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Things to Consider While Testing your Mobile App

The mobile app testing is as important as mobile app development and is an integral part of mobile development strategies. You start with a plan and are crystal clear about your objectives. You conduct market analysis and goes into the nitty-gritty of developing a mobile app and voila. You succeed in developing a mobile app and are so overwhelmed with it, isn’t it? But, wait, you still have one step to go, one punch to throw, one more mile to cover.

Got riddled?

Thinking of skimming through it? That’s how your users feel the moment they are ridiculed. If you launch an app without thoroughly testing it, then this article is for you. Even when you test your app before launching and think that the job has been done, then this article is for you too.

Mobile application testing presents unique challenges for testing mobile application’s performance. There are certain things that you need to consider concerning the testing methods you’d deploy. You’ll find that there are more than one testing techniques and each one of them is different. Instead, you have to spend some time and need to consider a testing strategy combining different parameters and on a whole, only enhance the mobile application performance and the overall testing result balancing the tradeoffs between quality, cost, functionality etc.

Through this article, we have dwindled the list and have examined some of the mobile app testing techniques while explaining the factors that you need to consider in determining your testing strategy and choosing the best one that fits your mobile application.

Is Mobile application testing important?

So what makes a mobile app perfect? Is it UI/UX factor? The design? The functionality? Is it loading time? Well. All these factors determine the success of your mobile app and lacking in any one of the mentioned spheres would be detrimental to the mobile development services. You’re right but are forgetting one of the major aspects i.e. Mobile Application Performance Testing. Developing a mobile app is all about taking necessary steps and utilizing resources and space management. It depends on you how you manage all the resources and define your goals accordingly. But, Mobile application testing is all about ensuring that all the steps you have incorporated are in line with the functionality and only enhances its performance. Like other entities, testing the app at the start of the implementation is the right way out for having a comprehensive app. There are some factors to consider while testing your mobile app. Testing stages of a mobile app Different tests are run during the development stages of the mobile app. You can run Tests either manually or automated depending on the performed test. Different tests are performed by different parameters such as QA, Development, Production etc. depending on the requirements and the application’s life cycle stage.

1. Functional Testing: This is the most commonly considered type of mobile app testing and is a basic mobile application testing technique. It is a Quality Assurance (QA) process and a type of black box testing that bases its test cases on the specifications of the software component under test.

Before the initialization of the mobile app development, you need to write test cases revolving around the functionality of the app and then test the app under different constraints to check it is functional the way it should be. Test cases determine the certain changes that you need to make which would have otherwise hinder its operation. Documentation in the nascent stage helps in having a better understanding of the requirement and mitigating bugs.

2. Compatibility: Before you starting the mobile app development, you need to consider browser metrics while testing your app. You must decide on which platform and browser you’d target and then proceed accordingly. Compatibility testing is used to ensure compatibility of the system and applications built across multiple devices and operating systems like browsers, hardware platform etc.

You should ensure that the browser you choose supports your mobile app and if there’s an issue with the browser, your application’s performance would be affected too. For example, if your app is dynamic and interactive, then the browser you choose must provide and support JavaScript only then you can build a dynamic and interactive mobile application. Similarly, for smoother browsing experience for users, the browser must support XML HTTP request object.

It is important how your page elements would be displayed on the browser. There are times when you have to run your app on the lower version of the browser or sometimes on the older version of the browser.

3.Usability: UI and UX Enhance the performance and browsing experience. Moreover, during mobile application testing you need to think from the user perspective and understand user experience and then test functionality such as animation, demographics, gestures, infographics, contextual implementation of functionality etc. Therefore, considering the usability of the app prior testing is a necessary step.

4.Keep a Record Of App Crashes: App ratings are one thing which potential users look for in an app. User Experience plays an important role in the improvement of the ratings of the app. There are many tools to check the crash logs like Acra, Intelligent, Crashlytics etc. Once the crash logs are received resolved the bug.

5. Follow Existing UI Conventions: There are certain users interface elements that make an app well optimized. For instance, there is a difference between desktop, Windows apps, Android apps, Mac OS X app etc. These apps have interface conventions for catering their user requirements. You apply different techniques for displaying content and data and has different interaction channels for interacting with users. Whatever your platform is, follow its norms and conventions for maintaining consistent throughout the app.

These are some of the factors that you need to consider during mobile application testing. After all, you have invested a lot in mobile app development and you don’t want anything to hinder your success. If you’ve got any other factor for app testing, share your thoughts in the comment section.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Janny Hall .