The very first Appium Meetup Tokyo was held on February 20, 2025, at Autify's Tokyo Office. Around 10 people attended in person on the day, with many more joining online.

Opening and Icebreaker

The event started with a lively and humorous opening talk by tsueeemura-san from Autify. To check the online connection and break the ice, he asked, "What's everyone having for dinner tonight?" An attendee responded, "Hot pot tonight," which brought a warm and relaxed atmosphere.

Autify's Appium Plugin Use Case

The first speaker was rerorero-san, who is in charge of mobile product development at Autify.

"Autify NoCode Mobile" provided by Autify is a cloud-based service that enables easy mobile app test automation without writing any code. Even without programming knowledge, you can record tests through an intuitive interface and have them automatically re-executed. The biggest advantage of this is that even developers and non-engineers can quickly set up a testing environment. Another key feature is the ability to use real devices and simulators in the cloud, eliminating the need for in-house equipment and significantly reducing capital investment.

However, there was a performance issue where the app would significantly slow down on screens with a large number of UI elements. Tap operations that normally took just a few seconds could take up to 40 seconds.

To tackle this problem, rerorero-san introduced "IDB (iOS Development Bridge)" developed by Facebook. IDB is an open-source CLI tool that allows fast interaction with iOS simulators and real devices by sending events directly to the Core Simulator Service, dramatically improving response speed. By integrating IDB as an Appium plugin and building a system that can be used directly without complex network settings between servers, Autify succeeded in reducing a 40-second operation to just 40 milliseconds, achieving roughly a 1,000x performance improvement.

Key Points from the presentation

• How to adopt the Appium plugin and implementation examples using JavaScript
• The technical mechanism behind IDB's fast tapping (sending events directly to the Core Simulator Service)
• A practical demonstration of performance improvements

The plugin can be implemented using the following code:

KINTO Technologies: Guidelines and Practices for Efficient App Test Automation

Next, Oka-san and Pann Nu-san from KINTO Technologies presented their method for building an automated testing environment and the results they achieved.

At our company, the growing number of device and OS combinations had significantly increased the burden of manual testing. To address this, the QA and development teams began collaborating from the early stages of development and introduced a method for setting unified, dedicated test IDs. This greatly reduced the burden of modifying XPATH when changing layouts, and significantly improved test stability.

In addition, we also built a system where test results are notified in real time via Slack, while managing detailed logs and test videos through Box. This creates an environment where all involved parties can easily check the test status.

Key Points from the presentation

• Integrating automated testing awareness into the development process
• Comparing maintenance load before and after introducing dedicated test IDs
• How to efficiently manage test results using Slack and Box
• Improving coding efficiency using Github Copilot

Presentation Materials

https://speakerdeck.com/kintotechdev/xiao-lu-de-naapurizi-dong-hua-notamenogaidoraintoshi-jian-fang-fa

📌 Current Status of E2E Testing and Topics of Interest from the Participant Survey

This time, we conducted a survey of everyone who attended the Meetup. Here are some interesting trends that emerged from the results.

(1) Participants by Occupation

More than half of the participants (54.1%) were QA engineers, but we also had participants from a variety of professions, including SET/SDET, web and mobile application engineers.

(2) Experience with Appium

More than half (55.7%) of respondents said they had never used Appium, suggesting that many participants were either new to the tool or currently considering adoption. On the other hand, there were also participants with over a year of experience, showing a wide range of maturity in Appium usage.

(3) Practical Experience with E2E Testing

In terms of E2E testing in general, over half of the respondents were relatively experienced, between 1 and 3 years (27.9%) or more than 5 years (24.6%), confirming that E2E Testing is already being widely used in practice.

(4) Topics of Greatest Interest

Participants expressed strong interest in the following topics:

• Case studies and results from adopting Appium for testing
• Appium usage scenarios, tips, and challenges
• Integration with CI/CD pipelines and cross-platform (React Native, Flutter, etc.) support

Based on these survey results, we'd like to continue to share information that meets your interests and needs in future events.

Networking and Future Outlook

After the session, participants gathered around enjoyed some pizza for a lively networking session that sparked new ideas and collaborations. Appium Meetup Tokyo will be held regularly, and we're actively looking for speakers and new community members. We'd love to have you join us again next time!

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.

We look forward to seeing you at the next "Appium Meetup Tokyo #2"!

Archive Distribution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV4WbClGquE