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. 

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.

Our company uses the solution's library to test and automate mobile devices including Android and iOS. 

The solution provides one roof or framework for both iOS and Android code bases. 

The library is extensive so the driver interacts with most functions or actions on mobile devices such as tap, swipe up, write down, touch actions, and opening or closing sessions. 

The solution needs to support more actions such as locking a phone or adding a fingerprint. 

Some action methods have been combined to one touch action but this should revert back for easier customization. 

The user interface needs improvement because there are issues when setting up environment variables. 

Some actions are not supported across languages such as JavaScript, Python, and C# so documentation, examples, and boilerplates are needed. 

I have been using the solution for seven years.

The solution is stable. 

The solution is not designed for scalability but can be scaled via cloud services or a local device farm. 

We currently have two users but may add more in the future. 

The solution is open source so does not offer technical support. 

If you have issues, you can Google answers or ask developers direct questions through their repository. Forums are also available for support. 

I have used multiple automation frameworks including Nightwatch.js but most were integrated with the solution's libraries. 

The setup is a bit complex for use with iOS. 

Even Android setups require a couple of steps that need to be completed each time. 

We implemented the solution in-house and it only took a few minutes.  

The solution is an open source library so just needs to be added to the package list. Anyone can install it on their system which also happens in your CI/CD. 

The solution is open source so it is free. 

Almost 80% of the market uses the solution and we did not evaluate other options. 

The solution is a fit when you need both iOS and Android frameworks because it combines them under one roof.

If you only test on a specific platform, you can use base libraries or drivers. For example iOS works on XCUI drivers and Android works on UiAutomator. 

The solution is the go-to library right now with few alternatives. 

I rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

We're a large enterprise, and my project team consists of about 30 automation code developers. Everyone on the team is using Appium. Appium automates mobile browsers and applications. I use Appium to launch iOS and Android mobile applications with the package name and launch activity.  After that, we do some operations on the applications. 

For example,  we enter some text into the fields to verify if we've entered the wrong set of inputs. Some boxes will be limited to text only, and we'll get an error if we enter special characters. Appium helps us check all those things. We can also check the UI server to test if the button navigates to the next page or not. 

The most valuable feature is that it's easy to launch applications. Appium has everything that Selenium has. So many good tools support Appium. We can take some Excel sheets and use them to fill out the text box that's in there. We can also take screenshots of failures.

Image recognition could be improved. We have some images in our mobile applications. It should be able to run from the cloud, so we can automate the catcher. 

We need to launch the Appium server when we want to connect the mobile application with Appium. Sometimes, the Appium server won't connect with the mobile application because of some socket issues, so network connectivity between applications and the Appium server could be improved.

I have been using Appium for five years.

Appium is a highly stable product for our purposes.

We can scale Appium.

I believe Appium doesn't have dedicated technical support because it is an open-source tool. When I have issues, I find solutions on the forum. 

We decided to use Appium because it's an open-source solution that supports so many languages, including Java, Adobe, C#, and Python. That's why so many DevOps and IT people prefer it.

I rate Appium eight out of 10 for ease of setup. When I first began using the product, I would rate it as six out of 10. Appium is challenging to set up for iOS and Android, but we can manage iOS automation on the Mac from Macintosh Missions. In Missions, we need to open our Appium project on the next board and create something like a bundle diary. The bundle diary from Appium doesn't work for outputs, so it should not work for our daily routine. We need to change the bundle ID and build the iPhone application. 

There are two ways to set it up. You can update the Appium server for HD and need to do programming and training. It will come in after 30 seconds or more. 

Appium is completely free.

I rate Appium nine out of 10. It's one of the most stable solutions for mobile automation. It inherited a lot of functionality from Selenium, a popular tool for automation. We can write advanced code and achieve every mobile app channel using Appium. 

If you want to use Appium faster, you need to do things right during installation.  We should be aware of the programming language. We need to use some framework to make our life easier while using Appium.