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Run your first test

XCUITest is a mobile automation framework provided by Apple that helps you write UI tests for your iOS applications. BrowserStack App Automate supports XCUI testing on a wide range of real iOS devices. This guide will help you run your first XCUI test on BrowserStack.

Setup

  1. You will need a BrowserStack username and access-key. To obtain your access credentials, sign up for a free trial or purchase a plan.

  2. XCUI tests are built into a separate zip file. Hence, you will need access to both the app (.ipa file) as well as XCUI test-suite (separate .zip file). If you do not have .ipa files and are looking to simply try App Automate, you can download our sample app and sample test-suite here:

iOS Device OS Download links
Below iOS 14.0 Sample app and Sample test-suite
For iOS 14.0 and above Sample app and Sample test-suite
Note: For sample app and sample test-suite, you can also refer to our XCUI sample GitHub repository.

Upload your app

Upload your iOS app (.ipa) file to BrowserStack servers using a REST API request.

The following sample cURL command shows how to upload an app:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/xcuitest/v2/app" \
-F "file=@/path/to/app/file/app-debug.ipa"

A sample response for the request is as follows:


{
    "app_name":"app-debug.ipa",
    "app_url":"bs://j3c874f21852ba57957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "app_version":"1.0",
    "app_id":"j3c874f21852ba57957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "uploaded_at":"2022-05-13 06:16:49 UTC",
    "expiry":"2022-06-12 06:16:49 UTC"
}

The value of the app_url parameter in the response is used to specify the application under test when you run XCUI tests.

Note: App upload will take a few seconds to about a minute depending on the size of your app. Do not interrupt the curl command until you get the response back.

Upload your test suite

Upload your XCUI test suite (.zip) file to BrowserStack servers using a REST API request.

The following sample cURL command shows how to upload a test suite:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/xcuitest/v2/test-suite" \
-F "file=@/path/to/app/file/BrowserStack-SampleXCUITest.zip"

A sample response for the request is as follows:


{
    "test_suite_name":"BrowserStack-SampleXCUITest.zip",
    "test_suite_url":"bs://f7c874f21852ba57957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "test_suite_id":"f7c874f21852ba57957a3fdc33f47514288c4ba4",
    "uploaded_at":"2022-05-13 06:17:50 UTC",
    "expiry":"2022-06-12 06:17:50 UTC",
    "framework":"xcuitest"
}

The value of the test_suite_url parameter in the response is used to specify the test suite when you run XCUI tests.

Note: If you do not have a .zip file for your test-suite, follow step by step instructions in our Build and export test-suite guide to generate the zip file.

Execute XCUI tests

After you upload the app and test suite to BrowserStack servers, send an API request to start the test execution as shown in the following sample cURL request:

Select device
This device is not available in the free plan. Please upgrade to paid plan.
 

A sample response for the request is as follows:

{
    "message":"Success",
    "build_id":"4d2b4deb810af077d5aed98f479bfdd2e64f36c3"
}

The build_id is used to uniquely identify your build in App Automate.

View test results

After you start an XCUI test-suite execution using the REST API request, visit your App Automate dashboard to view your test results, debugging logs, and overall test details. You can also use API requests to view test results.

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