Challenges in Appium Automation

Challenges in Appium Automation

Appium testing using automation comes with its own set of challenges unique from web testing. Developers tend to grapple with the unreliability of emulators and real devices, varying element locators across platforms, and dealing with the intricacies of managing multiple native UI frameworks for iOS and Android. 

Such challenges need an in-depth knowledge of mobile environments and an adaptive testing approach. Ready to overcome them? Download our comprehensive Appium Testing Course Syllabus now.

Challenges in Appium Automation Testing and Solutions

Here are the challenges and solutions in Appium Automation Testing:

Inconsistent Element Locators

Challenge: The largest Appium challenge is obtaining consistent element locators that can work in both Android and iOS. A locator strategy that works on one platform fails on the other because of native UI framework differences (e.g., Android’s uiautomator vs. iOS’s XCUITest). This requires testers to maintain multiple codebases, which takes time and is difficult to do.

Solutions:

• Use Accessibility IDs: The most dependable approach is to request that developers include Accessibility IDs on elements. It is best practice for mobile development because it makes the app more accessible for people with disabilities and offers a reliable, stable ID for test automation. The same ID can be reused across both platforms.
• Use XPath only as a last resort: XPath is brittle but powerful locator. It is usually slow and fails easily with small UI changes. Use it only when there is no other stable locator.

Real-time Example: A login button of an app. Rather than depending on its text or the automatically generated ID, the developer specifies an accessibilityIdentifier (test_login_button) for it.

// Java with Appium

// Works on both Android and iOS

MobileElement loginButton = (MobileElement) driver.findElement(MobileBy.AccessibilityId(“test_login_button”));

loginButton.click();

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Device and OS Fragmentation

Challenge: Android’s enormous device ecosystem, screen sizes, and OS versions, and iOS’s uniform but regularly updated OS, present a significant issue. An automation script that runs successfully on one device may fail on another because of UI differences or OS-specific issues.

Solutions:

• Cloud-based Device Farms: The best approach is to use a cloud-based device farm such as Sauce Labs or BrowserStack. These tools offer access to hundreds of actual devices and emulators with varying OS versions so you can execute tests in parallel and achieve greater test coverage without the burden of storing physical devices.
• Testing on Key Configurations: Determine the most widely used devices and versions of the operating systems your target market is using. Create a matrix of these key configurations and test prioritarily on them so that most of your users get a quality experience.

Real-time Example: A checkout flow for an e-commerce app is perfect on Android 13 but broken on Android 10 due to a button’s position change. Testing on both versions of the OS with a device farm would pick up on this problem before shipping.

Recommended: Appium Testing Tutorial.

Pop-up and Alert Handling

Challenge: System-level permission alerts are commonly employed by mobile apps for things like location or camera access, and custom in-app pop-ups. These may be presented asynchronously, disrupting the test sequence and leading to scripts failing in unexpected ways.

Solutions:

• Conditional Checks and Waits: Rather than a hard wait time, employ explicit waits to wait for a pop-up to be present before continuing. If the pop-up is found, deal with it (e.g., click ‘Allow’). Otherwise, proceed with the test.
• Appium’s Alert Class: Appium contains a specific Alert class where you can deal with system-level dialogs by accepting or canceling them.

Real-time Example: An application requires permission to access a user’s photos on its first launch. A test script should be able to recognize this pop-up and accept it in order to continue.

// Java with Appium for handling a system alert

try {

  WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);

  wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent());

  Alert alert = driver.switchTo().alert();

  alert.accept(); // Clicks ‘Allow’ or ‘OK’

} catch (NoAlertPresentException e) {

  // Pop-up did not appear, continue with the test

}

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Flaky Tests and Instability

Challenge: Tests frequently fail at random with no code modifications, a condition referred to as “flakiness.” This may be due to delays in the network, slow animations, or asynchronous operations Appium is unable to keep pace with.

Solutions:

• Use Explicit Waits: Rather than trusting a Thread.sleep() (which waits for a hard-coded amount of time), use WebDriverWait with ExpectedConditions. This instructs the script to wait for a particular condition to be fulfilled (e.g., until an element is clickable) before it interacts with it.
• Create a Reliable Test Environment: Make sure the test environment does not change. For instance, use a reliable WiFi network and have the app being tested be a reliable build.

Real-time Example: An occasional failure of a test to click a button occurs because the button is enabled a few seconds after the page is loaded. A fixed sleep may succeed on occasion but fail on a slow connection. An explicit wait will make the test more reliable.

// Java with Appium using explicit wait

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 15);

WebElement nextButton = wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(MobileBy.AccessibilityId(“next_button”)));

nextButton.click();

Managing Test Data and State

Challenge: Mobile app tests typically need particular initial states. For instance, a checkout flow test requires a logged-in user with something in the shopping cart. Configuring this state manually for each test is clumsy and prone to error.

Solutions:

• Use APIs to Initialize State: A much faster and more stable method is to use the app’s backend APIs to set up the necessary test data. For instance, use an API call to log a user in and populate items into their cart before the UI test even starts.
• Clear App Data Between Tests: Employ the use of Appium’s driver.resetApp() or driver.closeApp() methods for every test to begin from scratch, so data from one test doesn’t impact the next.

Real-time Example: A test for a “Leave a Review” feature on a product page. The test requires a user who has bought the product. Rather than having to go through the whole app flow (login, search, add to cart, checkout), the test script first does a few API calls to set up a test user, an order, and the reviewable product. The UI test then only has to travel to the product page and confirm the review button is present.

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Conclusion

Managing Appium’s pitfalls—ranging from unreliable locators and device fragmentation to shaky tests and pop-up management—requires a solid and tactical strategy.  Implementing solutions such as utilizing Accessibility IDs, taking advantage of cloud device farms, and implementing explicit waits, for instance, allow testers to develop stable, cross-platform test suites. 

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