Block reference / App Management

Start app

Open an app by its package, installing it first if the phone has not got it.

Only inWarpX Phone

Start app opens an app on the run's phone as tapping its icon does. It is how most phone workflows begin. It can also make sure the app is there and up to date first, from your APK library or from Google Play, so a workflow run across a shelf of phones does not stop at the one that lacks the app.

Start app opens Shopee by its package — after installing or updating it from the APK library when the phone needs it.
The Start app block's settings, filled in as in the example below.

Settings

Package

The app, by its package name, such as com.shopee.vn. As you type, the field suggests the apps on the phone picked in the editor's toolbar, the apps phone farms run most (typing zalo finds com.zing.zalo) and the packages the workflow already names; tick System apps in the list to include built-in ones. What you type is kept as typed, so a reference such as {{loopData.package}} works too.

Examplecom.shopee.vn
If the phone has not got it

What happens when the phone has not got the app. Fail — On error can branch on it fails the block with APP_NOT_INSTALLED. Install it from the APK library installs the newest file the library has for that package, Install it from Google Play installs it from Play on the phone, and The APK library, else Google Play tries the library first and goes to Play only when the library has no file for it.

ExampleInstall it from the APK library
Update it first when there is a newer one

Before opening the app, puts a newer version on the phone when there is one: from the APK library, or from Google Play when that is the only source If the phone has not got it names. An app as new as the source's is left as it is.

ExampleChecked
Delay (ms)

A pause after the block finishes, before the next block starts. Write one number such as 1000, or a range such as 1000,3000 to pick a random pause in that range on each run.

Example0

Every block also has the shared block settings — a description, Disable block and what to do on an error. Fields that take text accept data from earlier blocks.

What it hands on

Hands on the package name as {{prevBlockData}}. Leaves by its single output once the app has been started; a failure, such as APP_NOT_INSTALLED, leaves by the fallback output when one is connected.

Example: Open Shopee on every phone, at the same version

  1. Start
  2. Start app
  3. Wait for element
Where Start app sits in the example workflow.
  1. In WarpX Phone's Settings, set the APK library to a folder and drop Shopee's .apk or .xapk file into it.
  2. Add a Start app block and type shopee in Package; pick Shopee (com.shopee.vn) from the suggestions.
  3. Set If the phone has not got it to Install it from the APK library and tick Update it first when there is a newer one.
  4. Add a Wait for element block that waits for Shopee's search field.
  5. Run the workflow from the Control Center on each phone. A phone without Shopee, or with an older one, gets the library's version first.

Good to know

  • With Fail — On error can branch on it, a missing app fails with APP_NOT_INSTALLED. Connect the fallback output to an Install app block, or to a block that records the phone, to handle it your own way. A new block has On error on and set to Execute fallback, so a failure leaves by the block's fallback output. Left unconnected, the failure stops the run as usual.
  • When the library has no file for a missing app and Google Play is not offered, the block fails with APP_NOT_INSTALLED and says whether the library folder was searched or none is set.
  • The APK library is a folder on this computer, set in WarpX Phone's Settings. Drop .apk, .apks or .xapk files into it, or into folders one level down; each file is known by the package inside it, not by its name, and the newest version of a package wins. An app split over several APKs is installed in one go. Files over 1 GB are skipped.
  • Google Play is driven on the phone: WarpX opens the app's page in Play, presses Install (or Update) and Accept, and waits up to 10 minutes for the package to appear. It needs the phone signed in to Google and the WarpX agent, and takes free apps only. Play's answers fail the block by name: PLAY_SIGNED_OUT, PLAY_PAID, PLAY_NOT_AVAILABLE (not for this phone), PLAY_UNAVAILABLE (no Play Store on the phone), PLAY_INSTALL_FAILED and PLAY_TIMEOUT.
  • Start app only starts the app; it does not wait for it to load. Follow it with a Wait for element block before tapping anything.
  • A workflow that was not edited on this computer asks you to allow this block before its first run when it may install or update the app — any choice but Fail, or Update it first ticked. Opening alone never asks.
  • There is no Device field: the block acts on the run's phone — the one picked in the editor's toolbar, or each phone ticked for Run automation in the Control Center or named in an API run.

See also

  • Stop app — Force-stop an app, as Force stop in its settings does.
  • Install app — Install an app from an .apk on this computer, from the APK library, or from Google Play.
  • Is app installed — Answer whether an app is on the phone: true or false.
  • Wait for element — Wait until an element shows on the phone's screen, or until it has gone.
  • App action — Open, force-stop or clear the data of an app, picked from one menu.