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What Is Mobile Application Testing?
Mobile application testing is a process through which applications being developed for mobile devices are tested. The main focus is to test the apps for functionality, usability and stability.
Mobile application testing is vital for an app’s survival in today’s market. To assure the best possible quality for the end users - the application is also tested from various other aspects including its performance, security, and the UI.
Types Of Mobile Apps
Here are the three basic types of mobile applications:
Native Apps: Native apps are developed for a specific platform or operating system (OS). As they focus on a single OS, they have an added advantage of being faster and more reliable in terms of performance but are costly to maintain.
Web Apps: Web apps are similar to native apps with the basic difference that it can be used via a web browser on mobile devices. It has low development costs but is entirely dependent on the browser used on the device.
Hybrid Apps: Hybrid apps are the combination of both native and web-based apps. They use a web view control in order to present the HTML and JavaScript files in a full screen format. These apps are cost-friendly and quick to develop but unlike native apps, they lack power and speed.
If you have a mobile application and you have been executing the same test cases for it release after release, then it is time that you start automating the test cases to save time and efforts and improve your ROI. For this you should invest in a tool that supports automation on your mobile application.
Why Mobile Testing Is Important For Your App?
In the current app-development scenario, apps need to be tested across various mobile devices and operating systems to check their compatibility, usability and consistency. In order to build applications that are scalable and accessible across multiple platforms, automation testing can be used.
As manual testing is time consuming, costly, and prone to errors, it makes sense to leverage automation for a wide range of repetitive tasks, such as regression and performance testing.
Automated testing will allow the testers to quickly check the new or recent updates or changes in the application for errors, defects, and vulnerabilities. Additionally, it helps them to:
- Run tests on multiple devices in parallel
- Reuse tests
- Get enhanced coverage
- Achieve better ROI
How To Test a Mobile Application Using Testsigma [Step-by-Step Process]
Step 1
Sign up/Log in
Create a free account on Testsigma to access the tool dashboard and start the test creation process within seconds.
Step 2
Create an Android/iOS Project
To test a mobile application, create a new project by selecting the application types Android, iOS, or Mobile Web based on the type of application under test. Click on Create New to make a new project.
Step 3
Upload the Application APK File
Under Test Data, go to Uploads to select and upload the application APK file if the application type is Android or iOS. This will be available while creating and running the test cases.
Step 4
Create Test Cases (manually or record the steps)
Click on Create Test Cases to open the window to write tests. Choose to either manually select the NLPs or record the test steps. Select the right configurations before recording the steps.
Step 5
Perform the Actions
To record, perform the desired actions and capture the test steps in the adjacent window. Click on Tap to execute the steps similar to a touchscreen smartphone. Other actions, such as Enter Data and View Code are available for the users to access.
Step 6
Record the Results
Run the captured test steps to record the test run results along with screenshots and videos for better analysis. The Pass and Fail status will be shown for all the executed test steps.
Main Challenges Of Mobile Application Testing
Here are some of the main challenges of mobile app testing:
Device Fragmentation
Considering the fact that a mobile application can be used on a variety of devices having different screen sizes, carrier settings, operating settings, and form factors - it becomes a challenge to account for all these while testing your app.
To overcome this challenge organizations use various measures as listed below:
- They test on Simulators and Emulators
- If they have a limited budget, they buy a limited number of devices specifically for testing.
- If they are not limited by the budget, they invest in an inhouse device lab which includes a reasonable range of mobile devices for sufficient.
- They invest in the most used and reliable technique - a cloud hosted device lab or farm.
Browser Fragmentation
If your mobile application is a web app that operates on a mobile browser then it is recommended that you test it on all the different device sizes and resolutions that your target audience might be using.
Just as there are multiple operating systems and all have to be considered while testing applications that run on them.The various mobile browsers need to be considered while mobile testing. Though the majority of the users (80%) use either Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, there are other browsers that should be taken into account.
Third-party Integrations
Organizations usually assume that an integrated third party application would work seamlessly upon integration and that it does not need to be tested. But that might not be true at all times as the environment in a mobile application changes rapidly. Thus, third-party integrations need to be thoroughly tested by testers to ensure seamless experience for their users.
