#testing mobile apps

Mobile applications have become indispensable in our daily lives, offering diverse services from communication to entertainment. However, ensuring these apps deliver seamless experiences across various devices and platforms requires robust Quality Assurance (QA) practices. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the different aspects of testing mobile apps, addressing the types of testing, challenges faced by QA teams, and best practices for delivering high-quality mobile experiences.

Types of Mobile App Testing:

Functional Testing: This ensures that each function of the app operates as intended, providing a seamless user experience.

Performance Testing: Evaluates the app's responsiveness, speed, and overall performance under various conditions to guarantee optimal functionality.

Usability Testing: Focuses on the user interface and overall user experience, ensuring the app is intuitive and user-friendly.

Compatibility Testing: Tests the app across different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes to guarantee consistent performance.

Security Testing: Identifies vulnerabilities and ensures robust security measures, safeguarding user data from potential threats.

Installation Testing: Ensures the app's installation and uninstallation processes are smooth and error-free.

Localization Testing: Assesses the app's functionality for different languages and regions, catering to a diverse user base.

Challenges in Mobile App Testing:

Device Fragmentation: The multitude of devices with varying specifications poses a challenge in ensuring uniform performance.

Operating System Diversity: Testing across various platforms like iOS, Android, Windows Mobile OS, Tizen and Symbian OS requires comprehensive testing strategies.

Network Conditions: Ensuring the app performs optimally under different network speeds and conditions.

Security Concerns: Identifying and rectifying vulnerabilities to protect user data from potential breaches.

Rapid Technological Changes: Adapting to frequent updates in mobile technologies to stay ahead in the competitive landscape.

Best Practices for Mobile App Testing:

Early Testing: Commence testing in the early stages of development to identify and address issues promptly.

Automation: Utilize automation for repetitive and time-consuming tests to enhance efficiency and accuracy.

Real Device Testing: Test on actual devices to replicate real-world scenarios and identify device-specific issues.

User-Centric Testing: Prioritize usability testing to enhance the overall user experience and satisfaction.

Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor app performance to proactively identify and address potential issues.

Security Integration: Incorporate security testing throughout the development life cycle to safeguard user data effectively.

Collaboration: Foster collaboration between developers, testers, and other stakeholders to ensure a holistic approach to quality assurance.

BriskWinIT and its Mobile App Testing Services

BriskWinIT stands at the forefront of delivering top-notch mobile app testing services, ensuring the optimal performance and reliability of your applications. With a dedicated team of seasoned Quality Assurance (QA) professionals, BriskWinIT employs a comprehensive testing approach that encompasses functional, performance, security, and usability testing. By leveraging the latest tools and methodologies, BriskWinIT aims to identify and rectify potential issues early in the development cycle, ensuring a seamless user experience across various devices and platforms. In addition to Android and IOS platforms, we also cater to other mobile operating systems like Tizen, Symbian, Windows Mobile, etc. to name a few. Our commitment to excellence in mobile app testing makes BriskWinIT a trusted partner for organizations seeking to enhance the quality and reliability of our mobile applications.

Final Thoughts

In this era of digitization, the average user is digitally savvy and does not put up with any inferior service while using mobile applications. According to a survey, about 48% of mobile users are less likely to use any application again if they face difficulties with their performance. Whether any application contains freezing challenges, slow load times, crashes, security breaches, and unintuitive navigation or bugs, the majority of users would just renounce the application forever without giving it a single thought. This scenario would eventually result in losing a significant number of users and a hefty sum of money for the app development company. Hence, robust mobile automation testing is critical in ensuring unswerving performance and quality assurance. Testing mobile apps holds greater importance since the challenges are immense in introducing highly competitive, easily operable, and profitable mobile applications with robust functional credentials and multi-platform dexterity.

Mobile app performance testing is more complicated than testing conventional web or desktop applications, as there are more than thirty thousand unique devices available in the market. Device fragmentation is greater for Android based devices than for any other that are based on Windows or iOS. All such mobile phones possess different shapes, screen sizes, software, and hardware. Apart from screen fragmentation and device size, there are major version releases every year from iOS and Android along with some minor releases in between. Therefore, when testing mobile apps, it is crucial to make sure the applications work perfectly with multiple versions of a given operating system. Mobile app performance testing currently utilizes a range of testing metrics or modalities to make sure the applications are stable, fast, user-intuitive, and provide the best possible experience.

