The Complete Guide To Mobile App Testing

Mobile applications are synonymous with convenience today as they enhance our way of living. Whether shopping for your favorite products, tracking your health, communicating with your friends, or booking a cab, they have made most tasks easier. All you have to do is make a few clicks and get things done. 

But have you ever wondered what makes it so easy to use mobile applications? It is comprehensive mobile app testing performed by testers. The primary aim is testing applications for performance, stability, security, functionality, compatibility, and UI. This ensures that the mobile apps released in the market are of the best quality. 

Those who don’t pay weightage to mobile app testing should be prepared for users to abandon your app without thinking twice. If the user finds a bug in your app post-release, they will start looking for alternatives and write negative reviews about your brand, hampering its reputation. 

This can be validated by the fact that 70% of the users will leave an app when it takes too much time to load on their devices. To avoid ending up in the same scenario, read this blog to understand more about mobile app testing and how to perform it effectively. Ultimately, we will also reveal a mobile app testing platform that will make testing smooth for you. 

Significance Of Mobile App Testing

A mobile app company that isn’t serious about its app’s quality isn’t going to stay in the market for long. This could be avoided if you pay attention to mobile app testing. Let’s take a look at some of the pointers to convince you more about the significance of mobile app testing: 

1. Improved UI/UX

Mobile app testing allows testers to put themselves in the shoes of end-users. They can verify if the app is intuitive and easy to navigate. Since there are a large number of different mobile devices, testers must check the UI across multiple screen sizes. 

This will ensure the readability and visibility of texts, image alignment, and color combinations are proper. Also, remember to run UI/UX tests throughout the development lifecycle if you want to release an app with an outstanding user interface. 

2. Better Performance

The end goal of any testing project is to release a bug-free app. By testing a mobile application, the QA team checks the overall behavior under different load conditions, response times, execution, data flow, and changing networks. 

Based on these tests, a detailed report is generated that helps teams to tackle the issues beforehand. Consequently, they can release superior-quality applications that are fast and reliable.

3. Gaining Loyal Users

In the end, it all comes down to how users perceive your mobile application. With thorough mobile app testing, you can ensure that users like your app when it is launched. Once satisfied, they will likely recommend the apps to their family and friends. This will help your brand to reach a wider audience and build a solid customer base. 

Creating An Effective Mobile App Testing Strategy

Now that you know the importance of mobile app testing, it is time to create an effective mobile app testing plan by keeping the following things in mind: 

1. Choosing the right mobile devices

With so many devices available today, testing your app on all the devices is impossible. Have a clear policy regarding which devices your app will support, and then test accordingly. This can be achieved by conducting detailed research on your market segment and analyzing the top mobile devices, operating systems, and browsers used by them.

2. Choosing between a real device and a virtual device

When it is actually time to run your test cases, one question that every tester faces is choosing between emulators, simulators, and a real device. We recommend choosing a mix of both real and virtual devices to test your applications. While you can perform functional testing for large integration builds on simulators and emulators, you can use a real device to test real-life conditions like network connectivity, battery consumption, and location. 

3. Determining manual and automated test cases

Manual and automated testing are complementary to each other. You cannot skip one and use the other. The best approach is to automate 80% of your test cases while keeping 20% for manual testing. Keep automated testing for repetitive test cases, which are time-consuming and prone to human error, while manually checking the usability, performance, and responsiveness of the app.

4. Choosing the right automation tool

To automate test cases, you will need the support of a mobile app testing tool or framework. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with many tools offering similar features. Then, how do you choose the one that stands out while meeting your requirements? Evaluate the tools based on your future testing needs, testing budget, type of mobile application, requirements, and integrations.

5. Testing the application upgrade scenarios

Incorporating mobile app upgrade testing is vital when creating a mobile app testing strategy. It ensures that the apps don’t crash when new upgrades are released, and user information, like contact information, banking details, and addresses, are retained in the same way as the previous version of the app. 

6. Focus on beta testing

Your mobile app testing strategy must focus on beta testing, i.e., testing with real users for real-world conditions. These users can provide constructive feedback on the app and help you assess the functionality of your app. When you release the app to the general public, there is a reduced chance of unforeseen issues leading to calling back apps or uninstallations. 

Wrap Up

Clearly, testing mobile applications is a crucial part of the app development process. However, your testing efforts could go waste if you don’t select the right mobile app testing platform according to your project needs.

To save you from comparing different platforms, we recommend you try TestGrid, a mobile app testing platform appreciated by enterprises of all sizes. With TestGrid, you can perform automated and manual app testing on hundreds of real devices and check for real-world conditions like battery life, network strength, and geolocation. 

If you’re looking for a mobile app testing platform that is easy to use, comprehensive, scalable, and affordable, then TestGrid is the perfect choice for you.