Appium Docker for iOS

This repository contains the scripts used to build the quamotion/appium-docker-ios Docker image. It contains all the software required to build and run Appium with real, physical iOS devices on Linux.

The Docker image includes software from Quamotion which make it possible to run Appium Docker for iOS on Linux. This software is available under a commercial license from Quamotion, contact us at info@quamotion.mobi for more information.

What the container does

If you run a container based on this image, it will set up an Appium server which you can use to automate iOS device.

Requirements

Before you can run Appium tests on real, physical iOS devices from Linux, you will first need:

• An iOS device device.
• A Developer Certificate and a Provisioning Profile which can be used to sign iOS applications and install them on your iOS device. See Configure Developer Profiles for more information.
• The Developer Disk Images for the version of iOS which is running on your device. See the Quamotion documentation for more information.
• Install Docker. Most Linux distributions include a recent version of Docker.
• Install usbmuxd on your computer. Most Linux distributions include a recent version of usbmuxd.

appium-docker-ios runs on x86_64 and arm64 processor architectures. This means you can run appium-docker-ios on a Raspberry Pi 3 or later! You can check your processor architecture by running uname -m.

Prepare your computer for appium-docker-ios

Pairing your iOS device with your computer

First, you'll need to pair your iOS device with your computer. To do this:

1. Install usbmuxd and the libimobiledevice. On Ubuntu, you should be able to run sudo apt-get install -y usbmuxd libimobiledevice-utils.
2. Connect your iOS device to your computer using an USB cable. You should see a pairing dialog on your device. Accept the pairing request.
3. Run idevice_id -l. It should output the UDID (unique ID) of your device.

Installing Docker

You should install a recent version of Docker on your computer. On Ubuntu Linux, you can run sudo apt-get install -y docker.io.

Preparing the Quamotion configuration

Create a folder in which you will store your developer disk images, your developer profile and your developer profile password. In this tutorial, we'll use the .quamotion hidden folder in the user directory.

1. Create the directory: mkdir -p ~/.quamotion
2. Copy your developer disk images to the ~/.quamotion/devimg directory
3. Copy your developer profile to ~/.quamotion/quamotion.developerprofile.
4. Save the password for your developer profile in the file ~/.quamotion/quamotion.developerprofile.password.

Starting the container

All set! You're ready to start Appium for iOS on your Linux machine.

Start the container using the following command:

docker run \
    -p 4723:4723 \
    -v /var/run/usbmuxd:/var/run/usbmuxd \
    -v ~/.quamotion/:/etc/quamotion/
    -e DEVELOPER_PROFILE_PASSWORD=1 \ # You won't need this in newer versions!
    --name appium-docker-ios
    quamotion/appium-docker-ios

The Appium server should start:

ios@quamotion:~/$ docker run -p 4723:4723 -v /var/run/usbmuxd:/var/run/usbmuxd -v ~/.quamotion:/etc/quamotion -e DEVELOPER_PROFILE_PASSWORD=1 quamotion/appium-docker-ios
[Appium] Welcome to Appium v1.18.1
[Appium] Appium REST http interface listener started on 0.0.0.0:4723

You can check the version of Appium which is running by running the following command:

ios@quamotion:~/$ curl -X GET http://localhost:4723/wd/hub/status
{"value":{"build":{"version":"1.18.1"}},"sessionId":null,"status":0}

Starting an Appium session

To start an Appium session on your iOS device:

• Connect to the Appium server running at http://localhost:4723
• Set the following capabilities:
  • platformName : iOS
  • automationName : XCUITest
  • deviceName : iPhone,
  • udid : The UDID of your device
  • bundleId : com.apple.Preferences (to launch the Preferences app)

For example, you could POST http://localhost:4723/wd/hub/session with header Content-Type: application/json:

{
  "desiredCapabilities":
  {
    "platformName":"iOS",
    "automationName":"XCUITest",
    "deviceName":"iPhone",
    "udid":"72157b76f677f22c98864d62307fdff9d56fa62a",
    "bundleId":"com.apple.Preferences"
  }
}

This will start the Preferences application on the iOS device with UDID 72157b76f677f22c98864d62307fdff9d56fa62a.

Questions?

This repository is maintained by Quamotion. Quamotion develops test automation software for iOS applications, based on the WebDriver protocol.

In certain cases, Quamotion also offers professional services - such as consulting, training and support. Contact us at info@quamotion.mobi for more information.