Automate Android Contacts Flow

Automate the Android Contacts app to create contacts with random data.

Testing how your app interacts with system contacts, or simply testing the native Contacts app itself, is a great way to explore Astra Scout's ability to handle system-level applications. This recipe demonstrates how to create a new contact from scratch, utilizing built-in data generation to ensure every test run is unique.

The Workflow

Since you will be interacting with a system app, the Flow focuses on navigating on the standard Android UI patterns and handling keyboard states.

1. Launch the target the native Android contacts package.
2. Use built-in commands to create realistic names, phone numbers, and emails on the fly.
3. Use the back command to dismiss the soft keyboard when it obstructs the view of subsequent input fields.
4. Save the contact to the device database.

1. Contacts Flow

This Flow interacts with the default Contacts app on Android emulators. The app id and labels can differ between system images, so adjust them if your emulator ships a different Contacts app. Create a YAML file in your testing directory and use the following code to define the Flow:

# contacts.yaml
appId: com.android.contacts
---
- launchApp

# Start the creation process
- tapOn: "Create new contact"

# A realistic first name is generated automatically
- tapOn: "First name"
- inputRandomPersonName

- tapOn: "Last name"
- inputRandomPersonName

- tapOn: "Phone"
- inputRandomNumber:
    length: 10

# The keyboard often covers the 'Email' field. 
# We use 'hideKeyboard' to dismiss it safely.
- hideKeyboard

- tapOn: "Email"
- inputRandomEmail

# Finalize the contact
- tapOn: "Save"

The above Flow automates the contact creation, but it is important to understand how it was structured for those starting with Astra Scout:

• By using inputRandomPersonName and inputRandomEmail, you avoid duplicate contact errors that would occur if you used hardcoded strings. This makes the test repeatable without needing a manual cleanup after every run.
• One common cause of flaky tests on Android is a soft keyboard covering the next button you need to press. Using the hideKeyboard command is a reliable way to hide the keyboard and bring the rest of the form back into view.
• Since system apps are updated by Google, their resource IDs can change. Targeting stable accessibility labels like "First name" or "Save" makes your Flow more resilient to OS updates.

2. Implementation

Depending on your needs, you can run this automation directly or integrate it into a larger test. To run it directly, start an Android emulator, open contacts.yaml in Astra Scout, and run it from there (see Run flows).

You can also use the contacts.yaml as a subflow. In this case, if your app needs to ensure a contact exists before performing an action (like "Invite a Friend"), you can call this file as a subflow from your main test:

# invite_friend_test.yaml
appId: com.your.app
---
# Ensure a contact is present in the OS before testing invites
- runFlow: contacts.yaml

# Resume testing your own app
- launchApp
- tapOn: "Invite Friends"
- assertVisible: "Invite"

Related content

Explore these pages to learn more about the automation patterns used in this recipe:

• inputText: See all available random data generators, including addresses and email.
• Generate synthetic data: Learn how to generate random test data.