Appium/Protractor - Cordova app - When I try to run simple test I get following error - Failed to get sockets matching: #webview_devtools_remote_ - selenium

Question

I'm trying to run a simple test on my hybrid app with Appium + Protractor and I am unable to since I am getting following error:
Failed to get sockets matching: #webview_devtools_remote_.*15239
I am using Ubuntu, and on it I have set up Appium and Protractor, tried literally every solution I have found on the internet, could not resolve the issue.
Only thing that would "remove" the error is adding following code into capabilities:
chromeOptions: {
androidPackage: "com.android.chrome"
},
But then I only get in the app, and Appium server just gets stuck at:
[debug] [JSONWP Proxy] Proxying [POST /session] to [POST http://127.0.0.1:8001/wd/hub/session] with body: {"desiredCapabilities":{"chromeOption {"androidPackage":"com.android.chrome","androidUseRunningApp":true,"androidDeviceSerial":"1cdc4ed10c027ece"}}}
It won't start the spec file at all.
var SpecReporter = require('jasmine-spec-reporter').SpecReporter;
exports.config = {
seleniumAddress: 'http://localhost:4723/wd/hub',
allScriptsTimeout: 50976,
specs: [
'test.js'
],
capabilities: {
platformName: 'Android',
platformVersion: '8.0.0',
deviceName: 'Galaxy S9',
app: 'path_to_app',
autoWebview: true,
browserName: '',
appPackage: 'app_package_name',
newCommandTimeout: '140',
chromeOptions: {
androidPackage: "com.android.chrome"
}
},
onPrepare: function () {
jasmine.getEnv().addReporter(new SpecReporter({displayStacktrace: 'all'}));
},
framework: 'jasmine',
jasmineNodeOpts: {
print: function () {}, //remove protractor dot reporter
defaultTimeoutInterval: 100000
}
}

Answer 1

It seems to be a common appium problem.
Issue from github: https://github.com/appium/python-client/issues/255
Fix:
See here: https://github.com/blutter/appium-crosswalk-fix

Answer 2

This also happens if you want to switch to a web browser on the mobile phone, while you have already instanciated an appium on a mobile app.
To avoid having this exception, such as described in
https://github.com/appium/appium/issues/11189, [Chromedriver] Error: Failed to start Chromedriver session: An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. (Original error: unknown error: Failed to get sockets matching: #webview_devtools_remote_.*24811 ,
before trying to switch to your web browser on the mobile phone just, reinstantiate the appium forcefully to web like below. Appium will pilot the appp then be forced and
switch cleanly to the web browser without complaining anymore :
DesiredCapabilities desiredCapabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
desiredCapabilities.setCapability(MobileCapabilityType.BROWSER_NAME, "Chrome"); // or other browsers
desiredCapabilities.setCapability("noReset", true );
try
{
URL url = new URL("http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub");
AppiumDriver driver = new AppiumDriver(url, desiredCapabilities);
}
catch (Exception e )
{
}

Answer 3

I got rid of a similar error after changing the default browser of the mobie device to Chrome from Samsung. Also updated the chromedriver version on laptop running appium server to match the version of Chrome version running on mobile. And appium was started with appium --chromedriver-executable=/usr/local/bin/chromedriver.
Also had setWebContentsDebuggingEnabled=true in desired_capabilities.