How to Build Regression and E2E Tests for iOS and Android

Qampanion is a free macOS app for visual E2E testing of iOS and Android apps. Here is why we made it, how to create your first test case, and how it compares to AI tools and test code.

Before every release, someone on your team opens the app and clicks through the same screens. Login. Search. Payment. This work takes hours. It breaks your focus and turns into a routine you want to escape. And your product managers and backend developers often have no idea how to do it.

The common answer is test automation. But automation means code, frameworks, and infrastructure. For many teams this is too heavy.

We built Qampanion as a third option.

Qampanion main window: a project with test cases and steps

What Is Qampanion

Qampanion is a macOS application for creating and running end-to-end tests for iOS and Android. You build tests in a visual editor: you place actions on a screenshot of your app. Tap, swipe, type, wait. No test code.

Qampanion works with Xcode simulators and Android emulators. When a test runs, the app compares the screen with a reference screenshot. If the screen changes, the step fails, and you see the difference.

You can group test cases into test plans and run a full feature or the whole project with one click.

Everything runs on your Mac. Your app, your screenshots, and your test data stay on your machine. The project file is versionable, so you can keep it in git and run it in CI.

A test step: actions placed directly on the app screen

Why We Made It

Our team worked in startups and in large international companies. Testing pain looks different in these two worlds, but it is the same pain.

In a startup, you have no QA department. Sometimes you have no QA person at all. Before a release, developers test the new feature and the old flows by hand. Regression eats days. Qampanion solves this: anyone can start in an hour, tests are visual, and a test behaves the same way on every run.

In a large company, you get the opposite problem. Teams write a lot of automation code, and this code gets old. Tests depend on locators, break after every redesign, and need updates again and again. With Qampanion, any person on the team can fix a test or run it. No code knowledge needed. AI integration and a CLI cover CI/CD.

We built the tool we wanted to have in both jobs.

Devices and applications are managed inside Qampanion

Your First Test Case

From download to a green test run, the path has six steps.

Step 1. Install and set up

Download Qampanion.dmg from qampanion.com and move the app to Applications. You need macOS 15 or later. Open Settings → Dependencies and let the app install the rest. Xcode is the only thing you install by hand.

Qampanion installs dependencies for you (except Xcode)

Step 2. Pick a device and import your app

Go to Settings → Devices and pick an iOS simulator or an Android emulator. Then open Settings → Applications and import your app. Qampanion accepts .app, .apk, and .zip files.

Import your .app or .apk file

Step 3. Create a test case

On the project page, click [ + ] in the left sidebar and give your test case a name. A test case is not tied to one platform. The same project can hold tests for iOS and Android.

Creating a new test case

Step 4. Add steps and actions

A step is one screen of your app plus the actions on it. Four action types exist: tap, swipe, type, and wait. Qampanion saves a screenshot for each step, and this screenshot becomes the reference for future runs.

A step without actions works as an assert: it checks that the screen matches the reference. Dynamic content like timers or banners can break the comparison, so you can mark excluded zones and set a threshold for the allowed difference.

Actions on the screen and the reference snapshot

Four step types cover different jobs:

Default. Actions on one screen, plus the screenshot check.
Linked. A link to another step, so you reuse a flow instead of building it again.
Network request. An HTTP call to your API with a response check. You can save values from the response to global variables and reuse them in later steps.
Script. A bash script on your Mac, useful for setup and cleanup tasks.

Step 5. Run it

Click Launch. Qampanion reinstalls your app and runs every step. Each step gets a status: Passed, Failed, or Skipped. A logs panel at the bottom shows every step and every action in real time.

For a failed step, you open the expected screenshot, the actual screenshot, and the diff between them. While you build a test, Debug mode runs a single step without reinstalling the app.

A failed step shows expected, actual, and the diff

Step 6. Automate with AI and CLI

Qampanion includes an MCP server. Connect an AI agent, and it can generate new test cases, update existing ones, and analyze test run results.

The CLI gives you full control from the terminal: create test cases, add steps, run tests. The same .qpn project works in the app and in CI/CD.

Run tests from the terminal or let an AI agent manage them via MCP

Qampanion vs AI Testing Tools

AI testing tools follow a pattern: the AI generates a test plan every time you press run. This has a cost. You pay tokens for every run. Two runs of the same test can give different results, and a failure is hard to reproduce.

Qampanion takes another road. You create a test once, with AI or by hand. After that, it runs in a static way: same steps, same screenshots, same result. Zero tokens per run.

AI still has a place here. Through MCP, an AI agent can tap through your app and build the test case for you. The AI helps you create the test. The run stays predictable.

Qampanion vs Writing Test Code

Frameworks like Appium give you power, and they ask a lot in return. You need a programming language, a test framework, and infrastructure. After every redesign, someone updates locators across the test suite. This maintenance never ends.

Qampanion covers common E2E scenarios without code. The visual editor is clear to a non-developer: a product manager or a manual QA can create and fix tests.

Where UI actions are not enough, you have network request steps to call your API and check the response, bash script steps for setup tasks, and linked steps to reuse flows between test cases.

One honest limit: code still wins for complex logic. But for the main regression flows, the ones you repeat before every release, a visual tool is faster to build and cheaper to keep.

Conclusion

Qampanion is a good fit if you are a startup without a QA team, an indie developer, or a QA engineer tired of maintaining test code.

The app is in public preview and free. It needs macOS 15 or later. Download it, point it at your app, and build your first test case in an hour.