Google has released EarlGrey, a native iOS UI automation test framework that enables you to write clear, concise tests, as an open-source project on GitHub under the Apache license.

Used in-house by Google for functional testing of apps such as YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Photos, Google Translate, Google Play Music. it is now available to all and can be added to Xcode projects using CocoaPods or by manually adding it in.

According to the Google Open Source blog, the key features offered by EarlGrey include:

• Powerful built-in synchronization : Tests will automatically wait for events such as animations, network requests, etc. before interacting with the UI. This will result in tests that are easier to write (no sleeps or waits) and simple to maintain (straight up procedural description of test steps).
  
  
• Visibility checking : All interactions occur on elements that users can see. For example, attempting to tap a button that is behind an image will lead to test failure immediately.
  
  
• Flexible design : The components that determine element selection, interaction, assertion and synchronization have been designed to be extensible.

It works in conjunction with the XCTest framework and integrates with Xcode’s Test Navigator so you can run tests directly from Xcode or the command line (using xcodebuild).

Google has a track record for open sourcing useful tools - GWT (Google Web Toolkit) being an obvious example. Another Google Apple-related tool, its Java To Objective-C Translator was also open sourced a few months after GWT in 2012. 

The EarlGrey repository on GitHub has an example that demonstrates features and functionalities of the framework and should help you get started using it.

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