Comprehensive Guide to Cross Device Testing for Quality Assurance

With time, the software industry has become very competitive, and different users use different devices and tools. Thus it is not enough to launch an application that works only on one or two devices and operating systems. This is why cross device testing becomes more important. 

This article discusses what is cross device testing, why it is really important, popular strategies, benefits, challenges, best practices, cross device testing tools, and how to perform a cross-device test using Testsigma.

What is Cross Device Testing?

Cross device testing is the technique of validating the functionality and performance of software applications across different devices such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops. This process verifies that users have a good experience regardless of the device they use. It also considers factors like screen size, resolution, device type, operating system, and OS version to confirm compatibility and usability.

Importance of Cross-Device Testing

Cross-device testing ensures that your application delivers a consistent and reliable user experience across different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes. Here’s why it’s essential:

User Experience Varies by Device

The same app can look and behave differently on an iPhone, an Android tablet, or a desktop browser. Testing helps catch layout and functionality issues early.

Growing Device Fragmentation

With hundreds of device models and screen resolutions in use today, skipping cross-device testing risks poor usability for many users.

Bug-Free Responsive Design

A responsive app or website should work as expected on all screen sizes. Cross-device testing verifies this adaptability.

Higher User Retention

Apps that crash or glitch on specific devices tend to lose users quickly. Consistent performance leads to better retention and engagement.

Better Accessibility and Coverage

It helps ensure your app works well across varying network conditions, hardware specs, OS versions, and device orientations.

Fewer Bugs Post-Launch

A device-specific bug that slips through can quickly damage brand reputation. Testing across devices helps avoid such issues before production.

Cross Device Testing Strategies

To effectively perform cross device testing, effective strategies should be followed. Next, let’s look at some key strategies that can be used for cross browser and device testing.

Planning and Analysis:

Start by identifying the target devices, operating systems, and browsers used by the customers through research and analytics. Create device matrices to prioritize testing based on usage data to confirm comprehensive coverage across different device types.

Responsive and Adaptive Design Testing:

Implement responsive design principles to make sure the application adapts to different screen sizes and orientations. Test adaptive features to confirm that different layouts and functionalities are correctly displayed and function across all targeted devices.

Visual and Interface Testing:

Conduct thorough visual testing to verify that UI elements, layouts, images, and text display correctly across all devices. Test the application’s interface usability to confirm a good user experience, especially on devices with smaller screens.

Functional Testing across Devices:

Validate cross-platform consistency by testing all functionalities across different devices. This includes assessing how the application handles user inputs, processes data, and maintains feature accessibility across various platforms and devices.

Performance Testing:

Measure load times, responsiveness, and resource utilization across different devices to verify consistent performance. Monitor CPU, memory, and battery usage to identify any performance bottlenecks.

Security Testing across Platforms:

Test the security of data transmission and storage on all devices and platforms to gurantee the security measures are effective. Furthermore, test authentication mechanisms and data access controls to safeguard user data.

Test Automation:

Automate repetitive tests using tools to execute tests consistently across different devices and platforms. Integrate automated tests into a CI/CD pipeline to continuously verify application functionality as new code is deployed.

Key Considerations for Cross Device Testing

• Identify the most popular devices among the customers to prioritize testing efforts effectively.
• Make sure the application follows responsive design principles to adapt smoothly to various screen sizes.
• Test interactive elements such as buttons and forms across different devices to verify consistent functionality.
• Evaluate touch interactions to verify that gestures and inputs work as intended on different touchscreens.
• Test load and response times on different devices to guarantee optimal performance across varying hardware capabilities.

Approaches to Perform Cross Device Testing

Manual Approach

This involves human testers manually verifying the software application’s usability and performance across different devices. Testers interact with the application as end-users, exploring functionalities to detect bugs and test user experience. This approach is important when it comes to identifying issues that may occur due to different screen sizes, resolutions, and operating systems. It requires thorough test planning to prioritize critical functionalities and commonly used devices.

Automated Approach

This uses automation tools and frameworks to validate the functionality, performance, and compatibility of applications across multiple devices. By automating repetitive test cases, this approach accelerates the testing process and increases test coverage. Test scripts are created to simulate user interactions and verify app behavior across different device configurations. Integration with CI/CD pipelines confirms consistent testing with each code change, providing fast feedback on application compatibility and stability.

Challenges of Cross Device Testing

Some of the major challenges of Cross browser and device testing can be listed below.

• Testing across a wide range of devices and resolutions requires a large inventory of devices and it can be costly and more complex to manage.
• Making sure that web applications work smoothly across different browsers and their different versions, which frequently update, can be challenging.
• Differences in hardware capabilities affect application speed and responsiveness, and it complicates performance testing.
• Some devices support unique gestures and navigation patterns that others do not, and it makes input method testing difficult.
• Creating and maintaining automated tests for different device scenarios requires a wide range of test environments which might create complexity.
• Setting up and maintaining the necessary systems and environments for cross device testing requires a considerable amount of cost.

Best Practices for Cross-Device Testing

Here are some of the best practices in cross device testing that will help to optimize the testing process.

• Use tools like Google Analytics and user surveys to determine the devices and screen resolutions that are most commonly used by your customer base.
• Prioritize features and functionalities that are important to users and create a comprehensive test plan that includes the necessary devices and operating systems.
• Use emulators and simulators for initial testing, and always validate on real devices to ensure an authentic user experience.
• Include older devices and versions of operating systems in testing to ensure compatibility for users who haven’t and do not like to be upgraded.
• Verify whether the software application performs well on different network types, including Wi-Fi, cellular data, and other slower networks.
• Gather feedback from real users and customers to make sure the application is not only functional but also user-friendly.

