New Community Launch: Appium Meetup Tokyo Expands the Possibilities of Mobile UI Testing

This is Nakanishi from the Developer Relations Group. I'm excited to share that we're launching a new community!

The mobile app market continues to grow year after year, making fast and high-quality releases more crucial than ever to remain competitive. That's where Appium, a testing tool that works with iOS and Android and feels similar to Selenium, is drawing a lot of attention. That said, implementing and operating Appium comes with its own set of challenges, including OS version differences and the complexity of setting up the environment.

To tackle these challenges and share solutions, we've launched a new community: Appium Meetup Tokyo.

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Reasons for Launching Appium Meetup Tokyo

• Growing Needs
  Release cycles for mobile apps are becoming increasingly shorter and manual testing alone is reaching its limits. Appium is a valuable tool for enhancing test automation efficiency, but knowledge about its setup and implementation is still not widely shared.
  
  At KINTO Technologies, we've set technical capabilities, development productivity, and release speed as our Core Goals for 2025, and test automation with Appium plays a central role in achieving all three.
  
  With the growing spotlight on development productivity across companies, and as our development speed continues to increase, automated testing is becoming more critical than ever.

• Lack of information for Japan
  While English documentation and overseas case studies are on the rise, there's still limited comprehensive Appium information available in Japanese. When putting it into practice, familiar examples and real stories of success and failure can be a huge help.
  
  I'm sure many QA engineers and mobile app developers at other companies are facing the same challenges. That’s why we aim to energize the Japanese-speaking community and encourage information sharing to help create an even better automated testing environment.

• Collaboration with Autify
  While talking with Autify, a company that provides a mobile app automation testing platform, the idea came up that it would be great to have more opportunities to learn about Appium. As the conversation progressed, we decided to get the community started with small study sessions.
  
  Autify uses Appium behind the scenes in their services and has accumulated a wide range of knowledge. Their insights and expertise aren't usually shared publicly, things you wouldn't easily gain just from developing your own apps or in-house automated testing. Personally, I'm really excited about this collaboration.
  
  Furthermore, by sharing comprehensive know-how, including not only Appium but also related tools, we aim to build a community that can solve a wider range of problems.
  
  We're currently looking for more members to help grow this initiative.

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Community Activities

• Regular Study Sessions

  • Introduction to Appium
  • Hands-on sessions using real devices and simulators
  • Explanation of CI/CD pipelines

• Lightning Talks (LT) and Discussions

  • Case studies from companies that have adopted Appium
  • Sharing issues and know-how unique to the field
  • Sharing the latest updates and useful tips

• Online Information Sharing

  • Archiving slides and resources
  • Q&As on the community Slack and social media
  • Creating a collection of best practices

We're hoping to explore all of these initiatives together with you.

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First Event Details

• Date: Thursday, February 20, 2025 19:00-21:30
• Location: Autify Tokyo Office (Hybrid event)
• Main theme:
  1. Use case of Appium plugin in Autify (15 min + 5 min Q&A)
  2. Guidelines and practices for efficient app test automation (15 min + 5 min Q&A)
  3. [Open Call] Lightning Talk 3 (15 min + 5 min Q&A)
  4. [Open Call] Lightning Talk 4 (15 min + 5 min Q&A)

Check out for details on connpass.
https://autifyjapan.connpass.com/event/342867/

If you're interested in presenting or attending, please sign up via the link above!

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Future Plan

• Ongoing Events
  We plan to continue hosting study sessions and workshops to meet the needs of everyone, from beginners and advanced users.

• Information on Integration with Other Tools
  We'll also actively cover comparisons and integration examples with other tools like Selenium and Cypress, helping you expand your practical options.

• Community-Driven Knowledge Sharing
  As we hold more events, we aim to share a wealth of insights, including stories of success and failure relate to Appium, across the community, contributing to participants' skill development.

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For Those Considering Participating

• Those who want to fully implement automated testing for mobile apps
• Those who are interested in Appium and seeking specific examples or know-how
• Engineers and QA personnel interested in CI/CD-based operations
• Those who want to improve their testing culture by learning from other companies' experiences

If any of the above applies to you, we'd love to have you join us at Appium Meetup Tokyo to exchange the latest insights. Future announcements and detailed information will be provided by @AutifyJapan and @KintoTech_Dev. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward to seeing you at Appium Meetup Tokyo!