioral attribute methods, running tests, debugging failures, and repeating the process. With the advanced Appium MCP AI agent, I can now write about 10 to 15 test cases in a single effort.

The best features Appium offers include support for different kinds of mobile applications including hybrid, native, and mobile web apps. There is no better alternative in the market as an open-source tool, which is its biggest advantage. In Appium version 3.0, many things have been made decoupled, which is really helpful with different drivers and plugins for different platforms, providing a lot of freedom to an SDET or any QA members automating mobile applications.

I find myself relying on all three great features from Appium in my day-to-day work. The decoupling of features such as plugins and drivers helps avoid dependency on a single platform, whether it be iOS or Android. Appium's open-source nature provides a level of support unmatched by competitors in the market, and its capability to support all types of mobile applications means no other tool in the market comes close to what Appium provides.

Since the introduction of Appium MCP, automation has become more robust and considerably easier, enhancing productivity significantly.

One painful point that still exists with Appium, especially in iOS mobile application testing, is its reliance on WebDriverAgent, which creates a lot of stress during setup for beginners. Although many improvements have been made since MCP, that area still needs attention. Additionally, improvements in the locator strategies are needed to adapt to modern technologies for locating mobile applications developed outside traditional Apple or core scripting technologies like Swift, Java, or Kotlin.

A community needs to emerge, driven by a set of industry leaders who can help people and contribute to the community, especially since platforms like Stack Overflow have diminished in relevance due to the rise of AI.

If I could change or improve one thing about Appium, I would focus on enhancing Appium MCP to ensure it delivers what it promises reliably.

I have been using Appium since its 1.0 release in 2015 and 2016, which is quite a long time.

Appium is much more stable now compared to the 1.0 version.

Appium's scalability for my projects has significantly increased our speed of execution and delivery, achieving up to 10x faster results, with just a few people being sufficient to write automation.

Since Appium is open-source, I do not observe any formal customer support; however, there is a development team available who address questions online, and I appreciate their efforts.

I have not used a different solution before Appium; it has been my main go-to tool, and I haven't utilized anything else.

I have indeed seen a return on investment, as the direct cost of tooling investment is reduced. With the introduction of Appium MCP, productivity has increased to 10x, meaning very few QA personnel are now needed to write automation.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Appium is straightforward since it is open-source, and I currently have no concerns about using it.

In the very early days, I evaluated UI Automator by Android SDK, which only supported Android automation, but since then, I haven't looked back after adopting Appium.

Regarding Appium's AI capabilities, I am confident about the governance and security it provides. It complies with our test data and governs everything effectively. However, when using Appium MCP, there can be concerns about sensitive data being shared through client scripting, which needs to be managed carefully.

From my current experience with Appium's AI capabilities regarding accuracy and reliability, I find the AI-generated scripts and suggestions have reached a stage where they can be reasonably relied upon.

My advice to those looking into using Appium is that if you are seeking an open-source tool to automate mobile applications of any type within your organization or projects, Appium is an excellent choice as it supports cross-platform automation. I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.

Automated testing of mobile applications — both native, hybrid, and mobile web apps — across Android and iOS platforms.

No licensing cost. Speeds up regression tests,supports parallel execution across devices/platforms. Used single codebase for both Android and ios. Easily integrates with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions).Supports multiple programming languages(e.g., TestNG, Cucumber).

Emulates Android and iOS devices effectively. The interface is user-friendly, which is beneficial for users, even for those who are new to it.

Uses single codebase for both Android and ios. Easily integrates with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions).Supports multiple programming languages(e.g., TestNG, Cucumber).

Initial setup for Appium (especially for iOS) is not beginner-friendly.Consumes too much of your host machine's resources, potentially slowing down the machine.Appium Inspector often lacks deep insight or crashes with certain app builds.

Improve test flakiness by intelligently selecting robust self-healing locators,simplified installers, better documentation, GUI-based config management,smart wait mechanisms and better failure logs.

Since 2017 September

At times, Appium consumes too much of your host machine's resources, causing the machine to slow down. I would rate its stability at four out of five.

Can be extended with AI-based testing tools (e.g., Applitools for visual testing).Supports custom plugins and can evolve with organization needs.

Have not availed customer support

Positive

Used Selendroid before, that has support for native and hybrid apps in Java (via Selenium WebDriver) only. Has no support for cross browser testing.

QTP/UFT One needed license for mobile testing.

The installation part of Appium is somewhat clumsy, requiring numerous dependencies and configurations.

In-house

Faster time to market,speeds up automated repetitive tests.

Appium is open source, so there is no cost involved. This is a significant advantage over commercial tools like UFT, which requires purchasing license.

Cross browser, device and multiple  programming language support. CI/CD integration, scalability, and cloud testing.

