Mobile Testing with Appium and WebDriver.IO

This demo framework showcases the power of Appium and WebDriver.IO in mobile testing for Android devices. It provides a comprehensive example of how to automate mobile testing using these popular tools.

Learn More

For more information on using Appium with WebDriver.IO, check out the WebDriverIO Appium docs.

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General System Requirements

Node JS

We need node js to download Appium beta version & drivers easily.

• Download Node Js depending on your operating system.

Java JDK & JAVA_HOME variable

• Open JDK
• JAVA_HOME setup for Windows

I Tested the following steps on Windows 11:

• Installed Adopted Open JDK: You can download and install OpenJDK from the official website: https://adoptopenjdk.net/
• To return where was the SDK installed: You can check the installation directory, usually C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-16

 where java 

• If you want to check the java version:

java -version

• Open the Environment Variables to insert the JAVA_HOME variable: Setting up Environment Variables for OpenJDK

Step 1: Access System Properties Right-click on This PC or Computer and select Properties.

Step 2: Access Advanced System Settings Click on Advanced system settings on the left side.

Step 3: Access Environment Variables Click on Environment Variables.

Step 4: Add a New System Variable Under System Variables, scroll down and find the New button. Click on the New button to add a new variable.

Step 5: Configure the JAVA_HOME Variable In the Variable name field, enter JAVA_HOME. In the Variable value field, enter the path where you installed the OpenJDK (e.g. C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-16).

Step 6: Save Changes Click OK to close all the windows.

• You can check if it was set correctly running the command:

echo $JAVA_HOME

• It should return something like:

C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-16

Android Setup

Android Studio & ANDROID_HOME variable

• [Android Studio]https://developer.android.com/studio)

• ANDROID_HOME setup for Windows

• Enter the environment variables :

    export ANDROID_HOME="/Users/[USER]/Library/Android/sdk"
    export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH
    export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$PATH

Setting up Environment Variables for Android SDK

Step 1: Access System Properties

1. Right-click on This PC or Computer and select Properties.
2. Click on Advanced system settings on the left side.
3. Click on Environment Variables.

Step 2: Set ANDROID_HOME Environment Variable

4. Under System Variables, scroll down and find the New button. Click on the New button to add a new variable.
5. In the Variable name field, enter ANDROID_HOME.
6. In the Variable value field, enter the path where you installed the Android SDK (e.g., C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk).
7. Click OK to close the window.

Step 3: Update PATH Environment Variable

8. In the Environment Variables window, scroll down and find the Path variable, then click Edit.
9. Click New and add the paths to the tools and platform-tools folders (e.g., C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\tools and C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools).
10. Click OK to close all the windows.

• You can check if it was set correctly running the command:

    echo %ANDROID_HOME%

• It should return something like:

        C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk

• With this configured you can access the command Android Debug Bridge

    adb

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Download Appium Inspector

In order to find the correct locators to map elements, you will need to have this tool installed in your computer.

• Appium Inspector Releases

For this project you can use the following configuration:

Server Key	Server Value
Remote Host	0.0.0.0
Remote Port	4724
Remote Path	/

Android Desired Capabilities(Example)

Desired Capability Key	Desired Capability Value
platformName	Android
platformVersion	[OS VERSION / IMAGE]
deviceName	[EMULATED_DEVICE_NAME]
app	/[PROJECT_PATH]/[APP_NAME].apk
appium:automationName	UIAutomator2

Install Apium

Appium is an open source test automation framework for use with native, hybrid and mobile web apps. It drives iOS, Android, and Windows apps using the WebDriver protocol.

• Install Appium from the official documentation
• Install Appium 2 by Node JS(Beta):

    npm install -g appium@next

Check the appium version using

    appium -v

Appium Doctor

To check if your OS meets the appium requirements, install this node package.

• Appium Doctor Package Install it using the command

npm install appium-doctor -g

And then use the library:

appium-doctor

Appium drivers

If you want Appium to work correctly, you need to download and have the android/ios driver in your system. Run the commands:

appium driver install uiautomator2

Check the installed drivers using

appium driver list

Sample applications

Sample Application that you can use:

SauceDemo Hybrid App - React Native) - (Framework is configured to use this one)

Sauce Labs Native Sample Application

Setup WebDriverIO

1- Run the command to create the package.json & continue with the installation process

    npm init wdio .

2- Using the WDIO Configuration Helper select the options you want to select. In my case I decided to use:

• On my local machine
• Mocha
• No compiler
• Spect Location: Default
• Do you want WebDriverIO to generate some test files?: No
• Reporter: Spec
• No Plugin
• Service: Appium
• Base URL: Default
• NPM Install: Yes

3- Add your tests at

'./[yourProject]/specs/**/*.js'

4- Configure the app route at wdio.conf.js

• Declare where it is going to be located

const projectPath = require('path')
const androidAppPath = projectPath.join(process.cwd(), "app/android/Android-MyDemoAppRN.1.3.0.build-244.apk")

• Set up the capabilities for Android(Emulator sample)

capabilities: [{
        platformName: 'Android', 
        "appium:device-name": 'Mi_A1',
        "appium:platformVersion": "9.0",
        "appium:automationName": "UIAutomator2",
        "appium:app": androidAppPath,
        // "com.saucelabs.mydemoapp.rn": "com.saucelabs.mydemoapp.rn.MainActivity")
    }]

• Install Appium in your project

    npm install --save-dev appium@next

• Check if the drivers are still available, if not install them again:

appium driver list

appium driver install uiautomator2

• Run your scripts using

npx wdio

Setup WebDriverIO

if you want to run this project:

1- Install all the system requirements

2- Clone the project

3- Run: npm i

4- Download the android app and place it under desired folder

5- npx wdio

Security Remediations

The following security vulnerabilities have been addressed via overrides in package.json:

CVE	Package	Severity	Fixed Version	Description
CVE-2026-40175	axios	Critical	≥1.15.0	SSRF / proxy bypass — cloud metadata exfiltration
CVE-2026-34601	@xmldom/xmldom	High	≥0.9.9 / ≥0.8.12	XML injection via unsafe CDATA serialization

Both overrides ensure all transitive copies of these packages resolve to patched versions.

Extra Information

• UI Selectors (Android)