How to Install Appium on Mac OS with Required Tools

In this article, we will learn how to install Appium on MAC OS with all external tools and components. I will try to explain each step respectively. Let’s start!

Step-1: Install JAVA JDK

You should go to the below link and install JAVA JDK for MAC OS.

https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html

If you are using higher-level JDK such as JAVA11 or JAVA15 or even greater, please download those JDK versions.

After installation checks the below path to find JAVA HOME, for my version it is as shown below.

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_192.jdk/Contents/Home

Then set JAVA_HOME on your Mac as shown below:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_192.jdk/Contents/Home

Then, run the below command to check your JAVA_HOME.

echo $JAVA_HOME

Note that this sets JAVA_HOME only for a session. If you want it to persist always for all sessions, you need to add the command to your ~/.profile file.

• Open a new terminal window.
• Open a .profile file by typing: emacs .profile or you can use the vi command vi.profile
• Type below lines:
  • JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_192.jdk/Contents/Home
  • export JAVA_HOME; 
  • Then, do the (ctrl-x, ctrl-s; ctrl-x, ctrl-c) to save and exit emacs.
  • Open a new terminal and run the below command:
    • $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version 
    • You should see the below screenshot with your java version number.

If you have MAC OS 10.5 or newer you can just use the below lines:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

then source the profile file:

source ~/.profile

Then check the result:

echo $JAVA_HOME

Step-2: Install Android Studio

You need to go to the below address, download Android Studio for Mac, and do the following as stated below.

https://developer.android.com/studio/

[1] To install Android Studio on your Mac, proceed as follows:

1. Launch the Android Studio DMG file.
2. Drag and drop Android Studio into the Applications folder, then launch Android Studio.
3. Select whether you want to import previous Android Studio settings, then click OK.
4. The Android Studio Setup Wizard guides you through the rest of the setup, which includes downloading Android SDK components that are required for the development.

When u open and select the default settings, Android Studio will start to download the required libraries as shown below.

if you are updating your current version with the new one, you can click the update button for all updates for Android Studio.

Then restart the Android Studio.

Do below settings in .profile file. Open a terminal and type

nano ~/.profile

Then, paste the below commands: (Change your user name! Not use my username “onur”).

export ANDROID_HOME=/Users/onur/Library/Android/sdk

export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH

export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$PATH
export PATH=$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin:$PATH

Then, run the below commands to verify the settings:

After that, check your settings and installations. Open a terminal and type sdkmanager --list

And type “uiautomatorviewer” to check uiautomatorviewer is working properly.

Step-3: Install Homebrew

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

echo $ANDROID_HOME

npm install -g appium #get appium

npm install wd #get appium client

id -un #Gives you your user name (Use it as owner below.)

sudo chown -R [owner] /usr/local/lib/node_modules

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/share/man/man5 /usr/local/share/man/man7

sudo xcodebuild -license accept

brew install carthage

npm i -g webpack

cd
appium

Step-7: Download Appium Desktop

Let’s go to this link: https://github.com/appium/appium-desktop/releases/  and download appium for mac. You should click and download .dgm file. For example, “Appium-mac-1.20.2.dmg“. When the download finishes, double click the .dgm file and drag and drop the Appium into Applications as shown below.

Then, you will see the appium logo in your applications when you click on the launchpad icon as shown below.

Step-8: Install libimobiledevice

In order to run our tests on real devices, we need to install libimobiledevice dependency by executing brew install libimobiledevice  command on terminal.

Step-9: Install XCode

Download Xcode from Mac AppStore and install Xcode. Once installed, Launch Xcode and select Xcode > Preferences > Components to install the simulators that you might want to test against.

Step-10: Install Authorize-ios

authorize-ios is a utility that pre-authorizes to run UIAutomation scripts on iOS devices. We need this tool for running our tests on real devices.

In order to install it, open a terminal window and run the following command:

npm install -g authorize-ios

Step-11: Install ios-deploy

To deploy our apps to our devices by using ios-deploy.  We can install and debug apps from the command line without using Xcode.

In the terminal, enter the following:

brew install ios-deploy

Step-12: Install ideviceinstaller

ideviceinstaller helps us to install, uninstall, upgrade, archive, restore, and enumerate installed or archived apps. We need this utility to run tests on real devices. In order to install it, run the below commands:

sudo xcode-select -r

brew install ideviceinstaller

Step-13: Install ios_webkit_debug_proxy

In order to access web views on real iOS devices, we need to install this tool. Run the below command:

brew install ios-webkit-debug-proxy

Step-14: Install Appium Doctor

Appium Doctor checks most of the preconditions for appium to run successfully. In order to install it, run the below command:

npm install -g appium-doctor

Let’s run appium doctor and see what we should do for Appium.

Step-15: Install Maven

It is used for building and managing Java-based projects by using dependencies. Open a terminal and run the below command.

brew install maven

Then, check the installation with the below command:

mvn -version

Then, add the maven path to your profile file.

export PATH=/usr/local/Cellar/maven/3.6.0/bin:$PATH

All tools for iOS and Android automation for the MAC environment are ready now. We can go on to start Android and iOS test automation from here.

References for Appium Installation on MAC

[1] – https://developer.android.com/studio/install

Thanks,
Onur Baskirt

Onur Baskirt

Onur Baskirt is a Software Engineering Leader with international experience in world-class companies. Now, he is a Software Engineering Lead at Emirates Airlines in Dubai.