Selenium Mobile Testing: Automating Tests For Android And iOS

Still, executing the mobile test cases manually? You must have realized that it is getting harder and harder to perform mobile testing with these traditional testing approaches. This is because the applications are not only becoming more complex, but the mobile world is also growing rapidly, adding variations in terms of both software and hardware. To keep up with these changes, you need to implement advanced testing processes like Selenium mobile testing.

Although Selenium is a test suite for implementing automated web app testing, it can integrate itself with Appium to expand its capabilities to mobile automation as well. Confused about Selenium mobile testing? Don’t worry! We are here for you.

Our article will help you understand how you can use Selenium to automate tests for both Android and iOS platforms. During this discussion, we’ll also go through some of the most important practices to improve the quality and efficiency of your entire testing environment.

Why Use Selenium For Mobile Testing

As we already mentioned earlier, Selenium by itself cannot perform mobile automation testing. However, it is very easy to combine Selenium with Appium to perform this goal. It basically uses the Selenium WebDriver protocol to create a bridge between the Selenium WebDriver and Appium. The result? You can natively test both hybrid and mobile web applications for Android and iOS devices.

• To further justify the use of Selenium for mobile testing, let us go through some of the most important parameters that justify the inclusion of this test suite within your testing environment:
• With Selenium, you can run the same test script on both Android and iOS devices. Therefore, you can completely cut the hassle of creating specific test suites for every dedicated mobile operating system.
• While you are using Selenium for mobile automation, you do not have to worry about learning a completely different programming language for writing the automation test scripts. Why? Selenium supports all the popular programming languages natively to create test scripts.
• Both Selenium and Appium are open-source in nature. The result? You will have a cost-effective and community-driven testing solution. You can also use this community whenever you are stuck with any feature of the testing infrastructure.
• Finally, the integration of Selenium and Appium will allow you to run automation testing across multiple device configurations, including both emulators and real devices. This will be a very important parameter to implement a comprehensive testing infrastructure and provide the best experience to your customers.

Setting Up Selenium For Mobile Testing

To set up Selenium for executing mobile testing, you have to perform a series of prerequisites and also certain intentional steps. To simplify this process for the new testers, we have mentioned all the required steps in the correct order:

1. First, you need to install the Java development kit, as it is the required parameter to run any Java-based automation test script. You will also require Node.js and npm to perform Appium installation and also execute the Appium test scripts. Other dependencies for Android and iOS testing include Android SDK, XCode, and the Appium server.

2. Additionally, you also need to install Selenium WebDriver so that you can interact with the web elements in mobile applications. We also suggest using an IDE like Eclipse or IntelliJ for writing and managing the automation test scripts.

3. To install Appium, you simply have to use the npm package installer and enter the following code snippet:

npm install -g Appium

4. After this, you can use the Appium method to initiate the server. You can also perform the verification process for the installation by navigating to the following URL in a web browser:

http://localhost:4723/wd/hub

5. Now, you have to move on to set up the Android testing processes by using the developer mode and USB debugging on Android devices. In this phase, you can also install Appium Doctor to check if dependencies are correctly installed:

npm install -g Appium-doctor

6. Now, you need to use the following code snippet to create a capability object in the test script. This object will define the mobile testing parameters for the testing scenario:

7. After creating the capability object, you need to set up iOS testing by installing Xcode and Xcode Command Line Tools. You also have to install Carthage and Webdriver Agents so that you can interact with iOS elements. To perform this process, you just have to use the given code in the terminal window of Selenium:

Writing Selenium Test Cases For Mobile Applications

Now that you have finished setting up Selenium and Appium to execute mobile testing, you have to start moving towards writing the automation test scripts to initiate the test cases. To help you gain a basic idea about how these test scripts are created, we have mentioned some of the most common examples in this segment:

Locating Mobile Elements

If you want to locate elements on your mobile web applications while using Selenium and Appium, you can use locators like ID, XPath, class name, and accessibility ID. For example, you can use the following code snippet to create an automated login test where the system will automatically interact with the required elements and perform a test login:

Handling Gestures And Actions

Most mobile applications have to add various gestures like swiping, tapping, and scrolling so that the users can easily interact with the web elements. You can easily automate the testing process for these interactions by using the TouchActions method.

