Why use iOS automation testing tools?
Your iOS app must work flawlessly on 28.33% of the world’s mobile devices. Apple has more than 2.2 billion active devices in the world, and iOS powers a significant number of them amongst macOS, watchOS, iPadOS. App builders must run comprehensive automated tests before even considering a release to appeal to such a huge user base.
Using iOS Automation testing tools within any SDLC is essential because:
- Faster execution times, which are necessary because your app must be tested on hundreds of devices for good coverage.
- Re-run tests as often as needed to address complex iOS bugs.
- Rapid feedback loops, helping developers find and fix bugs quickly.
- Eliminates issues arising from human error.
- Enables comprehensive test coverage across multiple scenarios, devices, screen sizes and iOS versions.
- Allows for early bug detection, which directly contributes to faster time-to-market.
- Delivers better-quality iOS software, as more tests can be run in existing timelines.
Top 10 iOS Automation Testing Tools to Consider in 2025
#1 BrowserStack
BrowserStack offers a real device cloud (20000+ real devices) and valuable features for testing websites and apps. For automated iOS app testing specifically, it offers App Automate. QAs can build and deploy test scripts on a wide range of real Apple devices – iPhone 15, 14, 13 Pro Max, iPhone X, iPhone 8, 6s, iPad Pro 12, Air & Mini & more, all running on real iOS versions.
Key Features
A plug-and-play UI reduces setup and maintenance work.
wide range of iPhones and iPads running on major and minor versions—from iOS 17 & iOS 16—to older iOS version 7.0.
Day 0 access to latest iOS devices to test on them the day they are released globally.
Every iOS test runs on pristine and secure Apple devices with no backlogs.
Test native device features — physical SIM, camera-based workflows, login authentication, payments, and biometric authentication.
Integrate easily with test automation frameworks like Appium, XCUITest, Flutter, and Detox.
Test your iOS mobile apps and websites on internal dev and staging environments via a secure tunnel.
To check the app under different network conditions, simulate real-world network conditions (e.g., 2G, 3G, LTE, weak Wi-Fi).
Simulate different locations (both regional and international) to ensure that your app adheres to customers’ preferences, local cultures, and regulations.
Access many debugging tools, such as text logs, video recordings, and screenshots.
Access a multitude of integrations with automation frameworks, CI/CD tools, and project management solutions.
Pricing
BrowserStack offers multiple testing products, but the following are what you need for running automated testing on iOS apps:
- Desktop & Mobile Plan: $199 / month (billed annually)
- Desktop & Mobile Pro Plan: 249 / month (billed annually)
#2 SauceLabs
SauceLabs also offers a cloud-based platform for testing iOS apps, as well as capabilities to build, organize, and run tests for delivering high-quality applications.
Key Features
- Enables web and hybrid iOS app testing across multiple OS versions and device configurations.
- Seamlessly compatible with commonly used tools and testing frameworks like Appium, XCUITest, and Espresso.
- Simulates a variety of network conditions, as well as locations for comprehensive, even edge-case testing.
- Offers useful debugging tools—video recordings, screenshots, and detailed logs of each test.
- In-built analytics to highlight test trends, pass/fail rates, common performance bottlenecks, and efficiency gaps.
- Equips testers with APIs to integrate with necessary development tools, as required.
Pricing
- Virtual Cloud: $149 per month, billed annually or $199 month-to-month
- Device Cloud: $199 per month, billed annually or $249 month-to-month
- Mobile Beta Testing: $199 per month, billing annually (+ taxes and fees)
#3 Appium
Appium is an open-source framework for running automated app tests, including iOS apps. Testers can script in multiple languages—Python, Java, Ruby, and JavaScript—and run them on multiple iOS devices or simulators.
Key Features
- Enables the creation of a single codebase that works for Android and iOS testing with few changes.
- Enables testing of hybrid, native, and web apps.
- Supports testing on iPhones, iPads, and iPods.
- Provides stable support for testing gestures, alerts, and interactions with the app.
- Specifically, it supports testing gestures like swipe, tap, zoom, pinch, drag-and-drop, etc.
- It interacts with native UI components via locators: Accessibility ID, XPath, iOS Predicate Strings (for advanced queries), etc.
- Automates device-based functions like push notification, app function in the background, device locking/unlocking, hardware buttons, etc.
- Allows parallel testing for faster test execution.
Pricing
Appium is an open-source framework. Download and use without any licensing fees.
#4 XCTest and XCUITest
These two robust testing frameworks from Apple are designed to automate iOS app testing. They are often used for unit tests and a variety of UI tests.
Both frameworks support the testing of individual components as well as the more extensive application. XCUITest works as a subset of XCTest. It is meant to test the UIs of iOS apps.
Key Features
- Automates interaction with UI elements—text fields, buttons, sliders.
- Provides a UI test recorder for capturing user actions and automatically creating test scripts.
- Supports parallel testing on multiple devices or simulators.
- Enables testers to write custom logic and verify unique UI states.
- Can query elements dynamically by hierarchy, predicate strings, and other locators.
- Can gather data around performance of actions like launch, transitions, scrolling, etc.
Pricing
- XCTest and XCUITest are included for free with Xcode.
#5 Detox
Detox facilitates end-to-end testing for React Native and native mobile apps. It synchronizes with the iOS app under test and works with React Native, Swift, Objective-C, and Kotlin apps.
