Mobile applications are a great source of providing services to the customers. It can attract traffic, accelerate conversions and retain customers. Hence organisations are focusing on mobile application testing to provide the best user experience. If mobile application testing is performed strategically, it can do wonders! This is the reason that you should always hire top software testing companies for this purpose. So let’s have a view over the challenges, types and best practices for mobile app testing.
Challenges of Mobile App Testing
Before building a roadmap for mobile app testing, get aware of the challenges of mobile app testing.
Device fragmentation
In Device fragmentation, the UI of the mobile app gets distorted due to incompatibility of the app with the device,OS or browser used by the user. This happens when the app does not support all the versions of browsers.os and devices used by the target market. The compatibility might conflict with the older or newer versions. Hence make user that the mobile app is compatible to a wide range of device browser and OS combinations.
Third Party Integrations
Many mobile applications rely on third party integrations otherwise they are not able to generate reports, analytics, sms services etc. Also, for seamless functioning these apps rely on thor party integrations. So it becomes very difficult for the testers,as they have to switch between different apps for testing the main application.
Processing power and battery life
Today several mobile apps come with features supporting gaming and videos which drains battery very quickly. Many apps are used in a single day and several processes are running in the backend which we have no idea about. This all requires CPU cycles which consumes a lot of power and therefore the battery dries up soon. To calculate how much CPU processing an app can sustain without causing much battery draining, a dedicated mobile app testing lab is required.
Types of Mobile App Testing
Functional Testing :
Functional testing is performed to check whether all the functionalities of the mobile app works as per the specifications. For example it tests the user interaction with the app like launching of the app. Logging in, playing videos, checking account balance etc. It also majorly checks whether all the UI elements are working well example navigation, menu selection, texting, calling, money transaction etc. There are different types functional testing
and you need to balance them out for making most out of them.
Compatibility Testing
Compatibility testing is done to make sure that the mobile app is compatible with different combinations of device, browser and OS in the target market. To achieve compatibility, cross browser testing is performed. Cross browser testing tools like selenium webdriver can be used where you can test various combinations of browser, device and OS simultaneously.
Performance testing
Performance testing is performed for measuring the application performance under various load conditions. App’s speed, scalability and stability is checked under various work loads. The testing is done both in server side and client side. It checks variations in the response time, video streaming speed, delay in the delivery of messages, application crashes etc
Mobile Application testing Best Practices
As we have understood the challenges of mobile application testing and its types, let’s make a checklist of the best practices to build a high quality mobile application :
Building RoadMap :As we know that mobile app testing comes with variouscomplexities, it is very important to build some strategies so that the journey is simple and we get quick results. When it comes to strategies, you can plan the list of devices, browsers, OS to be used and remove the unwanted ones. Selecting the right test automation tools, testing methodologies is also very important.
Automating as much as possible: Automation is the key to get quick and accurate results. So analyse the areas which require repetitive testing, automate it first and follow with identifying all the areas where automation can be implemented.
Using cloud based Test automation tools: Mobile app testing requires a platform which is highly scalable and accessible 24/7. Cloud based testing platforms are inherited with these qualities and also support multiple integration of tools which makes testing easy and seamless.
Conclusion:
Today mobile app testing has become the primary focus of all the brands to ensure seamless functioning of the mobile apps. But, as mobile application testing is not so smooth sailing, we need to identify the challenges and build a firm strategy to make mobile app testing much easier. So do follow the steps mentioned in the blog which are highly recommended for building high performing mobile applications.