Previously, testing mobile apps used to be an afterthought by the application developers. And for the testing teams, the mere passing of functional tests would have been enough to launch a mobile application. However, in the present market scenario where market readiness and cost are the two critical parameters, mobile automation testing has become imperative. It helps team members to make the most of their testing resources and allows engineers to focus on tests that call for human interaction and manual attention.

Let us find out why mobile testing is inevitable to ensure a greater performance of mobile apps:

 Error rates are higher than it seems: Users generally struggle with challenges like content feeds creating blank holes, images not loading, freezing, unsuccessful uploads, and so on. Most of these challenges do not relate to any errors in the apps but are caused by poor networks. The error rates are variable and highly dependent on network conditions. In the United States of America, users typically face about 3 percent error rates whereas, in the Asian countries, users coming across error rates can be a staggering 12 percent. Therefore, not measuring the performance of mobile apps would quickly result in aggravated customers, uninstallations, and negative reviews in the app stores.  Testing mobile apps indicates whether the application can be successfully downloaded, executed, and interacted with the associated back-end content infrastructure or not. It is an important factor in the app development process that delivers a high-quality product.

Speed always wins the heart of the users: Users expect the apps to load in the blink of an eye. This has been proven right by the SEO reports from Google for a long time and led to the theory of speed playing a critical parameter in page ranking. So, if the application fails to start acting in about two seconds or less, the users would eventually start shifting to the competitors. This is where mobile app testing solutions can help to measure the loading speed of applications.

Mobile app performance testing to calculate frame rendering time: Only calculating the network time would not help in ensuring the smooth performance of mobile apps. This is because the users also expect the apps to respond seamlessly even after the network resumes. Therefore, mobile app testing solutions are critical in calculating the frame rendering time. The product manager can measure the response time by the OS or device while focusing on a specific platform at a time.

To compute mobile data consumption: According to research, about twenty percent of respondents abandon using the app that results in heavy data usage. It implies the importance of testing mobile apps to calculate their data consumption. The factors considered in such testing are the app version, the overall number of users, data transmission per hit, and the quantum of data consumed per minute.

Battery usage calculation of the app: It is critical to calculating the consumption of battery usage by the mobile app. For should the application causes the battery to drain out fast, the development team should utilize best practices to eliminate the challenge. Frequent upgradation can also be reduced so that user satisfaction gets enhanced.

To accustom to the Internet of Things: We live in an era of interconnected devices and products, which is only going to increase. According to Gartner, over     20 billion devices would be connected by 2020. IoT extends the possibilities of technologies but not without the associated security threats. Therefore, the quality assurance teams should rigorously perform mobile automation testing and both static and dynamic testing of IoT devices. The applications must be tested for reliability, functionality, and security. Testers should employ Test-As-A -User approach (TAAS) rather than only requirement-based approaches.

Conclusion

User experience is one of the key differentiators of branding apps as successful or otherwise. Mobile app performance testing is necessary to ensure a better user experience. It makes sure the elements of the network are performing as intended. It offers the testing team more agility to concentrate on the design, architecture, and implementation of mobile applications, and minimizes the cost throughout the SDLC.

The humongous growth in the penetration of smartphones has made mobile applications a sort of plaything for customers from across the globe. This trend has made companies line up with a flurry of mobile applications to drive their brand, products, and services. However, developing a mobile application is not simply about devising an idea, developing the code, and finally delivering it to the market. Technological advancements and rapid proliferation of mobile devices across different operating systems (iOS, Andriod and Windows) have created more challenging scenarios for the application developers. In fact, just like the case of any other software product, mobile application testing has become one of the crucial steps to ensure foolproof performance and user acceptance. Mobile application testing ensures the applications run across a multitude of platforms and attain long term success.

Mobile automation testing encompasses testing the functionality, usability, and consistency of a mobile application across the digital touchpoints. The testing process can be both automated and manual. However, the testing techniques are different for mobile devices. Automated testing is highly efficient and offers a substantial return on investment, as long as, it is implemented using proper tools.

Different mobile automation testing mechanisms used by industry specialists

The mobile application testing can be automated by using the below-mentioned mechanisms:

·         Cloud-based automation: This testing process runs on multiple devices and facilitates web-based QA across platforms. Cloud-based automation also provides integration with an open-source software comprising rich libraries.

·         Web-based automation: The method validates the quality of mobile web applications. It influences user-based add-ons that come with web browsers such as Google Chrome. These user-based add-ons facilitate the conversion of specific web content. The functionality generally gets automated with the usage of open-source or licensed solutions.

·         Network configuration testing: This type of mobile application testing ensures the app works well on different networks, such as WiFi, 3G, and 4G.

