Inside Katalon Community - My Take on what's been happening (May Edition)

Hi everyone, I’m Elly, Katalon Community Specialist by title, tester at heart . I spend a good chunk of my time researching around the Katalon Forum reading bug reports, answering questions, and watching how this brilliant community solves problems together.

Over the past month, I’ve been tracking what everyone’s been talking about: the tricky bugs, the clever fixes, and the shout-worthy contributions. This post is my way of sharing that back with all of you:

• What broke

• Who tried it

• And what real users are saying about Katalon behind the scenes

🔍 What Everyone’s Debugging This Month: Enum Errors, Offline License Woes & Token Wrangling

You open up Katalon, try to run your mobile tests like any other day, and—boom. You're staring at this:

No enum constant com.kms.katalon.core.model.RunningMode.null

If you’ve seen this and thought “Wait, what?”, welcome to the club. This bug has been trending in the Katalon Forum lately, and it’s messing with Android mobile testing, specifically when using Mobile Object Spy or Mobile Recorder in Katalon Studio 10.2.

Let’s break it down.

So, what’s going on?

Katalon expects a valid RunningMode (like MOBILE, WEB_UI, etc.) when launching the mobile spy tools. But for some users, it’s somehow getting… nothing. null. That throws Java’s Enum.valueOf() method into a panic and crashes the session.

People on the forum figured it’s a config problem, either something went weird with the test suite/project setup, or Katalon 10.2 made a breaking change that wasn't properly guarded.

If you’re seeing this issue, follow some users' ways to fix it by:

• Rolling back to Katalon 10.1

• Ensuring the correct execution profile is selected before launching the recorder

• Reconfiguring the mobile driver settings via RunConfiguration API

Katalon v10.2.1 will be released soon to deal with this.

✨ Meanwhile, in license and API land…

Two topics surged in searches this month: offline license activation and API testing authentication.

For offline licenses — yes, Katalon supports it. If you're working in a restricted environment, check the activation guide to avoid unnecessary headaches.

As for API testing — authentication is where most users get stuck. Katalon handles Basic Auth, OAuth2, API keys, and token refresh flows, but you’ll want to read the official doc to pick the right approach for your use case.

🙌 Community Shoutouts: The People Behind the Progress

One of the more underrated parts of working in dev tools is watching how people show up for each other. Not in the loud, performative way — but through small, consistent actions: answering a tough question, surfacing an overlooked bug, or just sticking around long enough to really listen.

This month, I highlighted four awesome people doing just that.

1. Mike — The Observer Who Actually Reads

Most people skim. Mike reads. With over 461 posts consumed, he’s the kind of community member who rarely misses context, and that matters.

2. Kazurayam — The One with the Fix

Last month, Kazurayam’s answers cut through the noise: direct, detailed, and often the exact fix people needed. He gave more than 5 solutions to our community.

3. DT-auto — The One with Most Active Thread

DT-auto started a thread that quickly became the most active discussion in the community this month: 134 views, more than 20 replies. It wasn’t just popular — it was useful.

4. Karen Couch Brier — The One with Most Contributions

With over 11 new posts and threads, Karen has been showing up — with feedback, questions, and a clear intent to make Katalon work better. The consistency stands out.

💬 What the Outside World Thinks: Voices from G2

Whether you're scaling regression tests or just stepping into your first automation project, one thing is clear from our community: Katalon empowers QA professionals at every level. In April and May 2025, users across industries, from software to healthcare, shared their experiences on G2, highlighting what works well and where we can improve.

These reviews aren’t just ratings, they’re reflections of how Katalon fits into real workflows. Let’s take a look at what our users had to say:

🧑‍💻 Shoaib W., Associate Consultant at a mid-sized company, praised Katalon’s Custom Keywords, Object Repositories, and Data-Driven Testing for helping him build reusable, maintainable test cases. While he noted some lag when scaling large test suites on lower-end machines, he values Katalon for enabling even manual testers to confidently automate and expand coverage.

🛠️ Pragatheeshwaran R., an Automation Test Engineer, shared his appreciation for Katalon’s flexibility and ease of use, especially in automating both APIs and UIs. He flagged occasional bugs like platform hangs or non-responsive run buttons. Despite this, he emphasized how Katalon helps him accelerate script creation and productivity.

💬 A Verified User in Computer Software described Katalon as one of the most user-friendly automation tools they’ve used. Without any major issues to report, they look forward to seeing the platform grow further. For their team, Katalon simplifies testing in ways that many traditional tools can’t match.

⚕️ A Verified User in Health, Wellness, and Fitness highlighted Katalon’s all-in-one support for web, API, and mobile testing, wrapped in a user-friendly UI. They noted some limitations in flexibility compared to code-based frameworks, but ultimately value how Katalon reduces tool complexity and speeds up delivery across the board.

Each of these reviews brings us two things: motivation to keep doing better, and valuable feedback to improve your experience.

🙌 If you've had a great experience, or suggestions for how we can do better, we’d love to hear from you!

👉 Share your story on G2 and help other QA professionals discover the power of Katalon through your voice.