Hacky/funny workaround elaborated from this comment:
const readVisibleText = async (testID) => {
try {
await expect(element(by.id(testID))).toHaveText('_unfoundable_text');
throw 'We never should get here unless target element has unfoundable text';
} catch (error) {
if (device.getPlatform() === 'ios') {
const start = `accessibilityLabel was "`;
const end = '" on ';
const errorMessage = error.message.toString();
const [, restMessage] = errorMessage.split(start);
const [label] = restMessage.split(end);
return label;
} else {
// Android to be tested
const start = 'Got:';
const end = '}"';
const errorMessage = error.message.toString();
const [, restMessage] = errorMessage.split(start);
const [label] = restMessage.split(end);
const value = label.split(',');
var combineText = value.find(i => i.includes('text=')).trim();
const [, elementText] = combineText.split('=');
return elementText;
}
}
};