The landscape of mobile app testing on real device cloud presents its own unique intricacies and challenges. The diverse mobile operating systems (OSs), an array of device sizes, and varied usage scenarios contribute to the complexity of app testing.
Notably, in a market where users swiftly discard malfunctioning apps in favor of alternatives, ensuring the seamless performance of your app is imperative. Here are some recommendations to ensure the success of your app testing and deployment efforts.
Why is Mobile App Testing Essential?
A comprehensive mobile application testing process is indispensable for ensuring a seamless user experience from start to finish. It significantly reinforces security measures and overall application quality, positively impacting user engagement.
This comprehensive process facilitates the early identification of errors and bugs, preventing potential costs that may arise later. Furthermore, mobile app testing is essential to mitigating the risks of launching a compromised app.
Key Advantages of Employing Mobile App Testing Tools:
Leveraging mobile app testing tools provides numerous benefits, including:
● Optimal Performance:
Quality assurance professionals thoroughly assess whether the application downloads smoothly during mobile app testing and performs interactions as intended.
● Customer Retention and Loyalty:
Customers who experience usability and functionality without issues are more likely to revisit the app, fostering loyalty. This enhances a business’s industry standing and boosts customer retention rates, resulting in higher returns on investment.
● Choosing the Right Mobile App Testing Tools:
Opting for a dependable solution that provides diverse options, including support for multiple programming languages and robust customer assistance, is essential. Consider the following critical criteria when selecting the most suitable mobile app testing tools.
● Support for Multiple Programming Languages:
Choose a tool that facilitates effective test case creation in various languages, such as JavaScript, Python, HTML, and CSS, to cater to the audience’s diverse needs.
● Cross-Platform Testing Support:
Select a mobile app testing tool compatible with targeted platforms, versions, and variants, offering comprehensive cross-platform testing capabilities.
● Integration Capabilities:
Ensure that the chosen tool seamlessly integrates with other commonly used frameworks and tools, including project management tools and ALMs, streamlining the testing process.
● Compatibility with Different Application Types and Operating Systems:
Verify that the testing tool supports web, native, and hybrid applications and operates across commonly used operating systems like iOS and Android.
● Codeless Testing and Various Testing Types:
Prioritize tools that support codeless testing, benefiting non-programmers and reducing test execution time while facilitating various testing methods, such as accessibility testing.
● Error Identification, Reporting, and Debugging:
Opt for tools that generate detailed reports upon test failures, providing crucial information for developers to rectify errors, including screenshots and report export capabilities.
● Security Compliance and Privacy Standards:
Give preference to tools that assure data security, regularly update security features, and protect the software’s build and code from unauthorized access.
● Continuous Testing Support:
Ensure the testing tool can effectively accommodate code modifications, supporting continuous testing to maintain high-quality standards amid software changes.
● Real Mobile Device Access:
For accurate testing under real user conditions, prioritize tools that offer access to a real device cloud, enabling the monitoring of app behavior under real-time conditions, unlike emulators or simulators.
Addressing Challenges in Mobile App Testing
Before delving into the best practices of mobile app testing, it’s essential to comprehend the hurdles faced during this process:
- Diverse Data Connections: Mobile devices connect to various network speeds, such as 3G or 4G, based on availability and WiFi. Testers must evaluate their applications under different network conditions, ensuring functionality even under poor or unstable networks.
- Device Fragmentation: The term “device fragmentation” encompasses the extensive range of devices available on the market simultaneously. The multitude of active devices running an app continues to grow each year. Testing teams ensure app compatibility across different operating systems, such as Android and iOS, and various browser combinations.
- Third-Party Integrations: Many applications leverage in-built device functionalities like SMS or incorporate third-party services for analytics and crash reporting. Testers must guarantee seamless app integration with such services, adding complexity to the testing process.
- Processing Power: Resource-intensive activities like gaming apps and video streaming can significantly impact battery life. Additionally, users frequently run multiple background apps, consuming CPU cycles. Testing the effects of these factors on mobile applications necessitates a dedicated device lab, requiring time and iterative efforts to optimize power usage for the application.