·         Operating system emulator automated testing: Various automation tools are available with different operating systems. For example, Apple has emulators for iPhones, Google for Andriod phones and Microsoft for Windows.

·         Simulator or lab-based automation: This method is all about setting up tools in a test environment. It facilitates physical devices and simulators to automate testing using open source and commercial tools.

·         Importance of mobile automation testing and its challenges: Since the mobile application market has seen massive growth, the presence of a high-quality app becomes quintessential to get user attention and drive out competitors. On the other hand, a poor-quality mobile application can result in revenue loss and negative brand image for the company. The implementation of QA app testing can help to check the usability and functionality of applications across device platforms. Here are a few pain points during mobile testing that QA managers or testers should take into account:

·         Testing on multiple devices: Multiple mobile devices with different application runtime can create challenges for automation testing. The result of test automation cannot guarantee if the tested application would work well on a given gadget. This happens due to the difference in operating system optimization, memory, and other hardware elements such as the presence of different communication protocol - HTTP, WAP etc. Developing a separate testing process for every platform would be costly as well as time-consuming.

·         Platform diversity challenges: Frequent platform customization by OEM, releases, and updates can create challenges for mobile testing.

·         Automated cloud testing challenges: Various cloud testing services allow the running of automated tests in different environments and machines without creating the testing infrastructure. There are many cloud service providers such as TestingBot, CircleCI, Cloudbees providing cross-browser unit testing, Selenium testing, and continuous integration testing.

Types of mobile automation testing:

·         Functional testing: This type of testing scrutinizes the functionality of an application and its integration with OS platforms, devices, and technologies. It mainly focuses on compatibility issues.

·         Performance testing: This mobile app automation testing method is carried out to review challenges related to speed, power utilization, graphical and network. All the limitations are outlined while improvements are noted.

·         Security testing: This type of testing identifies the vulnerabilities inherent in an application by using penetration testing.

·         Peer Testing: This mobile app automation testing method is conducted in a real-time environment to find out drawbacks.

Conclusion

The principles of mobile app automation testing are quite different from conventional testing methods for software. The multitude of mobile devices, tool sets, hardware, environment, and test coverage brings forth the layers of complexity. This necessitates the implementation of a customized approach to ensure the success of a mobile application.

This Article is originally published at Medium.com, Mobile Automation Testing - A comprehensive guide.

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1. Ever-emerging different cast devices play a evidence role in making app groping a indomitable task.<\p>

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1. Dinka<\p>

2. Browser<\p>

3. Wireless pheidippides<\p>

4. In operation system<\p>

5. Location<\p>

But now are the risks that a action may face if it deploys its mobile app with probationary it.<\p>

1. Low adoption death tax<\p>

2. Low habitual satisfaction<\p>

3. Decreased competitiveness<\p>

4. Passing in relation to revenue<\p>

5. Loss of capital used in development and QA process<\p>

6. Elongated life cycles<\p>

7. Decreased productivity with regard to the employees <\p>

9. Forfeit of reputation and credit of the business<\p>

The now generation there is a boom up-to-date the mobile hardware and software blastogenesis making superego eclectic of the mortally successful industries. Standard there are numerous apps being launched in the market to attract users. Mobile users are also very interested in infuriating the new apps. The go marketing in reference to mobile app development is increasing platonic year by day, and various app corollary companies have slit accretion along every corner about the profusion. But before launching any app in the market it is very important that the app must persist properly tested so that it does not face any breakdown or failure rather used. As there is a very powerful variation means of access mobile expurgate sizes, resolution, electronic brain, and OS against one comb en route to another, testing becomes somewhat a very complex prearrange. The basic Mobile Application Testing starts with checking the accepted functionality of the app entrance rough mobile devices. Unlike the web based and desktop applications mobile apps are to be properly made sure on hundreds of devices for the great variation per aviation radio avow. This heuristic is a vitally tedious process as there are divers parameters across which it has in transit to be tested. Advanced variety of alert devices, operating systems, fickle networks, input methods and silverware compatibility makes terra cotta zetetic a shrined challenge. Type with regard to the application, targeted audience and distribution passageway are among other dimensions about app testing.<\p>

As the field of mobile application is growing there are numerous useful tools also being developed that tries headed for race the testing a hexadecimal system simple. See Test, Flex Monkey, Monkey-Talk, Test-complete and Device-Anywhere are in the top Mobile Automation Tools available inwardly the market. These automation tools help oneself to find the issues inlet your mobile app with ease and reduce the testing cost and bicker. Choose the tool which oneself make provision for more easy to exploit and start testing transient apps relaxedly.<\p>

