Session

The Session in Appetize makes it easy to manage and interact with device sessions, including simulating user actions, toggling device states, retrieving device information and more.

Methods

on()

Listens for an event of the given name

session.on(event, data => {
   console.log(data)
})

Event	Data Type	Description
action	RecordedAction	A user action has been recorded. This can be played back later with playAction. Requires record to be set to true
appLaunch	void	App launch event occurred.
audio	{ buffer: Uint8Array, codec: 'aac', duration: number }	Audio frames of the current session. Requires audio to be set to true
error	{ message: string }	An error has occurred on the session
firstFrameReceived	void	First video frame received.
inactivityWarning	{ secondsRemaining: number }	Session is about to timeout due to inactivity. Any user interaction or a heartbeat will reset the timeout.
interaction	UserInteraction	User has interacted with the device.
log	{ message: string }	Debug log from the device Requires debug to be set to true
network	NetworkRequest | NetworkResponse	Intercepted network request or responses. Requires proxy to be set to intercept
orientationChanged	'portrait' | 'landscape'	The device has changed orientation
video	{ buffer: Uint8Array, width: number, height: number, codec: string }	Video frames of the current session. These frames can be muxed (e.g. using jmuxer) to turn it into a video format. When codec is jpeg the buffers are of jpeg images.
end	void	The session has ended

end()

Ends the session

await session.end()

rotate()

Rotates the device 90 degrees

await session.rotate('right')

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
direction	"left" | "right"	The direction to rotate

screenshot(format)

Takes a screenshot of the device and returns the data

const { data, mimeType } = await session.screenshot(format)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
format?	"buffer" | "base64"	The format of the screenshot data to return. Defaults to buffer

heartbeat()

Sends a heartbeat to the server, resetting the inactivity timer

await session.heartbeat()

tap(target, options)

Taps on the screen at the given position, coordinate or element

await session.tap({ position: { x: '50%', y: '50%' } })
await session.tap({ coordinates: { x: 100, y: 100 } })
await session.tap({ element: { attributes: { text: 'OK' } } })

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
target.coordinates?	{ x: number y: number }	The coordinates in dip units
target.position?	{ x: string y: string }	The position on screen in %
target.element?	ElementSelector	An element selector
target.duration?	number	Duration of the tap
options.timeout?	number	If an element is provided, the amount of time to wait for it to appear in ms (defaults 10s)
options.matchIndex?	number	If multiple elements match the element selector, select the nth one

swipe(target, options)

Swipes on the screen at the given position, coordinate or element

await session.swipe({ position: { x: '50%', y: '50%' }, gesture: 'up' })
await session.swipe({ coordinates: { x: 100, y: 100 }, gesture: 'up' })
await session.swipe({ element: { attributes: { text: 'OK' } }, gesture: 'up' })

target.coordinates?	{ x: number y: number }	The coordinates in dip units to start the swipe
target.position?	{ x: string y: string }	The position on screen in %
target.element?	ElementSelector	An element selector
target.duration?	number	Duration of the swipe
target.gesture	string | function	The gesture of the swipe. See swipe for more details
options.timeout?	number	If an element is provided, the amount of time to wait for it to appear in ms (defaults 10s)
options.matchIndex?	number	If multiple elements match the element selector, select the nth one

type(text)

Types the given text on the device

await session.type("hello")

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
text	string	Text to type

Typing is limited to 1000 characters at a time to ensure optimal performance and prevent potential disruptions. For larger payloads, you can use multiple 'type' operations.

keypress(character, options)

Sends a single key press to the device

await session.keypress("a")

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
key	string	Key to send to the device ('a', 'b', etc.) Also takes special values for hardware keys: HOME Android Only: VOLUME_UP VOLUME_DOWN ANDROID_KEYCODE_MENU LOCK_SCREEN UNLOCK_SCREEN iOS Only: TOGGLE_SCREEN_LOCK
options.shift?	boolean

setLanguage(language)

Changes the current language and restarts the app

await session.setLanguage("fr")

If your app does not automatically handle language/locale changes, you would need to explicitly call restartApp for this to take effect. Some apps might also cache data in the previously used language. In these cases use reinstallApp to clear any previous cached data.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
language	string	Language code

setLocation(lat, long)

Sets the simulated location of the device.

await setLocation(-33.924434, 18.418391)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
latitude	number	Decimal number between -90 and 90, representing the degrees of north or south of the Equator. Negative numbers indicate south of the Equator, and positive numbers indicate north of the Equator.
longitude	number	Decimal number between -180 and 180, representing the degrees of east or west of the Prime Meridian. Negative numbers indicate west of the Prime Meridian, and positive numbers indicate east of the Prime Meridian.

