To set up Appium for mobile automation on a Mac, follow the below steps:

1. Install Homebrew (if not already installed): Homebrew simplifies the installation of software packages on macOS.

• Please find Homebrew and follow the instructions on this website: https://brew.sh/
• OR: Open Terminal and run
  • /bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”
• Verify the installation: brew -v

2. Install Node.js and NPM: Appium requires Node.js to run. You can install it using Homebrew.

• Run: brew install node
• Verify Node.js installation:
  • node -v
  • npm -v

3. Install Appium: You can do this in one of the following ways

• Install Appium Desktop. If you prefer a GUI, you can install Appium Desktop, which provides an inspector and server control:
  • Download it from: Appium Desktop
  • Install the .dmg file and follow the setup instructions.
  • Please note Appium Desktop is not supported any more.
• Install Appium with npm package, so you can install it globally. Run in Terminal:
  • npm install -g appium
• To check if Appium was installed correctly, run: appium -v

4. Install Java Development Kit (JDK) & Set (JAVA_HOME)Environment Variable:

• Follow steps through this video: https://shorturl.at/48BnN

5. Install Xcode (for iOS automation): Xcode is required for iOS development and testing

• Download Xcode from the Mac App Store.
• Install Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select –install
• Accept the Xcode license: sudo xcodebuild -license accept
• Open Xcode and create a dummy project to ensure proper setup of necessary components (like the simulators).

6. Install Android Studio (for Android automation): For Android automation, you need Android Studio and SDKs.

• Download and install Android Studio
• Install Android SDK and create at least one emulator.
  •  Note: When installing, make sure to select the Android Virtual Device component.

7. Configure AndroidStudio and Android SDKs

• Start AndroidStudio.
• In the Welcome dialog box, select Configure > SDK Manager. This will open the SDK Manager dialog box:
  • On the SDK Platforms tab, select the SDKs that you will need for testing.
    • Select at least one SDK.
  • Switch to the SDK Tools tab and make sure the following tools are selected there:
    • Android SDK Build-toolsNote:Select the latest available version.
    • Android SDK Platform-Tools
    • Intel x86 Emulator Accelerator (HAXM installer)
• Copy the value of the Android SDK Location box at the top of the SDK Manager dialog. We will need this value later:
  • 
• Now you need to specify the path to Android SDKs in the ANDROID_HOME environment variable. To do this, open the .bash_profile (same way we did for JAVA_HOME ) OR .zshrc in an editor and add the following lines to it:
  • export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
  • export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator
  • export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
• Restart the Terminal to get changes made to your .bash_profile. Run the following command to ensure it does not cause an error:adb
• (Optional) You can also run Appium Doctor to see if anything else requires configuring before you start testing: appium-doctor

8. Configure WebDriverAgent for iOS: Appium uses WebDriverAgent (WDA) to automate iOS devices.

• Clone WebDriverAgent: git clone https://github.com/appium/WebDriverAgent
• Open the project in Xcode, sign it with your Apple Developer account, and build it for iOS devices.

9. Install Maven

• Run the following command in the Terminal: brew install maven
• Check the maven version : mvn -version
• Set Environment Variable for Maven: Follow the steps through below video

• OR: Open your .bash_profile OR .zshrc file in an editor and add the following line to it:
  • export PATH=”/usr/local/Cellar/maven/version-number/bin:$PATH”
  • To get the version-number, go to /usr/local/Cellar/maven/. Look at the names of subdirectories there. These are available versions. Select the version you need.

10. Start Appium Server:

• Once everything is installed, start the Appium server, run: appium
  • Note: This will start the Appium server, which listens on port 4723 by default.

11. Verify Installation with Appium Doctor: Appium provides a tool called Appium Doctor to verify your setup.

• Install Appium Doctor:
  • npm install -g appium-doctor
• Run Appium Doctor for iOS
  • appium-doctor –ios
• Run Appium Doctor for Android:
  • appium-doctor –android

12. Configure Environment Variables (for ease of use) for Node & Appium

• Open ~/.bash_profile or ~/.zshrc and add:
  • export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/node
  • export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/appium

After setting up Appium and ensuring all dependencies are correctly installed, you’re ready to start writing and running mobile automation tests on iOS and Android devices!

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