Optimal Practices for Effective Mobile App Testing
In many instances, users will promptly discontinue using an app if they encounter any functional irregularities. The initial impression can significantly impact prospects whether you represent an established company or are a novice developer. Here’s a compilation of best practices for successful mobile app testing:
- Commence Testing Early: The mobile app testing process should commence at the onset of the development phase. Testing is integral to coding and should be performed at every development level. Identifying and rectifying flaws at an early stage is more advantageous.
- Define Testing Scope: Developers and testers should clearly define the scope of mobile app testing. Reducing the testing scope to a manageable level is crucial. It’s important to prioritize work, as it may not be feasible to test the app for every OS, device model, manufacturer, or carrier.
- Evaluate Network Response: Thorough app testing under various network conditions is essential. The app should operate seamlessly in areas with low connectivity or slow internet speeds. Users are more likely to blame the app for connectivity issues, impacting the app’s reputation.
- Test Client and Server Side: Comprehensive mobile app testing should cover both the client and server sides. Tests should be conducted simultaneously with loads on both the client and server to estimate the app’s handling capacity.
- Use Real Devices for Testing: While emulators and simulators are valuable for early-stage mobile testing, testing the app on real mobile devices is equally crucial. Real device testing ensures realistic results, allowing immediate correction of flaws.
- Establish Testing Frequency: Develop a fixed schedule for mobile application testing and adhere to it consistently. Frequent testing helps identify flaws early in development, preventing costly corrections later.
- Multilingual Testing: If the mobile app is intended for launch in different countries, it should support various languages. The app must function correctly, respecting the linguistic diversity of its users.
- Battery Consumption Testing: The app should consume minimal battery power for its operations. Testing should verify that the app’s design optimally utilizes the processor for brief intervals. Battery life is crucial for smartphone users, and testers should consider this aspect.
- Test with Different Hardware Features: Modern smartphones boast powerful devices and sensors. Mobile apps should be tested with these hardware features to ensure compatibility and avoid interference.
- Update Testing: Testers should rigorously check and test app updates before uploading them to the app store, and monitoring instances of app crashes during installation and uninstallation procedures aids in understanding and rectifying issues promptly.
- Check for Restricted Permissions: Testers must verify that the app only utilizes the necessary permissions and does not exceed its requirements. Mobile app users are sensitive to data security, necessitating a cautious approach by developers.
- Automate Testing: Automation of mobile app testing is vital to enhance testing productivity. Creating in-house scripts, leveraging Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), and employing cloud testing frameworks contribute to the detection of flaws and design faults. Automation reduces time-to-market and enhances overall Return on Investment (ROI).
Utilize Appium to run automated tests for your mobile applications. Detect and address bugs early by conducting tests on various authentic devices. With Appium, ensure a smooth user experience without the hassle of complex setups that could impede your progress.
For optimal results, conducting Appium tests on a real device is strongly recommended. AI-powered test orchestration and execution platforms like LambdaTest can access over 3000 real device-browser combinations. This enables Quality Assurance teams to conduct thorough testing on real mobile devices, ensuring the functionality of their mobile applications across a diverse array of real devices with certainty and confidence.
Manual App Testing vs Automated App Testing: A Comparative Overview
Manual app testing is valuable in acquiring substantial insights into a mobile app during its development. Initially, testers manually create test cases for subsequent verification, maintaining a record of scripts that can later be utilized for automation. This manual testing process aids testers in pinpointing weaker sections, prompting the design of additional test cases.
Testers become more adept with manual tests and progress toward test automation. Automation proves advantageous in terms of time efficiency, particularly when executing repetitive tests multiple times. It ensures consistency in test execution and establishes a benchmark for subsequent testing procedures.
Conclusion
The substantial increase in mobile device usage and the continuous development of mobile applications underscore the crucial requirement for testing to ensure the efficient and successful delivery of high-quality mobile apps. Mobile app testing becomes imperative to ensure that your apps meet specifications and are error-free.
Quality assurance (QA) testers are tasked with conducting thorough testing across various devices, operating systems, networks, screen sizes, memory capacities, and display variations. Recognizing the challenges and multifaceted nature of mobile testing, it is wise for these testers to follow best practices, preventing the oversight of crucial factors in the testing process.