Appium 2.0: New Features and Highlights for Mobile Test Automation

What Is Appium

Appium is an open‑source automation framework that can drive iOS, Android, Windows desktop applications, and hybrid mobile web apps using a single API, allowing test code to be reused across multiple platforms.

Appium Philosophy

Built on the idea of using the same framework for many devices, Appium encourages contributors to create custom drivers and plugins, keeping it the most popular mobile test‑automation framework.

Appium 2.0 Highlights

Unbundled Drivers

Drivers such as UIAutomator2, Espresso, and XCUITest are no longer shipped with the Appium server, making it easier to develop, contribute to, and install only the drivers you need, which reduces the overall installation size.

Custom Driver Templates

Appium 2.0 provides driver templates that let users create new drivers for different platforms with minimal code, and existing drivers can be extended privately, opening opportunities for community contributions or paid custom driver development.

Special Command Plugins

Because Appium supports many use cases, special‑command plugins can be installed independently to modify Appium’s behavior for specific tasks, and users can share their plugins with the community.

Installation Commands

Install the Appium server globally:

npm install -g appium

Install drivers:

appium driver install xcuitest

appium driver install uiautomator2

Other driver commands:

appium driver list

appium driver list –updates

appium driver update <driverName>

Summary

Appium 2.0 eliminates the bundled‑driver problem, making testing easier and lighter. With more options for custom drivers, a wave of contribution and collaboration is expected, bringing a fresh, streamlined experience to test automation engineers.