Browserstack App Automate takes a very long time to start

Question

I am using WebdriverIO to connect my Appium test script to Browserstack. My project structure is basically the same as the example here: https://github.com/browserstack/webdriverio-appium-app-browserstack/tree/master/ios

Using our own app, the test takes around 6-9 minutes to start. When investigating the video recording, the app is opened immediately, it just stays on the first screen for several minutes before executing the commands.

[12:03:32]  COMMAND     POST     "/wd/hub/session"
[12:03:32]  DATA                {"desiredCapabilities":{"javascriptEnabled":true,"locationContextEnabled":true,"handlesAlerts":true,"rotatable":true,"name":"Sign_Up","build":"PBA_iOS","device":"iPhone 7 Plus","app":"XXXXXXXX","browserstack.debug":true,"requestOrigins":{"url":"http://webdriver.io","version":"4.13.2","name":"webdriverio"}}}
[12:09:20]  INFO        SET SESSION ID 2be9267fe9bae10f3fef233698954493bb33fdc7
[12:09:20]  RESULT              {"webStorageEnabled":false,"locationContextEnabled":true,"browserName":"","platform":"MAC","javascriptEnabled":true,"databaseEnabled":false,"takesScreenshot":true,"networkConnectionEnabled":false,"han ... (1268 more bytes)
[12:09:20]  COMMAND     POST     "/wd/hub/session/2be9267fe9bae10f3fef233698954493bb33fdc7/elements"
[12:09:20]  DATA                {"using":"accessibility id","value":"OK"}
[12:09:20]  RESULT              [{"ELEMENT":"D4CDA7B7-2EC7-422B-AD3C-1BF40E73ECBA"}]

You can see in the console logs that the long wait happens after sending desired capabilities. Is there a way to speed it up?

My conf file:

exports.config = {
  user: 'XXXXXXXXXXX',
  key: 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',

  updateJob: false,
  specs: [
    './tests/signup.spec.js'
  ],
  exclude: [],

  capabilities: [{
    name: 'Sign_Up',
    build: 'PBA_iOS',
    device: 'iPhone 7 Plus',
    app: 'XXXXXXXX',
    'browserstack.debug': true
  }],

  logLevel: 'verbose',
  coloredLogs: true,
  screenshotPath: './errorShots/',
  baseUrl: '',
  waitforTimeout: 10000,
  connectionRetryTimeout: 90000,
  connectionRetryCount: 3,

  framework: 'mocha',
  mochaOpts: {
    ui: 'bdd',
    timeout: 40000
  }
};

In case it matters, I am still on a trial (and the issue is especially annoying as the 10 second test case eats up minutes of the trial timer waiting).

Answer 1

This usually occurs if your app has some pop up while launching which increases the launch time. Include the capability waitForQuiescence: false and try again.