Tools for Cross-Device Testing

Cross device testing tools help testers make sure their applications work smoothly across different devices. Here are the top 6 tools,

• Testsigma: It is an AI-powered tool for no-code test automation. It lets you automate and execute your tests on web, mobile, desktop applications and APIs. You can execute these tests on the browser and device of your choice as it lets you connect to the device cloud of your choice.

• LambdaTest: It is an AI-powered tool for testing web and mobile apps via real devices, browsers, and various platform combinations. It supports manual and automated testing through different frameworks.
  
• BrowserStack: This is one of the most famous cloud-based testing platforms that provides developers and QA teams access to a wide range of browsers and devices for testing websites and mobile applications. It provides around 3000+ devices and browsers for you to test and verify your application. BrowserStack supports automated and manual testing and integrates with multiple development tools and frameworks.

• Sauce Labs: Sauce Labs allows you to run tests in cloud-based environments on hundreds of browsers and devices. This tool supports the open-source community. It supports automated testing for desktop, mobile web, and native apps, and it integrates with CI/CD pipelines for efficient workflows.

• Kobiton: Kobiton is a tool specialized for providing real mobile devices for testing mobile applications. They market their product with the tagline “Real Device Testing” and Mobile UI Automation Testing. It allows manual and automated testing and offers features for performance monitoring and debugging. Kobiton supports both iOS and Android platforms and provides access to real device conditions, which can be critical for understanding user experiences.

• Perfecto by Perforce: This is another famous tool that provides a cloud-based platform for web, mobile, and IoT software testing. It supports automated testing and continuous testing within DevOps cycles. Perfecto offers access to a variety of mobile devices, browsers, and operating system versions, and it includes advanced features like AI-driven analytics to identify and fix defects efficiently.

How to Choose What Devices to Test on?

To choose what devices to test on, focus on configurations that can behave differently on various devices, time constraints, and budget. Follow the below tips to choose the best devices to test on.

• Identify the devices, operating systems, and browsers the target audience uses most frequently.
• Use web analytics tools to gather real-time statistics on OS and device screen sizes.
• Analyze usage data to prioritize specific devices and configurations.
• Choose a mix of popular devices and those with different specifications to confirm a broad coverage.
• For projects with specific requirements, focus on testing on the most relevant devices.

How to Achieve Cross Device Testing?

To achieve effective cross device testing, the following approaches can be considered.

• Using Physical Devices:
  • Select devices based on the target audience’s demographics and usage patterns.
  • Build a device lab with several devices covering different OS types, screen sizes, and resolutions.
    
• Emulators and Simulators:
  • Utilize Android and iOS simulators to simulate different device configurations.
  • Emulators recreate real device behaviors and simulators mimic iOS devices on Mac machines.
    
• Real Device Cloud:
  • Use a cloud-based testing platform for comprehensive testing across different real devices and browsers.

How to Perform Cross Device Testing Using Testsigma?

Step 1: Log in to Testsigma

Log in using your credentials. If you’re a first-time user, create an account and start testing. 

Step 2: Create a New Project

• Hover over the “Create New” button.
• Select “Project”
• Enter your project details.
• Select the Application Type. This selection defines the testing environment tailored for the type of application.

Step 3: Create Test Cases

• Open your created project.
• Navigate to create a Test Case inside the project, and start generating test cases with Atto, your AI coworker.
• Provide a descriptive name for the test case, e.g., “Verify Login with Valid Credentials.”

Step 4: Define Test Steps

• Add test steps using simple, natural language commands recommended by Testsigma, such as:
• Enter <Valid Username> in the <Username> field.
• Enter <Valid Password> in the <Password> field.
• Click on the <Login> button.
• Verify that the current page displays <Successful Login>.

Step 5: Add Validation Assertions

• Include steps to verify expected outcomes, like:
• Verify the page title contains <Dashboard>.
• Verify user is redirected to the home page.

Step 6: Configure Cross-Device Test Environment

• Click “Run” in the test case editor.
• In the Ad-hoc Run panel, configure:
• Test Running Environment: Choose from local device, Testsigma cloud, or external device cloud providers.
• Operating System & Version: Select Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, etc.
• Browser & Version: Select browsers like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge.
• Screen Resolution: Choose device screen resolutions to test responsive design.
• Optionally, select Headless Run for supported browsers.

Step 7: Execute Tests across Devices

• Click Run to start simultaneous test execution across all selected device and browser configurations.

Step 8: Analyze Test Results

• After test completion, review detailed reports including:
• Pass/fail status of individual steps.
• Screenshots and logs for each environment.
• Device-specific issues highlighted for targeted fixes.

Step 9: Scale and Automate Testing

• Group test cases into Test Suites for organized cross-device test management.
• Use Distributed or Parallel Testing for faster multi-device execution.
• Integrate Testsigma with CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous cross-device testing with every build or code update.

Conclusion

Effective cross device testing guarantees a smooth user experience across different platforms and devices. By using a mix of emulators, virtual machines, and actual hardware, testers can cover various test scenarios. Even though it gives a lot of benefits, it is better to follow different approaches and best practices to bypass the challenges of that. At the end of the day, cross device testing helps deliver high-quality applications that work well for all users.

Frequently Asked Questions