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Try for freeThe ever-increasing usage of the internet has changed how we humans interact with technology. Everything is just a few touches away, be it booking a cab, making a payment, ordering groceries, medicines, or other services. For developers who create such complex applications, it’s essential that they test these applications thoroughly. Hence, understanding the key differences between mobile application testing vs web application testing becomes quite crucial.
Table Of Contents
Mobile Application Testing vs Web Application Testing – Overview
What is Mobile Application Testing?
Mobile application testing is the process of validating any mobile application before releasing it to the public. We test its usability and functionality as per the requirements specified by the business. Thus, it helps us understand whether the mobile application meets the technical and functional expectations.
The main goal behind developing any mobile application is to increase its reach and make it accessible globally. Hence, we don’t want the application to have bugs and technical faults when launched. Needless to say, no business would want its customer to come up with complaints and switch to a different competitor.
Hence, we need to test any mobile application on multiple devices, screen resolutions, operation systems such as Android and iOS, network bandwidths, etc. The application should run flawlessly on all the combinations of device configurations.
Check here – Top Mobile Automation Testing Tools
What is Web Application Testing?
Web application testing is the process of testing the website for potential bugs or any other unwanted issues before we release it to the end users. Most businesses still prefer web applications that can run on browsers on desktop as well as mobile devices. This allows them to provide seamless user interaction on their most-used devices.
Similar to mobile application testing, there are different aspects of web application testing as well. When we test a web application, we must ensure it meets the functional requirements. More than that, it should be able to meet the performance benchmarks, should not be prone to security leaks, and must be compatible with all possible browser configurations.
A testing plan for a website should at least include a test strategy, objectives, and approach. It should also have a set of well-defined test cases and test suites and an environment where the tests need to be executed. Moreover, the testers should be able to automate the repetitive web application test cases to save time and effort.
Check here – Web Applications Test Cases
Difference Between Mobile Application Testing and Web Application Testing
The difference between mobile application testing vs web application testing boils down to their purpose, intended users, and complexity.
In web application testing, we test our websites for functionality, usability, and quality across different OS, browsers, and versions. On the other hand, in mobile application testing, we verify whether or not the mobile application works as intended across thousands of mobile device configurations.
Therefore, it is essential that both these types of applications perform up to the benchmark and are bug-free. Ultimately, it all comes down to providing a seamless user experience and retaining the end users. Having discussed this, let’s dive deep into the basic differences between mobile application testing vs web application testing.
Check here – Website Testing Tools
Mobile Application Testing VS Web Application Testing
| Mobile Application Testing | Web Application Testing |
| Developing and testing responsive mobile applications, especially for devices with small resolutions like mobile phones and tablets, is difficult. | Developing and testing responsive web applications for larger screen resolutions is relatively easier. |
| Due to the complexity of mobile applications and the involvement of many components, it’s challenging to test mobile applications. | Testing web applications is relatively easier. |
| We need to test the mobile applications on a combination of different device configurations like OS (iOS and Android), resolutions, hardware configurations, OEMs, etc. | Web applications must be tested across different browser versions and OS combinations. |
| Mobile applications that consume a lot of power and drain battery are not well-received by end users. Hence, the testing teams must test the applications on fully-charged and drained mobile devices. | There is no such constraint for testing web applications as it depends solely on the browser. |
| The testing team needs to consider the interaction of the devices with user actions such as gestures, voice, noise, etc. This is due to the number of features that smartphones provide the users to interact with different applications. | Web browsers do not offer many options to interact and even if they do, users preferably use mouse and keyboard control to access web applications. Hence, the scope of testing is less. |
| Nowadays, mobile applications are also accessible via peripheral devices connected to the mobile such as fitness trackers, smart watches, medical devices like pacemakers, etc. Hence, they need to be tested on these devices as well. | Web applications are mostly accessed on browsers. Other peripheral devices include webcams, controllers, etc. However, they are not used on a large scale. |
| Some popular tools and frameworks for mobile application testing are – Testsigma, Appium, Xamarin, Espresso, XCUITest, Robotium, etc. | Commonly used web application testing tools are – Selenium, WebLoad, devtools in browsers, Acunetix, etc. |
Conclusion
To sum up, testing is a crucial part of the delivery process of any application, be it a mobile or desktop web application. With the availability of a plethora of devices with multiple configurations, testing the robustness of an application on all these platforms is quite a hectic task. Hence, switching over to an automated testing solution will save you a lot of time, effort, and cost.
To ensure a bug-free product, you must test your application in all possible device configurations that the end users commonly use. New-age automated tools like Testsigma and others provide a complete solution with thousands of real devices hosted on cloud.
Hence, you need to choose wisely before you invest in any automated testing tool so that it has all the features and appropriate support that your application needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the skills required for mobile application and web application testing?
To test any application, the tester must have these basic skills to ensure that the final product meets the business requirements and benchmarks. S/he should have a deep understanding of the features to be developed, should be able to choose the right testing tool, and automate the testing as much as possible. This is possible with the ability to write automation scripts and set up proper test environments.
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