openUrl(url)

Opens a deep-link or web URL

await session.openUrl("https://appetize.io")

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
url	string	The URL

shake()

Shakes device

await session.shake()

toggleSoftKeyboard()

Toggles the soft keyboard (iOS only)

await session.toggleSoftKeyboard()

biometryEnrollment(isEnrolled)

Sets the biometry enrollment status (iOS Only)

await session.biometryEnrollment(true/false)

biometry(match)

Simulate a matching fingerprint (Android 8+ only) or Face ID (iOS)

await session.biometry({
    match: true/false
})

allowInteractions(enabled)

Enables or disables all interactions on the device. Default is true.

await session.allowInteractions(true/false)

adbShellCommand(command)

Executes an adb shell command on the device (Android only)

await session.adbShellCommand("am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d https://appetize.io/")

launchApp(appId)

Launches the specified application using the provided appId.

If the app is already running, it will be brought to the foreground instead of being relaunched. If the app was originally launched with params or a launchUrl, these will also be passed with this method.

await session.launchApp(appId)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
appId	string	Android: The app's package name / appId (e.g., com.example.app) or packageName/activityName. If no activity name is specified, it defaults to the main launch activity. iOS: The app's bundle identifier (e.g., com.example.app).

restartApp()

Restarts the app

await session.restartApp()

reinstallApp()

Reinstalls the app

await session.reinstallApp()

getUI()

Returns the UI as an XML string

await session.getUI()

Experimental The data structure of the response is subject to change

Old Engine

Returns an array of elements, with app and system content separated into two sections.

[
  {
    "type": "app",
    "appId": {running app},
    "children": [ ... ] // Your app content
  },
  {
    "type": "app",
    "appId": "com.apple.springboard",
    "children": [ ... ] // Springboard (system UI) content
  }
]

New Engine

addMedia(file)

The maximum file size for uploading media is 50 MB.

Upload media to the device.

await session.addMedia(file)

findElement(selector)

Returns an element that matches the selector. See Targeting Elements.

This is useful for waiting until an element appears.

const element = await session.findElement({
    attributes: {
        text: "Home"
    }
})

If multiple elements are found it will return the first element.

findElements(selector)

Returns an array of all elements matching that selector. See Targeting Elements.

const elements = await session.findElements({
    attributes: { 
       accessibilityLabel: 'Like post'
    }
})

playAction(action, options)

Play an automation Action or array of Actions.

await session.playAction(action)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
action	Record<string, any>	Actions emitted from the session.on('action') event
options.timeout?	number	Amount of time in ms to wait for the action to succeed (default 10s)

playActions(actions, options)

Plays an array of actions.

await session.playActions(actions)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
actions	Array<Record<string, any>>	Actions emitted from the session.on('action') event
options.timeout?	number	Amount of time in ms to wait for an action to succeed (default 10s)

waitForAnimations(options)

Waits until the there are no ongoing animations on the screen by waiting for the image to stabilize for at least 1 second.

await session.waitForAnimations(options)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
options.imageThreshold?	number	The threshold for the amount of pixels (in %) that can change between frames before the image is considered to be stable. (default 0.001)
options.timeout?	number	The maximum amount of time (in ms) to wait for the image to stabilize. (default 10s)

waitForEvent(event, options)

Waits for an event to occur

const networkEvent = await session.waitForEvent('network')

const requestEvent = await session.waitForEvent('network', event => {
    // resolves only when this condition is met
    return event.type === 'request'
})

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
event	string	One of the session events.
options.timeout?	number | null	The maximum time (in milliseconds) to wait for the event to be emitted.
options.predicate?	(data: T) => boolean	The predicate condition to be satisfied, otherwise the function will continue to wait for the event.

waitForTimeout(timeout)

Waits for the given time to elapse (in ms)

await session.waitForTimeout(5000)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
timeout	number	Timeout in milliseconds.

waitUntilReady()

Waits until the session is fully initialised and ready for use.

Properties

adbConnection

Info for connecting to the Android devices via adb. Requires enableAdb to be true.

See AdbConnectionInfo.

app

The Appetize app for the session, if applicable.

See AppetizeApp.

config

The config applied to the current session.

See SessionConfig.

device

The current device. See DeviceInfo.

networkInspectorUrl

The URL to chrome dev tools to inspect network logs. Requires proxy to be set to intercept.

path

The URL to the Appetizer server.

token

The token of the Appetize session.