Mobile Flow Node

The Mobile Flow node allows you to automate interactions with native mobile applications (Android and iOS) using Appium. It supports real devices, emulators, and cloud services such as BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, and LambdaTest.

Overview

Prerequisites

Appium

The Mobile Flow node requires an accessible Appium server:

Recommended versions (QANode 0.2.2+)

npm install -g appium@3.2.0
appium driver install --source=npm appium-uiautomator2-driver@7.0.0
appium driver install --source=npm appium-xcuitest-driver@10.25.0

For iOS, XCUITest requires macOS with Xcode configured.

Appium Drivers

General Configuration

Session Mode

• New Session (new): Opens a new Appium session on every execution. Ideal for isolated tests.
• Reuse Session (reuse): Reuses a session already created by another Mobile Flow node in the same flow. Useful for splitting long automations across multiple nodes while keeping the same device connected.

Mobile Credential

The credential centralizes connection settings and device capabilities. Configure at Credentials → New Credential → Mobile.

Connection Modes

Device Capabilities

Steps (Mobile Steps)

The Mobile Flow node executes a sequence of configurable steps. Each step represents an action on the device.

Available Actions

Mobile Selector Strategies

Tip: The Mobile Inspector automatically generates selectors when you tap elements, with no need to write XPath manually.

Action Details

tap

Taps an element using selector strategies.

If all selector attempts fail and fallback coordinates exist (generated by the inspector), the tap will be performed at the direct coordinates.

tap-coords

Taps at absolute screen coordinates.

type

Types text into an input field.

clear

Clears the content of an input field.

swipe

Swipes on the screen between two points.

scroll

Scrolls content in a direction.

wait

Waits for a condition before proceeding.

Modes:

assert

Verifies a condition in the application. If it fails, the step is marked as failed.

Modes:

Assertion results are available in outputs:

{{ steps["mobile-flow"].outputs.asserts.assertionName }}  →  true or false

extract

Extracts text or an attribute from an element.

Extracted data is available in outputs:

{{ steps["mobile-flow"].outputs.extracts.extractionName }}

reset

Resets the application, clearing its state (equivalent to uninstalling and reinstalling).

back

Presses the physical/virtual Back button (Android — keycode 4).

home

Presses the Home button (Android — keycode 3).

key-event

Sends an Android keycode directly to the device.

Common keycodes:

Evidence (Screenshots)

Each step can have individual evidence settings:

Generated screenshots are available in the Evidence tab of the execution result. Taps and swipes are highlighted with a green visual marker over the screenshot.

Outputs

Complete Example

Android app login

Steps configured in the node:

1. wait → Mode: elementVisible, Selector: id=com.myapp:id/email_field (timeout: 10000ms)
2. tap → Selector: id=com.myapp:id/email_field
3. type → Selector: id=com.myapp:id/email_field, Text: {{ variables.USER_EMAIL }}
4. type → Selector: id=com.myapp:id/password_field, Text: {{ variables.USER_PASSWORD }}, Clear: true
5. tap → Selector: accessibility_id=Login
6. wait → Mode: elementVisible, Selector: id=com.myapp:id/home_title (timeout: 15000ms)
7. assert → Name: loginOk, Mode: elementExists, Selector: id=com.myapp:id/home_title
8. extract → Name: welcomeText, Selector: id=com.myapp:id/welcome_message, Attribute: text

Result after execution:

{
  "sessionId": "my-android-session",
  "extracts": { "welcomeText": "Hello, John!" },
  "asserts": { "loginOk": true }
}

Reusing a Session Across Nodes

Node 1 — Mobile Flow (Login)

• Session ID: android-session
• Steps: login to the app

Node 2 — Mobile Flow (Check Order)

• Session Mode: reuse
• Session ID: android-session
• Steps: navigate to orders, check status

Both nodes share the same device and session state.

Tips

• Use the Mobile Inspector to record steps visually — it generates selectors automatically when you tap elements
• In the Desktop edition, Appium starts automatically when a flow with a mobile node runs — no manual configuration needed
• Prefer accessibility_id as the primary selector — it is more stable than XPath and works on both Android and iOS
• Configure screenshots on critical steps to make failure identification easier
• Use Continue on Fail in monitoring assertions to collect multiple results without interrupting the flow
• For apps that take a long time to start, add a wait step with elementVisible before interacting
• A custom Session ID makes it easy to reuse sessions across multiple Mobile Flow nodes in the same flow