About Appium
Appium is an open source project for automating the user interface of many kinds of apps. It uses the WebDriver protocol, so the same kind of test code can drive mobile, browser and desktop targets.
What it does
Appium provides a server that receives commands from test scripts and passes them to the platform being tested. It supports mobile apps on iOS and Android, browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, desktop apps on macOS and Windows, and TV platforms. An ecosystem of drivers, clients and plugins extends it. A command line interface and documented endpoints support setup and scripting.
Key features
- Automate mobile, browser, desktop and TV apps
- Client libraries and drivers for several languages
- Plugins that extend the core server
- Command line interface for running the server
Who it's for
QA engineers and developers who need one automation approach across several platforms. Teams with existing Selenium skills often adopt it for mobile testing.
Pricing and good to know
Appium is open source under the Apache-2.0 license, according to its repository. Setup takes some work, since each platform needs its own drivers and device or emulator configuration. The documentation includes a quickstart for Android and a guide to the ecosystem.
Highlights
- Automate mobile, browser, desktop and TV apps
- Client libraries and drivers for several languages
- Plugins that extend the core server
- Command line interface for running the server
