Common Appium Mobile Automation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Appium is a widely used tool for mobile automation testing, as it allows you to test native, web, and hybrid apps on various platforms and devices.

However, Appium testing can also be challenging and prone to errors if not done properly. In this blog, we will discuss some of the common Appium mistakes that testers make and how to avoid them.

What is Appium mobile automation?

Appium, originally developed by Dan Cuellar in 2011 under the alias “iOSAuto”. Right now Appium stands as one of the most used open-source mobile automation tool. Facilitating native, hybrid, and web application, Appium also offers testing on physical devices as well as an emulator or simulator.

Common Appium automation mistakes

Now that we’ve had an overview of what Appium is let’s get down to mistakes which every mobile tester who is using Appium should avoid at all cost.

Overusing XPath locators

One of the first steps in Appium testing is to locate the elements that you want to interact with. There are many ways to do that, such as using accessibility IDs, class names, IDs, CSS selectors, etc.

However, one of the most common mistakes that testers make is to overuse XPath locators, which are not recommended in Appium automation. Moreover, XPath locators are often brittle and hard to maintain, as they depend on the structure and hierarchy of the app’s UI.‍

To avoid this mistake, you should use XPath locators sparingly and only when other locators are not available or suitable. You should also use relative and simple XPath expressions, rather than absolute and complex ones.‍

For example, instead of using:

//android.widget.FrameLayout[1]/android.widget.LinearLayout[1]/android.widget.FrameLayout[1]/android.widget.LinearLayout[1]/android.widget.FrameLayout[1]/android.widget.RelativeLayout[1]/android.widget.TextView[1]

You can use:

//android.widget.TextView[@text='Hello Alphabin']

You should also prefer using accessibility IDs:

driver.findElementByAccessibilityId("login_button");

Not testing on real devices or simulators/emulators

Real devices and simulators/emulators can show you how your app works on different situations and devices. If you don’t test on them, you might miss some bugs or issues that affect your users.

This can affect the usability and performance of your app, as your users might encounter problems or frustrations that you didn’t anticipate.

‍To avoid this mistake, you should test your app on a combination of real devices and variety of simulators/emulators via some of the widely supported platforms.

Not performing parallel testing

Parallel and distributed testing can help you run your tests faster and wider. If you don’t use them, your tests will take longer and cover less. This can affect the efficiency and effectiveness of your testing, as you might waste time and resources on running your tests sequentially and on limited devices or machines.

To avoid this mistake, you should use parallel and distributed testing whenever possible and feasible for your Appium testing.

Parallel execution example:

// Define the test classes that you want to run in parallel
@Test
@Suite.SuiteClasses({
  TestClass1.class,
  TestClass2.class,
  TestClass3.class
})

// Define the suite class that will run the test classes in parallel
public class ParallelTestSuite {

  // Define the number of threads to use for parallel execution
  private static final int THREAD_COUNT = 3;

	// Define the suite runner that will use TestNG to run the test classes in parallel
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

    TestNG testng = new TestNG();

    // Set the test classes to run
    testng.setTestClasses(new Class[] { ParallelTestSuite.class });

    // Set the number of threads to use
    testng.setParallel(XmlSuite.ParallelMode.CLASSES);
    testng.setThreadCount(THREAD_COUNT);

    // Run the test suite
    testng.run();
  }
}

Not using proper reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics can help you understand and improve your testing results. If you don’t use them, you won’t know what’s going on with your testing and how to make it better.

This can affect the evaluation and improvement of your testing, as you might miss some important insights or recommendations that can help you optimize your testing.

To avoid this mistake, you should use proper reporting and analytics for your Appium testing. You should also use tools and frameworks that provide and support reporting and analytics, such as Cucumber Reporter, TestNG,  and Allure.

NodeJS WebDriverIO Allure integration example:

reporters: [['allure', {
  outputDir: 'allure-results',
  disableWebdriverStepsReporting: false,
  disableWebdriverScreenshotsReporting: false,
}]]

The impact of these mistakes on the business

Even tho we have mentioned the impact of the individual mistakes, they were not given in the perspective of business, let’s take a look at how these mistakes impact the business.

• Increased costs
  Overusing XPath locators can slow down test, leading to longer test cycles and ultimately increased costs.
  

• Missing deadlines
  Not performing parallel testing can significantly increase the time it takes to run all tests, delaying the overall development process.
  

• Negative impact on business reputation
  In the era where social media being available everywhere, if the app is known for it’s bugs or poor performance will harm the business behind it and everyone will know about it through social media.

Conclusion

To sum up, Appium mobile testing can be tricky and error-prone if not done right. You can avoid common Appium automation mistakes by following the best practices and tips that we shared in this blog. You can also use various platforms and tools that support Appium testing, such as BrowserStack, SauceLabs, Perfecto, and more.

At Alphabin, we follow industry standards using Appium and other advanced technologies. If you need a trustworthy and skilled partner for your mobile app project, contact us today and let us help you succeed.