Launching Twitter through Appium on a real device results in an error

Question

I've just started using Appium with Python and I'm running into trouble when trying to launch the Twitter app.

I have tried to launch the play store by typing:

adb shell "dumpsys window windows | grep -E 'mCurrentFocus'"

into a command prompt to get the appActivity and appPackage names. That works and the play store launches.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Users/Kev/Documents/Projects/Appium/AppiumSandBox/Twitter_Android", line 9, in <module>
    driver = webdriver.Remote("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub", desired_caps)
  File "C:\Users\Kev\.virtualenvs\AppiumSandBox-g7D4ebOi\lib\site-packages\appium\webdriver\webdriver.py", line 147, in __init__
    super(WebDriver, self).__init__(
  File "C:\Users\Kev\.virtualenvs\AppiumSandBox-g7D4ebOi\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 157, in __init__
    self.start_session(capabilities, browser_profile)
  File "C:\Users\Kev\.virtualenvs\AppiumSandBox-g7D4ebOi\lib\site-packages\appium\webdriver\webdriver.py", line 227, in start_session
    response = self.execute(RemoteCommand.NEW_SESSION, parameters)
  File "C:\Users\Kev\.virtualenvs\AppiumSandBox-g7D4ebOi\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\webdriver.py", line 321, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "C:\Users\Kev\.virtualenvs\AppiumSandBox-g7D4ebOi\lib\site-packages\selenium\webdriver\remote\errorhandler.py", line 242, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. Original error: Cannot start the 'com.twitter.android' application. Visit https://github.com/appium/appium/blob/master/docs/en/writing-running-appium/android/activity-startup.md for troubleshooting. Original error: Error executing adbExec. Original error: 'Command 'C:\\Users\\Kev\\AppData\\Local\\AndroidSDK\\platform-tools\\adb.exe -P 5037 -s UEEDU18424003423 shell am start -W -n com.twitter.android/com.twitter.app.main.MainActivity -S' exited with code 255'; Stderr: 'Security exception: Permission Denial: starting Intent { flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.twitter.android/com.twitter.app.main.MainActivity } from null (pid=28751, uid=2000) not exported from uid 10349

java.lang.SecurityException: Permission Denial: starting Intent { flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.twitter.android/com.twitter.app.main.MainActivity } from null (pid=28751, uid=2000) not exported from uid 10349
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityStackSupervisor.checkStartAnyActivityPermission(ActivityStackSupervisor.java:2028)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityStarter.startActivity(ActivityStarter.java:923)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityStarter.startActivity(ActivityStarter.java:656)
    at com.android.server.am.HwActivityStarter.startActivity(HwActivityStarter.java:222)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityStarter.startActivityMayWait(ActivityStarter.java:1438)
    at com.android.server.am.HwActivityStarter.startActivityMayWait(HwActivityStarter.java:412)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityStarter.execute(ActivityStarter.java:597)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityManagerService.startActivityAndWait(ActivityManagerService.java:5901)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityManagerShellCommand.runStartActivity(ActivityManagerShellCommand.java:474)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityManagerShellCommand.onCommand(ActivityManagerShellCommand.java:161)
    at android.os.ShellCommand.exec(ShellCommand.java:103)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityManagerService.onShellCommand(ActivityManagerService.java:17744)
    at android.os.Binder.shellCommand(Binder.java:642)
    at android.os.Binder.onTransact(Binder.java:540)
    at android.app.IActivityManager$Stub.onTransact(IActivityManager.java:3570)
    at com.android.server.am.ActivityManagerService.onTransact(ActivityManagerService.java:3654)
    at com.android.server.am.HwActivityManagerService.onTransact(HwActivityManagerService.java:609)
    at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:739)'; Code: '255'

Here is my script:

from appium import webdriver

desired_caps = {}
desired_caps['platformName'] = 'Android'
desired_caps['deviceName'] = 'UEEDU18424003423'
desired_caps['appPackage'] = 'com.twitter.android'
desired_caps['appActivity'] = 'com.twitter.app.main.MainActivity'

driver = webdriver.Remote("http://localhost:4723/wd/hub", desired_caps)

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

I managed to fix it :)

The launchable activity was .StartActivity.