App persistence

Maintain App data and state between sessions using BrowserStack’s Private Devices

Repetitive app installation, login, and setup can slow down testing workflows. BrowserStack’s Private Devices addresses these challenges with app persistence, allowing you to retain app data and states between sessions. This feature can be enabled by the group admins / owners only.

Features of app persistence:

1. App retention: Retain app data and states between sessions, reducing repetitive setup tasks.

2. Version check: If an app is already installed on the device, running a session with the same app name and version skips reinstallation.

3. Force reinstall: Reinstall apps at the start of each session, if needed. On BrowserStack App Automate, to forcefully reinstall an app, set the capability forceReinstall: true in your browserstack.yml file. Here are two scenarios based on app name and app version, using an example app, App v1.1:

Scenario 1: Same app and same version, forceReinstall is true
If App v1.1 is already installed on the device and you start a session with the same App v1.1, while setting forceReinstall: true, the system reinstalls the app before the session begins.

Scenario 2: Same app and same version, forceReinstall is false
If App v1.1 is already installed on the device and you start a session with the same App v1.1, while setting forceReinstall: false, the system does not reinstall the app before the session begins.

For details on how to manage app persistence, refer to device cleanup.

Need help?

Contact BrowserStack support.