Key Features
- Automatically synchronizes with the app to wait for idle states (when no activity occurs on the app) before running the next test step. This reduces flaky tests.
- Offers a rich API to simulate user actions—swiping, tapping, typing, scrolling.
- Integrates well with CI/CD tools—Bitrise, Jenkins, GitHub Actions.
- Enables parallel testing to speed up execution times.
- Provides detailed logs and clear error messages to help with debugging operations.
Pricing
- Detox is open-source and free to use.
#6 Katalon Studio
This automated testing platform supports iOS app testing across desktop, web, mobile apps, and APIs. It can test native, hybrid, and web apps on various real devices, simulators, and cloud device farms.
Key Features
- Integrates with Appium for mobile testing.
- Offers a user-friendly UI that helps run complex Appium configs.
- Allows testers to record user actions on an app and build test scripts automatically.
- The quick learning curve for non-technical team members.
- Provides numerous features for test management.
- Powers data-driven tests and supports external data sources like Excel, CSV, databases, and APIs.
- Enables easy debugging with step-by-step execution tracing.
- Can identify, capture, and analyze all app objects.
- Can work effortlessly with custom keywords and reusable scripts.
Pricing
- Premium plan: $175 per user/month billed at $2,099/year
#7 OCMock
OCMock is a framework for building mock objects in Objective-C. It is especially effective for running unit tests on iOS applications. QAs can use it to isolate and verify individual components by replicating user behaviors, interactions, and dependencies.
Key Features
- Enables the creation of mock objects to simulate the behavior of real objects in testing environments.
- Allows creation of mock methods that rely on asynchronous operations and callbacks.
- Works well with existing Objective-C codebases, and doesn’t require code modifications to work.
- Allows testers to define expectations for method calls.
- Can replicate errors, exceptions, and unexpected behaviors to check system response under pressure.
- Can monitor the number of times a mocked method is called within a test.
- Integrates with XCTest and XCUITest, Apple's native testing frameworks.
- Lightweight framework with no large dependencies.
Pricing
- OCMock is open source and free to use.
#8 LambdaTest
Lambdatest provides cloud-based testing capabilities as well as access to real browsers and devices. It supports testing for iOS apps (web and mobile apps) and works in combination with multiple other frameworks (Appium, Selenium), etc.
Key Features
- Supports testing of native, hybrid, and web apps.
- Integrates with Appium to run scripts for iOS apps.
- It enables testing on the latest and legacy models of iOS devices, including the iPhone 14, iPhone SE, and iPads.
- Allows parallel testing on multiple iOS devices.
- Ensured data security compliant with enterprise-grade certifications—SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA.
- Works with most major CI/CD and test management tools.
- Facilitates test orchestration—automatically ranks and allocates tests to devices for optimal resource use.
Pricing
- Live Plan: $15/month (billed annually)
- Real Device Plan: $25/month (billed annually)
#9 Firebase Test Lab
This is another cloud-based test infrastructure, designed and managed by Google. It lets developers verify app behavior on real devices hosted in Google’s data centers. Testers can run both manual and automated tests.
Key Features
- Enables testing on real iOS devices.
- Supports iOS-specific test frameworks like XCTest and XCUITest.
- Offers Robo Testing to run tests without scripts; the tool automatically crawls through the app while simulating user interactions. It then finds and reports bugs, crashes, system hangs, and other anomalies.
- Enables parallel testing to accelerate test cycles.
- Provides detailed test reports: pass/fail status, logs, screenshots, and videos.
- Integrates with the Firebase ecosystem for crash analytics and performance monitoring.
- Allows easy app uploads via Firebase Console, the command-line interface (gcloud CLI), and the REST API. Pricing Pricing for Firebase Test Lab depends on usage and quotas.
#10 Xamarin.UITest
Xamarin.UITest is built for UI acceptance tests of iOS apps (among others). It integrates incredibly well with Xamarin and . NET-based apps. QAs can write tests in C#, and scan through apps built in Swift, Xamarin, Objective-C.
Key Features
- Tests are written in C# with the NUnit framework.
- Integrates with Visual Studio, ideal for .NET developers.
- Integrates with Xamarin Test Cloud for wider device & OS coverage.
- Automates testing of multiple interactions—tapping, entering text, swiping, scrolling.
- Enables the creation of object-oriented tests.
- Offers a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) tool for inspecting elements and dynamically interacting with them.
Pricing
- Xamarin.UITest is part of the Xamarin software platform. It is free for individual developers, but enterprise versions for businesses can be expensive.
Which iOS automation testing tool should you pick in 2025?
I would pick the top choice for this list - BrowserStack. Here’s why:
BrowserStack met every requirement for most automated app testing projects my team and I undertook. The handy features are:
- Earliest possible access to new iOS devices. That really sets you ahead of the competition.
- It was easy to test native iOS device and app features, which I could not do on most other testing platforms.
- Integration is simple and quick whether you’re working with Appium, Espresso, XCUITest, Flutter, or Detox.
- It is very easy to test on dev servers and internal staging environments behind firewalls, with no setup or extra configuration.
- Hassle-free app uploads. Either upload a new build or query your recent builds with REST API.
- Plenty of legacy iOS devices to choose from.
- Easy setup to run parallel tests as needed.
I recommend trying out the free demos of every tool on this list (or at least the top 5) before making your decisions. I did the same, and it was BrowserStack’s device cloud and the quality of features/service that convinced me.
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