Appium runs on Node.js and supports frequently used programming or scripting languages like Java, JavaScript, and Python. It is advisable to give it a try since it is free and can handle a variety of programming languages. It is suitable for both beginners and seasoned testers.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I use it to make tests for Android applications.

What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that I can get to the new DOM of the application and select the components and create the functions to test the components in the way I want them to be tested. That's why I like it right now.

The initial setup and configuration of an Appium project is tedious and challenging.

I have been using it for a month. 

It runs fine.

Configuring the project to be used in Appium is a little bit tedious. But when it's already configured and you already connect the application to the framework, it's better. The first part, configuring the project to use with Appium, is not that easy.

It needs some experience, or at least some time to get adjusted to the tool.

The initial setup took about a week.

I just used the free open-source version.

My recommendation depends on the project someone is trying to test because it's a complex framework, and unless you already know what you want to test, I wouldn't go with Appium on the first try. 

If you know what you want to test and you know you need some particulars, like particular integration or functions, I wouldn't go first with Appium. If I know what I want, then I will only go with Appium.

Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten. 

We use Appium to test our native applications for iOS and Android. The solution is deployed locally and integrated into our instance of GitHub Actions for CI/CD functionality, so it's a hybrid deployment. 

Using Appium with React Native allows us to reuse our tests for both Android and iOS. If we had to use one tool for Android and another for iOS, we would need two repositories, two tests, and a lot more coding for us to do. I think React Native is the only real solution available nowadays for black box testing the way we prefer to do it.

We develop apps using the React Native framework, and Appium integrates well for testing those apps. The Appium automation framework also has good integration with GitHub Actions and plenty of other tools and frameworks, including BrowserStack. 

Appium also offers plenty of testing interactions, including swipes and other actions. It provides more interactions compared to other solutions like Selenium HQ, which is another tool we work with.

Appium Inspector is another excellent feature that provides us with a lot of information when dealing with app elements. One of our uses for this is determining which selectors are faster, as we want our apps to be as fast as possible. 

We previously worked with native applications, and there weren't any good mobile app testing tools. We started working with React Native, which works well with Appium, but it would be good to see better integration; the way elements are displayed can be messy. React Native is very popular nowadays, so it's essential to have that compatibility.

Appium doesn't recognize IDs placed by our developers on nested elements when we use React Native for iOS; it just sees the whole page and one element. We use coordinates to get around this, but it isn't the best system, and nobody in the community has been able to help us.

iOS is also strict in general when it comes to signatures and developer accounts, which creates additional headaches for iOS testing compared to Android. It would be great to see a more streamlined setup for iOS, but that might be more of an Apple issue than an Appium one. 

We have been using the solution for about four years. 

The solution is relatively stable, but sometimes tests can become flaky. This could be because of Appium, or due to a cloud-related issue, it isn't exactly clear. It's more stable than it was four years ago, so the product has improved, but there is still room for better stability. 

The solution is scalable. Once it's installed on the machines or in the cloud, everyone can run it and I don't think it matters how many staff members use it. We have nine end users in our organization. 

Appium is an open-source solution so there isn't a number to call for technical support. However, there is a large user community, so it's easy to find help for issues. 

The initial setup is very straightforward; it's just a download with a desktop installation. Setup time depends on your internet, but I would say it takes minutes.

Appium is open source; we can use it for free.

We looked at Espresso and XCUITest, which are native testing apps for Android and iOS, respectively, but we can't use those for both in React Native. We carried out a POC for Appium, and there were no viable alternatives. It allows us to use one tool and one repository for both mobile operating systems.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Appium is a great tool, and I recommend it. Working with iOS requires patience, and setup can be somewhat demanding, but there are no such problems with Android. Overall, the solution does what we need it to do.

We primarily use the solution for UI validation of mobile applications. It's a mobile development platform. We have an application where we have to test the front end and how it is cloning.

It's easy to connect the product. Within a single command, we can easily connect to the device. The connectivity is just that easy.

We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system.

It is a very easy initial setup.

Support-wise, it could be better. Whenever we get some issues, it may take some time. I'd like them to be more responsive. 

There's not too much public documentation or information. If we Google information or something else regarding the Appium, there won't be much compared to Selenium. Selenium is also open-source. Appium details are limited.

It is difficult to understand. Recently, there were major changes in Appium. Understanding those changes, was a bit difficult. There just wasn't enough transparency.

I've been using the solution for one and a half years. 

The solution is pretty stable. That said, either from the application side or the Appium side, sometimes, I get some error that is not correct. Even if the application is open, sometimes it throws some error, however, maybe it is from the emulator side. I'm not sure. 

If I run the same test case, and in the same execution, I don't see that error again. It's random, yet may be from our side. I don't think it's from Appium. However, I'm not sure. 

The solution is scalable. The capacity is very good. 

We have three QAs using the product.

