Setting Up iOS Automation with Appium, Java, and WebDriverAgent

The author, who usually tests Android and iOS client applications, decided to build an iOS automation environment using Appium and Java after noticing a lack of iOS regression testing.

System environment MacOS: 10.12.6 iPhone real device: iPhone 6 (iOS 10.2.1) Appium: 1.6.3 Xcode: 9.2

Environment setup steps

1. Install Xcode from the App Store.

2. Install JDK if not already present (brew install openjdk) and configure environment variables.

3. Install Node.js via Homebrew: brew node install and verify with node -v.

4. npm is installed with Node; verify with npm -v.

5. Install Appium Doctor: npm install appium-doctor -g and run appium-doctor --ios to check iOS configuration.

6. Install required plugins:

brew install libimobiledevice

brew install ideviceinstaller

brew install carthage

npm install -g ios-deploy

(note: may require fixing errors shown in the screenshot).

7. Install Appium globally: npm install -g appium.

8. Download and install the Appium Desktop client from GitHub releases .

9. Install WebDriverAgent by navigating to

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/appium/node_modules/appium-xcuitest-driver/WebDriverAgent

and executing sudo ./Scripts/bootstrap.sh.

10. Open WebDriverAgent.xcodeproj in Xcode, configure the WebDriverAgentLib-General settings: set a unique bundle identifier and select your Apple ID team.

11. If Xcode reports directory errors, run sudo xcode-select -switch XXX (replace XXX with the correct Xcode path).

12. Install AnyProxy for traffic mocking: npm install anyproxy -g, then open http://ip:8002/fetchCrtFile on the device to install the proxy certificate.

13. Start Appium, set the Desired Capabilities (including udid obtained via Xcode), and click “Start Session”. The tested app should launch on the iPhone, indicating a successful setup.

Following these steps, the author successfully ran iOS automation scripts and verified the setup on a real device.