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What Is Appium?

Appium is an open-source mobile test automation framework that enables testing of Android, iOS, and hybrid mobile applications using a single API.

Its main goal is simple: automate real user interactions to ensure mobile application quality.

Why Appium?

Appium provides several advantages:

  • Cross-platform support (Android and iOS)
  • Supports Native, Hybrid, and Mobile Web apps
  • Multiple programming languages:
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • Python
  • Ruby
  • C#

This flexibility allows teams to use their existing tech stack without learning a new language.

How Appium Works

Appium follows the WebDriver protocol.

Flow:

Test Code -> Appium Server -> Native Drivers -> Mobile Device

Under the hood:

  • Android -> UiAutomator2
  • iOS -> XCUITest

This architecture enables: "Write once, run on multiple devices."

You can reuse most of your test logic across platforms.