How To Successfully Perform Mobile App Testing

Introduction

The trend of smartphones and mobile technology is on the rise and it is not going to go down any time soon.

According to CIODive, up to 70% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.

Testing your application with the help of mobile app testing services ensures that your app runs seamlessly and carries out the functions it was designed for.

Another study shows that about 21% of users will abandon an app just after the first use. Some of the factors that can contribute to this are bugs, crashes, poor performance, poor functionality, and bad user interface. 

These glitches can get in the way of your prospects while using the mobile application. Luckily, this can be avoided by having a well-defined Testing and Quality Assurance in place.

Among the plentiful software testing methods, performance testing will help you to deliver high-quality applications to your customers and it is an activity your team should give priority to.

In this article, I will share some key methods to successfully perform mobile application testing.

#1 Choosing The Right Tool For Testing

You need to have a limited number of required devices as possible; this will also reduce the amount of time and cash you spend in application testing.

Perhaps, you should answer the following questions to get a clear image of what to use.

• Smartphones or tablets? Or both?
• Which operating system does the device support? And is it the current version?
• Devices that are common with the target audience?

In most of the testing projects, you will require between 5 to 10 testing tools. For Android applications, you will require to have a comprehensive approach while selecting the devices from a wide pool of available tools.

In the end, it is crucial to select the optimal combination of tools.

#2 How to test

Analyze

Analyzing the application will ensure you detect the most basic defects and have the developers fix it as soon as possible.

Go through the documentation and understand the application architecture and the business model.

Check the functionality first, then graphics

Using the most popular device, perform a full test on the application to note the application specs that are not covered in the documentation.

Ask questions on functional aspects you think are a bit vague and detect the most serious defects and bottlenecks of the application. Perform another test using a less popular device while you pay attention to these issues.

Take account of basic usability checks

Even though you are testing a functionality, it is possible to detect some basic usability issues along the way, without the need for applying usability standards and special checks. 

Some basic usability issues you may come across may include; too complicated application logic, difficult to understand help sections, bad background color, and many others.

Include the real environment check

While performing the application performance testing, try to gather real environment results by checking specific conditions the testing tools could experience during the exercise.

Checking for these problems, you are ensuring that users will not have problems with your mobile application when; there is unstable network connections, low battery, small free space available, piled up notifications, working in different time zones or GPS, different sound and notification settings, data restrictions, and blind mode.

Manual vs. Test Automation

Many people have the opinion that mobile manual testing is on the verge of dying. This is not true.

Sure, we cannot disregard test automation but there are some instances where we also can’t do without manual testing.

Mobile Application Testing
Manual	Test Automation
Cost effective in short-time	It is cost effective in long-term
It is better in simulating user actions	Faster in running tests
Test cases are difficult to be reused	Automated test cases can easily be reused
Some tests would require load testing	Certain testing techniques such as performance testing can only be performed using test automation
The test process is time-consuming	Test results are easily shareable

The decision to use what methods are upon you, but as you can see, there are some tests that you cannot perform without test automation.

The best thing to do would be trying a combination of different approaches.

For example, try using simulators during the initial stages of your mobile application testing process, and then afterwards include some real physical devices or cloud-based tools. Automated tools are better for exploratory and usability testing.

Submitting results

Gather as much information and descriptions about the application as possible. By doing this, you will be significantly increasing the chances of fixing and reproducing the defects.

Preconditions

Present all the information accurately. Are there issues with the preinstalled applications? Or the developers created numerous different accounts?  All of these should be mentioned.

Steps

Describe meticulously what you do and what you see. Be very careful and not miss any step.

Environment

Include the environment settings and surroundings used in application testing, including device type and their version, the operating system version for each testing tool, the used simulator or emulator. In case a defect was reproduced on the device used, specify that so that the app developers can easily find the defects and fix them.

Expected Result

Explain how the mobile application is behaving or ought to behave after the defects are fixed. Give the developers of the app actual instructions of how they could not identify the bug.

Additional information

Include here a complete image of what the software tester has done and the achievement.

Try using the screenshots, application logs, screen videos (in case screenshots are inadequate), and any other additional items used to reproduce the bugs such as files, videos, and images.

It is important to remember that profiles used to reproduce a bug should be affixed because in some cases, even one symbol may cause the defect that logs could not reflect.