diff --git a/app/ios.js b/app/ios.js
index 82d8f4d9f..6b8ec1878 100644
--- a/app/ios.js
+++ b/app/ios.js
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ IOS.prototype.getText = function(elementId, cb) {
       this.remote.executeAtom('get_text', [atomsElement], cb);
     }
   } else {
-    var command = ["au.getElement('", elementId, "').value()"].join('');
+    var command = ["au.getElement('", elementId, "').text()"].join('');
     this.proxy(command, cb);
   }
 };
diff --git a/app/uiauto/appium/app.js b/app/uiauto/appium/app.js
index 771cb466c..374b5f738 100644
--- a/app/uiauto/appium/app.js
+++ b/app/uiauto/appium/app.js
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ $.extend(au, {
 
   , lookup: function(selector, ctx) {
       if (typeof selector === 'string') {
-        var _ctx = this.web ? this.web : this.mainWindow;
+        var _ctx = this.mainWindow
+          , elems = [];
 
         if (typeof ctx === 'string') {
           _ctx = this.cache[ctx];
@@ -83,7 +84,14 @@ $.extend(au, {
         }
 
         this.target.pushTimeout(0);
-        var elems = $(selector, _ctx);
+        if (selector === 'alert') {
+          var alert = this.mainApp.alert();
+          if (alert) {
+            elems = $(alert);
+          }
+        } else {
+          elems = $(selector, _ctx);
+        }
         this.target.popTimeout();
 
         return elems;
diff --git a/app/uiauto/appium/element.js b/app/uiauto/appium/element.js
index 0e1ec2e8a..0e5b98606 100644
--- a/app/uiauto/appium/element.js
+++ b/app/uiauto/appium/element.js
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ UIAElement.prototype.hasChildren = function() {
            type === "UIASwitch" || type === "UIAElementNil");
 };
 
+UIAElement.prototype.text = function() {
+  var type = this.type();
+  if (type === "UIAButton") {
+    return this.label();
+  } else {
+    return this.value();
+  }
+};
+
 UIAElement.prototype.matchesTagName = function(tagName) {
   var type = this.type();
   // i.e. "UIALink" matches "link:
diff --git a/sample-code/examples/ruby/simple_test.rb b/sample-code/examples/ruby/simple_test.rb
index 91eab0113..1577c48ad 100644
--- a/sample-code/examples/ruby/simple_test.rb
+++ b/sample-code/examples/ruby/simple_test.rb
@@ -85,4 +85,15 @@ describe "Computation" do
     a.accept
   end
 
+  it "should find alerts" do
+    els = @driver.find_elements(:tag_name, 'button')
+    els[1].click
+    alert = @driver.find_element(:tag_name, 'alert')
+    buttons = alert.find_elements(:tag_name, 'button')
+    buttons[0].text.should eq("Cancel")
+    buttons[0].click
+    alerts = @driver.find_elements(:tag_name, 'alert')
+    alerts.should be_empty
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/test/functional/testapp/basic.js b/test/functional/testapp/basic.js
index 992a9e5a2..d6ba5c2bf 100644
--- a/test/functional/testapp/basic.js
+++ b/test/functional/testapp/basic.js
@@ -137,6 +137,15 @@ describeWd('calc app', function(h) {
    //};
    //_.each(["PORTRAIT", "LANDSCAPE"], testOrientation);
 
+  it('should be able to get text of a button', function(done) {
+    h.driver.elementsByTagName('button', function(err, els) {
+      els[0].text(function(err, text) {
+        text.should.eql("ComputeSumButton");
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
   return it('should get an app screenshot', function(done){
     h.driver.takeScreenshot(function(err, screenshot){
       assert.notEqual(typeof screenshot, "undefined");
diff --git a/test/functional/testapp/findElement.js b/test/functional/testapp/findElement.js
index 52a977886..085fafeb5 100644
--- a/test/functional/testapp/findElement.js
+++ b/test/functional/testapp/findElement.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ describeWd('elementByTagName', function(h) {
       done();
     });
   });
-  return it('should not find any invalid elements on the app and throw error', function(done) {
+  it('should not find any invalid elements on the app and throw error', function(done) {
     h.driver.elementByTagName('buttonNotThere', function(err, element) {
       should.not.exist(element);
       err.status.should.eql(7);
@@ -19,9 +19,33 @@ describeWd('elementByTagName', function(h) {
       done();
     });
   });
+  it('should find alerts when they exist', function(done) {
+    h.driver.elementsByTagName('button', function(err, els) {
+      should.not.exist(err);
+      els[1].click(function() {
+        h.driver.elementByTagName('alert', function(err, el) {
+          should.not.exist(err);
+          el.elementsByTagName('button', function(err, buttons) {
+            should.not.exist(err);
+            buttons.length.should.equal(2);
+            done();
+          });
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+  it('should not find alerts when they dont exist', function(done) {
+    h.driver.elementByTagName('alert', function(err, el) {
+      should.exist(err);
+      should.not.exist(el);
+      err.status.should.eql(7);
+      err['jsonwire-error'].summary.should.eql('NoSuchElement');
+      done();
+    });
+  });
 });
 
-describeWd('elementByTagName', function(h) {
+describeWd('elementsByTagName', function(h) {
   it('should find both elements on the app', function(done) {
     h.driver.elementsByTagName('button', function(err, elements) {
       elements.length.should.equal(2);