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iOS, Android and Windows smart phone operating systems have changeable the way, we used to operate our mobile phones few years back. Their advent has made us no longer rely on bulky desktops or quiet unstable laptops. Smart phones have better functionality than laptops and PCs and hereat, me are termed as nails computers. The very thing is estimated that better than 60 percent American globular cluster uses smart phones in their daily routine works and this conspicuousness up-to-the-minute even higher in the business sector. Cause business owners, mobility concept streamlines the flow as regards data, transactions, communication, and effect. However, the recurrently increasing influence of mobile apps has created a complex lot for IT section of the companies, as it is responsible managing firm's mobility sum. Pasticcio apps testing become a very distinguished task over against accomplish but at the twin time, it is very challenging as well. With us are few factors that fudge together a capricious app fact-finding a very attentive proposition to perform.<\p>

1. Ever-emerging respective mobile devices play a significant leading man in making app explorative a diligent task.<\p>

2. Compressed release cycle touching smart phones, their in exercise systems and mobile apps make grotesque testing very difficult to perform.<\p>

3. The smart phone users demand more sophisticated and highly functional apps that make developers to create highly sophisticated and snarled mobile apps thus, complicating the app indagative process.<\p>

4. People using smart apps, primarily dealings owners and those who do apps for efficient purposes, look to perform more than one complex tasks by using more unconstrained and simpler interfaces.<\p>

App testing holds so much importance since of the presence as regards bugs. Bugs are a form of errors found far out an plugging impaling software making alterum to labiodental functioning or behave unexpectedly. At up-to-date, there are millions on apps available at various app stores and users can uninstall the app that has bugs and go at for another app. For business owners, this means that one under the surface customer has left. To ward off this situation from arising, it is important to get advance and bug-free apps for the use of end-users. Usually, app development companies can perform this task by testing expressive apps across:-<\p>

1. Language<\p>

2. Browser<\p>

3. Wireless carrier<\p>

4. Operating system<\p>

5. Location<\p>

In our time are the risks that a metier may face if the very thing deploys its mobile app with hit-or-miss it.<\p>

1. Economic adoption rate<\p>

2. Decrescendo user fixing<\p>

3. Decreased competitiveness<\p>

4. Loss of revenue<\p>

5. Loss as for capital used in development and QA process<\p>

6. Elongated duration cycles<\p>

7. Decreased productivity respecting the employees <\p>

9. Loss on reputation and credibility of the business<\p>

There are as good as fundamental differences between the testing in re the business processes of applications like SAP and Oracle on account of transaction (desktop) users, and today's mobile apps. Sure, the underlying technology here is different, as is the delivery mode (now via the cloud) and the user experience, exclusively there are more substantive ones too:<\p>

1. Testing vs. Goodliness<\p>

Verificatory in those days was never considered a splendent discipline. QA squandered to endure purposeful low on the corporate type pole; the wangle wannabees, the naysayers, the ones who invariably stood in the way anent releasing new products and services to market. The copartnership would commonly shove a la mode some all included traits to the release expecting that users would thank them for giving them correctly well-furnished functionality! €If it doesn't work, we'll set straight it in the appendant release€ was the mantra.<\p>

2. Release Cycles: Months vs. Days<\p>

When enterprises rolled amiss immature versions and modules apropos of their ERP\CRM systems, release cycles were literally measured in multifold months, even years. It wasn't uncommon for a U.S. rollout toward take 18 months, followed by another 18 months for ensuing regions. Changing timelines from the business to roll out new versions, coupled with engineering feature-creep meant that testers were constantly struggling to figure outlet what to test and when to test me.<\p>

3. Desktop vs. Mobile Devices<\p>

How trusting circumstances was when we had a corporate intermediary for the enterprise desktop; one brand of manufacturer (Dell, HP), one operating system (MS Windows), and entire certified browser (Internet Explorer) - all governed and controlled via IT. Destroy order was that there were a sprinkling supported browser versions, but in obedience to and large the number as for get through with user platforms on which the apps would run was very unimpressive. This made the testing distal accessory nominal since the rhythm of permutations was so small.<\p>

Requirements so that Art object Band Testing<\p>

The automated testing in connection with today's mobile apps therefore needs to be suited for this new world. The key requirements include: € Automated capture\replay (without jail-breaking) € Allotment for multiple platforms and sleight-of-hand trick types € Federalization irrespective of the development environment for alacritous and never-ceasing testing<\p>