Switching Views Between NATIVE and WEBVIEW in Appium with Ruby

Today, we will discuss how to switch between NATIVE and WEBVIEW contexts using Appium with Ruby.

Understanding Views in Mobile Apps

There are three types of apps on mobile devices:

• Native Apps – Built specifically for a platform using native SDKs.
• Web Apps – Accessed through a browser and do not require installation.
• Hybrid Apps – A combination of native and web apps, containing both native and web elements.

Hybrid apps, since they contain both Native elements and Web elements, require switching between views during automation testing.

Why Switch Views?

To interact with: ✅ Web elements → Switch to WEBVIEW ✅ Native elements → Switch to NATIVE-VIEW

By default, an app launches in NATIVE-VIEW. To interact with Web elements, you need to switch to WEBVIEW, and vice versa.

How to Switch Between Views in Appium (Ruby)

Appium provides built-in API calls to handle view switching seamlessly.

1️⃣ Check the Current Context

To verify the current view:

puts $driver.current_context  # Returns the current context (e.g., "NATIVE_APP")

2️⃣ Get Available Contexts

To list all available views:

puts $driver.available_contexts  # Returns an array of available contexts

Typically, WEBVIEW is the last in order. You can confirm this using:

puts $driver.available_contexts.last  # Returns last available context (usually WEBVIEW)

3️⃣ Switch from NATIVE to WEBVIEW

$driver.set_context($driver.available_contexts.last)

After this switch, you should be able to interact with web elements.

4️⃣ Switch from WEBVIEW to NATIVE-VIEW

$driver.set_context($driver.available_contexts.first)

This will bring you back to interacting with native elements.

Important Notes

📌 Appium’s documentation on Ruby contexts is not very clear, so this guide simplifies it.
📌 WEBVIEW is always last in the available contexts list.
📌 NATIVE-VIEW is always first in the available contexts list.

Final Thoughts

I hope this guide helps you understand how to switch between views in Appium using Ruby.

💡 Have questions? Drop a comment below, and I’ll be happy to help!

Happy scripting! 🚀