This article will guide you to launch the Mobile App in Appium Inspector after you install the latest version of Appium Inspector and upload the Mobile Apps into the Worksoft SaaS domain.

Appium is a web-driver based tool that lets you automate ‘native, mobile web, and hybrid applications on iOS and Android mobile platforms’. We will use Appium Inspector and launch the Mobile App in the cloud to inspect the elements and write the locators for building the Test Scripts.

Worksoft SaaS uses BrowserStack cloud provider for Mobile App Testing. You can download the latest version of Appium Inspector from Appium Inspector Releases. For more information on Appium Inspector please refer to the following link.

However if you have an existing subscription with the SauceLabs cloud provider and intend to use it instead of BrowserStack for Mobile App Testing, you can download the latest version of Appium Inspector Sauce Labs fork from Appium Inspector SauceLabs Releases in order to reap the benefits of the other additional features. For more information on the features refer to the link.

Lauching Mobile App using Appium Inspector:

Once you have installed the latest version of Appium Inspector and uploaded the required Mobile Apps in Worksoft SaaS domain, you can get started with launching the Mobile App to build the Test Scripts using the Appium Inspector. You will need to follow the below steps:

1. Open the Appium Inspector.


2. Click on the Select Cloud Providers Tab in the Navigation Header.




3. As Worksoft SaaS uses BrowserStack cloud provider for Mobile App Testing., select the BrowserStack option from the list and click on the Done button. But If you have an existing subscription with the SauceLabs cloud provider, you can use it instead of BrowserStack. You need to integrate your SauceLabs account with Worksoft SaaS and select the SauceLabs option from the list and click on the Done button. For more information on integrating a SauceLabs account with Worksoft SaaS refer to the link.
   
   



4. You will see that the selected cloud providers are shown in the navigation header. Click on the required cloud provider Ex: BrowserStack.


5. You need to enter your username and Access Key of the selected cloud provider in respective fields. You can find the credentials in the Worksoft domain by following the below steps:

Login to the Worksoft Domain as Admin User.

Click on the Hamburger 

Click on the Selenium Cloud Platforms link

Click on the Mobile App Cloud platform from the available list

Copy the Username and Access Key by clicking on the copy icon next to each field and paste it in the Appium Inspector

6. You need to add the capabilities for the required device in the desired Cloud Provider under the JSON Representation section by clicking on the Edit Icon.

Following are the example JSONs for iOS & Android devices in BrowserStack:

Required Capabilities for Android Device in BrowserStack:

Required Capabilities for iOS Device in BrowserStack:

"appium:deviceName":"iPhone 14",
"appium:browserstack.networkLogs":"true",
"appium:browserstack.appium_version":"2.0.0",
"appium:app":"mobileAppBinaryCloudIdentifier"
}

Following are the example JSONs for iOS & Android devices in SauceLabs:

Required Capabilities for Android Device in SauceLabs:

{
"appium:deviceName":"Google Pixel 6 Pro",
"appium:gpsEnabled":"true",
"appium:platform":"Android",
"appium:platformVersion":"12",
"appium:app":"mobileAppBinaryCloudIdentifier",
"appium:appPackage": "appPackageName",
"appium:appActivity":"appActivityName",
"platformName":"Android",
"appium:orientation":"PORTRAIT",
"appium:autoGrantPersmissions":"true"
}

Required Capabilities for iOS Device in SauceLabs:

{
"appium:deviceName":"iPhone11",
"appium:gpsEnabled":"true",
"appium:platform":"iOS",
"appium:platformVersion":"14.8",
"appium:app":"mobileAppBinaryCloudIdentifier",
"appium:appPackage": "appPackageName",
"appium:appActivity":"appActivityName",
"platformName":"iOS",
"appium:orientation":"PORTRAIT",
"appium:autoGrantPersmissions":"true"
}

Note:

These capabilities are just examples. You can use the latest device and platform versions as per your need by heading to Saucelabs Platform Configurator or BrowserStack Configurator. 

Please reach out to the App developer within your team for the "appPackageName" and "appActivityName" values highlighted in Yellow. Also, you need to share it with the Worksoft SaaS team to execute the tests in Worksoft SaaS.

You can get the "mobileAppBinaryCloudIdentifier" highlighted in yellow from the Product screen under the "Mobile App Version & identifier(s)" column as shown in the below screenshot.

7.   Click on the ‘SAVE’ icon  
   




8. You will observe the capabilities are added in the format of a table under ‘Desired Capabilities’ after you save. Please keep the ‘..Add Vendor Prefixes…’ option checked (it is checked by default), so that you do not have to manually enter any information that Appium can append.
   
   


9. You can save the Capabilities for future use by clicking on the ‘Save As…’ button which will display ‘Save Capability Set As…’ popup. You need to then provide a name and click on the ‘Save’ button.  
   
   


10. Once you save the capability, it will show up under the ‘Saved Capability Sets’  
    
    


11.  Click on the ‘Start Session’ button on the bottom right to launch the App.  

Note: Depending on the selected device availability and the concurrency of your subscription availability the session will get launched. It will take a couple of minutes to start the session. Once the session is started, you will observe the app window on the left, the app source in between and element information to the right. 




We have successfully launched the app in Appium Inspector and can begin identifying the elements and writing locators.