For example, if you want to test the functioning of the swiping element, you have to enter the given code in the terminal:

On the other hand, the following code will help you understand how the users are able to scroll on the user interface of your mobile application:

Parallel Execution With Selenium Grid

1. After this, you have to register Android and iOS nodes to the hub using Appium. This step is designed to allow you to run multiple such test scenarios at the same time.
2. The final step in this process is to modify the test capabilities so that you can use the remote WebDriver protocol. The following line of code will help you perform this process:

WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL(“http://localhost:4444/wd/hub”), capabilities);

We would like to inform the testers that the proper implementation of parallel testing can help you complete thousands of different test cases within just a few hours. If you want to execute your test cases further and expand your testing efficiency, you must consider using parallel testing. You can implement parallel testing with Selenium Grid, which is yet another tool under the Selenium test suite:

Want to implement parallel testing? Simply follow the steps that we have given below:

     3 . Begin the process by initiating the Selenium hub full step to perform this step, you just have to enter the attached line of code in the terminal:

java -jar Selenium-server-standalone.jar -role hub

Executing Selenium Mobile Testing On The Cloud

In certain cases, the developers only restrict the mobile testing processes to emulators and simulators. Emulators and simulators might provide a basic understanding of the mobile environment but can never give an accurate picture of the physical interpretation of applications.

However, you will be delighted to know that to execute real device testing, you do not have to necessarily invest millions of dollars in a physical device lab. This is because you can receive the same testing efficiency with cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest.

LambdaTest is an AI-native test orchestration and execution platform that lets you perform manual and automation testing at scale with over 5000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations. You can easily integrate LambdaTest with Selenium and Appium to create mobile-friendly test cases. To further help you with this understanding, we have mentioned a sample code for the same:

We would also like to mention that after running the test cases, LambdaTest will automatically create a test report with multiple screenshots and videos. The result? You can easily find the faulty elements in the application to implement the required debugging and troubleshooting steps.

Best Practices For Selenium Mobile Testing

Finally, let us go through some of the best practices that we highly recommend the testers to incorporate while using Selenium mobile testing. These practices will not only help improve the quality of the testing infrastructure but will also massively improve the productivity of the entire workflow:

• While using Selenium, we recommend using Page Object Models as it will help you to maintain clean, reusable, and scalable test code. Page Object Models will also decrease the technicality of the test scripts and ensure that they are understood by even the non-technical members of the team.
• You should also use continuous deployment and continuous integration by adding test management tools like Jenkins or GitHub actions. This will help you implement continuous testing so that you can perform the testing and development phases at the same time.
• Although emulators can give a basic idea about the application’s performance when exposed to various mobile environments, it can never accurately replicate the physical parameters of your device. You must use real device testing so that you can get a view of the actual capability of the application based on various real-world use cases.
• Throughout the test execution process, it is very important to constantly monitor the resource consumptions like memory and CPU usage. This will help you understand how the app will perform depending on various device offerings.
• You must remember that automation testing comes with a hefty initial investment. This will mostly cover the expenses of adding various frameworks, tools, and dependencies that are very important for this process. So, you must plan your expenses, ROI, and other KPIs properly to justify this inclusion.
• Finally, you must have a very thorough error-handling mechanism. This implementation will help you guarantee that the tests do not fail due to any minor user interface changes. Practices like these are crucial to maintain your delivery timeline and provide quick and high-quality applications to your users.

The Bottom Line

Based on all the factors that we have put forward in this article, we can easily see that Selenium mobile testing, with the help of Appium, will create a powerful and flexible solution for automated Android and iOS testing. By following all the strategies and best practices that we have mentioned in this article, you can achieve efficient and reliable mobile test automation practices.

Moreover, by adopting Selenium for your mobile testing requirements, you can create high-quality applications quickly while ensuring its cross-device compatibility and optimal performance, irrespective of the user’s chosen device.

Still unsure about Selenium mobile testing? Start small, choose a specific unit test, and integrate Selenium with it. Based on the results and feedback you receive, you can scale accordingly.