Technical support is not as responsive as we would like them to be. They often are late to reply. Sometimes to topic diverts towards something else. It's open-source, which means support is always a bit of an issue. 

Neutral

We also have used Selenium, which has more information available. Selenium is also open-source. Both are pretty similar. 

The solution is very easy to set up. It's not an issue at all. It took one or two days to connect the emulators. It was pretty simple and straightforward. 

I'd rate the initial setup at a five out of five in terms of ease of deployment. 

This is an open-source tool.

We are end-users. We tend to use the solution on a weekly basis.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. 

It's for automating mobile testing. It's related to the engineering side. It's a tool used by engineers for automating apps in the mobile world, for testing, like doing manual testing and automation testing. So, it's an okay customer thing.

It's an open-source tool. You can handle the application stuff with different programming languages. With those, we can use it anywhere for automating mobile apps.

There is room for improvement in stability. It breaks down.

I have been using it for three to four years. 

It breaks down. It's open-source, and it will have bugs. I rate it, like, three out of five.

So it has some issues.

It is a very scalable product. It can be used with different programming languages.

And we can use it for multiple devices, like thousands of devices.

It's like open-source, like, a kind of community support.

There is no, like, it's an open-source application. There's no, like, designated support team. Anyone from the community will help.

We need to have some experience to set it up. 

It's open source, so it's completely free.

It's for automation testing of mobile apps. If you want an open-source tool, you can go for it.

Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to. 

The tool needs to add a dependency manager. 

I have been using the product for three to four years. 

I rate the tool's stability an eight out of ten. 

I rate Appium's scalability an eight out of ten. My company has five users. 

Appium's deployment is straightforward. 

I rate Appium an eight out of ten. 

I use the solution for Android and iOS mobile automation testing.

The solution's most valuable is its interface, which provides smooth drag-and-drop functionality. It is easier to capture screenshots as well.

The solution's integration with the cloud-based setup needs improvement. Also, they should work on making the link text easily clickable.

They should add an in-built framework. In addition, they should work on automatically updating the new versions for Android. Presently, we have to implement the pop-up updates manually. Due to the pipeline setup, the same updates fail to adapt to different mobile versions. They should also add a feature to automatically recognize the change of the locators and update the solution. It will save us a lot of time.

I have been using the solution for three years.

It is a stable solution. I rate its stability as an eight.

The solution's scalability is good; I rate it as a nine.

The solution's technical support is available on the Internet. You can reach out to many online forums in case of any issues.

Positive

I used the Silk Test earlier. But I will suggest Appium over it as of now.

The configuration for iOS automation requires profile provisioning and following a set of separate rules. In the case of Android, I prefer Vysor for mirror image as it is already available.

It is challenging to start the configuration from scratch. I spent around two months on the process. Instead, I suggest using BDD framework, which is readily available in the market. I rate the setup process as a seven.

The solution is easy to use. If you have resources available for Java and are looking for free tools, then you should go for Appium. But you should evaluate some other tools as well. Also, if you have experience with selenium, you must prefer Appium, as 95% of selenium libraries are similar.

I rate the solution as a nine.

Our primary use case addresses customer requirements from the healthcare domain, a few from the construction domain, and logistics.

The automation part is extremely helpful in streamlining our processes.

There is always a concern about the amount of code that is required to enhance the automation process. The idea of having less code or no code is what we would like to see in future updates. Increase performance, battery, load testing, and no-code less, more advanced topics which we can bring to the tool features. If we can make it lightweight and clear to understand and in an easy way, that will make this tool even more worthwhile.

I have been using Appium for the past six years.

Appium is definitely stable.

Appium is scalable and we plan to increase it in the future.

The initial setup is straightforward and not that complex, There is a little procedure that we need to follow in the setup, and then just go ahead and run it. You may need to write a little bit of scripting here and there to connect with the respective code. But it is all possible and quick.

We did the implementation in-house. It is just a specific process to get setup and then deploy.

The price is good for people to be able to make a favorable decision for the value.

I would rate Appium a nine out of ten.

We are using Appium for testing.

The most valuable feature of Appium is it supports iOS and AOS and is open-source.

Appium could improve by enabling record and run techniques similar to what they have in other licensing tools, such as Micro Focus. We have to all write the code, and then we can proceed.

I have been using Appium for approximately four years.

Appium is stable.

The scalability of Appium is good. It support supports different operating systems, such as iOS and AOS.

We have 10 to 12 people using this solution.

All the test engineers are using it.

The solution is open-source, there is not any direct support. You can browse the internet for support information.

I have not used another solution previously.

The initial setup of Appium is straightforward.

I rate the setup of Appium a five out of five.

There is no license for this solution because it is open-source.

There are not a lot of tools for mobile testing. Appium is one of the only open-source mobile testing solutions.

My advice to others is they should use the solution if they have experiences in any technical language, such as Java and C#.

I rate Appium a nine out of ten.