What tools are used for locating elements in a mobile application?

The following tools and approaches are used for locating locators in mobile applications:

• Appium Inspector — a visual tool that allows viewing the UI element hierarchy, their properties, and attributes to select unique locators.
• UIAutomator Viewer (for Android) — a tool from the Android SDK for analyzing UI elements and their properties.
• Xcode Accessibility Inspector (for iOS) — allows exploring interface elements and their accessibility identifiers.
• Selendroid Inspector — an equivalent of Appium Inspector for Android.
• Espresso Test Recorder — for recording actions and obtaining locators in Android.

In addition to tools, it is important to know what types of locators can be used:

• ID
• Accessibility ID
• XPath
• Class Name
• UIAutomator (Android)
• NSPredicate, Class Chain (iOS)

The choice of locator depends on the stability and uniqueness of the element. Usually, preference is given to ID or Accessibility ID, as they are more stable and faster to search.