Appium is an open source, cross-platform test automation tool for native web, hybrid and mobile applications, tested on simulators (iOS, FirefoxOS), emulators (Android) and real devices (iOS, Android, FirefoxOS).
The tool uses the Selenium WebDriver API and is therefore compatible with the JSON Wire Protocol, effectively supporting most browsers. It is a server written in Node.js so, given the client-server architecture, it is possible to use a client written in any language (Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, C# and PHP) to send the appropriate HTTP requests to the server.
The Appium client libraries contain the standard Selenium client libraries to provide all the normal Selenium commands and add extra commands related to mobile device control, such as multi-touch gestures and screen orientation.
Appium server uses different frameworks for different platforms:
The Appium tool offers an Inspector that can be used to search or locate elements of an application and allows you to perform basic actions on the elements found.
Appium is developed to encourage community participation in the planning, design and evolution of the tool.