App Security
As the external security threats are rising every day, securing and protecting sensitive customer data becomes a challenge for the organizations. Any loophole in the app can leave the application vulnerable to cyber attacks. Thus, a thorough security testing of your mobile application is a must. The testing should be done to ensure that any sensitive data of your organization or your users should always be encrypted and protected against malicious activities.
Battery Life
Battery life of a mobile device is one thing which has seen a continuous improvement over the past few years. But along with it the battery usage has increased too as more and more complex and battery consuming applications are being created. Thus, it is crucial for the QA team to take into account the power consumption, especially for highly demanding tasks the app will perform.
While performing this testing do keep in mind that your mobile application should not consume too much battery life. Test the battery life consumption for various scenarios while the application is actively in use and while it is in the background. If your application takes up too much battery, your users may end up uninstalling it and you don’t want that.
Performance Testing
Another challenge for the testers is to run and test the app under high workload and stress to determine when and where an application’s performance is compromised. This testing is critical to ensure your app works in all circumstances and even if it fails, it fails gracefully and does not become a problem for the users.
Storage Issues
Mobile devices come with varied data storage and there are a lot of users who don’t have high storage devices which makes testing the behaviour of the application in low storage devices a challenge. If you are supporting devices that have small storage then testing against them becomes a must.
If you don’t have such devices, it is highly recommended to subscribe to a cloud device provider that does like Browserstack or a test automation tool that allows easy integration with browsers and devices for mobile testing like Testsigma.
Location-Dependence
Some apps would need location-based information to provide real time information about the user’s surroundings or alerts to other users based on the data. If your app has any dependence on location, it should be properly tested either by simulation or by physically testing from different locations. The real testing can be done by utilizing platforms that offer crowd testing.
Approaches For Mobile Application Testing
With a highly competitive app marketplace, organizations not only need to match but to exceed the expectations of their users to taste success. It becomes crucial to leverage the power of mobile app testing to enhance the overall quality of the application. An effective mobile app testing involves:
- Outlining the process
- Choosing tests for manual and automated testing
- Preparing test cases for different functionalities
- Performing Manual testing
- Performing automated testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Complete testing before Final version release
Best Practices for Mobile Application Testing
- Define clear test objectives before creating and executing the tests.
- Test the application on a variety of real devices, rather than simulators and emulators.
- Identify key user scenarios and use cases to prioritize the test cases.
- Implement mobile automated testing wherever possible to increase test coverage, reduce manual effort, and speed up release cycles.
- Prioritize testing on certain devices and operating systems according to the expected usage by the target audience, as it may not be possible to execute tests for all the devices, networks, and operating systems.
- Pay attention to app performance, including responsiveness, load times, battery consumption, and resource usage.
- Perform thorough security testing.
- Perform regression testing after each update or code change.
- Conduct exploratory testing to uncover unexpected issues, evaluate usability, and validate user flows.
Mobile testing On Real Devices Or Virtual Devices?
Here are some of the main challenges of mobile app testing:
Testing on real devices
- Testing can be carried out in real conditions
- Testing on real devices helps recreates the actions that the customer perform
- Payment gateway testing can be efficiently performed on real devices
- Real devices are ideal to perform high-level testing of AI games
- Real devices are mainly used when releasing applications for new versions and models of smartphones
Testing on Virtual Devices
- Virtual Devices: Virtual devices are software program that provides simulation for most of the key features of an actual mobile device
These are of two types:
- Emulators: Emulator is a software that mimics both the hardware and software of the target device on the computer
- Simulators: Simulator is a software that only mimics software and not hardware and runs certain programs built for a different OS.
Emulators are preferred whenever you are testing the mobile’s external behavior, such as calculations, making transactions, etc. Simulators on the other hand are less reliable than emulators and are not suitable for debugging.
Even then Emulator and Simulators have certain limitations. If you are looking for subscribing to a device cloud or device farm.
Conclusion - Why Use Mobile-Specific Tools
Gartner, world’s leading research and advisory company, says as many as 75% of the enterprises will use at least one mobile app development platform by 2020 in order to accelerate their development and testing processes.
To leverage the power of automation, you need to use an automation testing tool that lets you automate your mobile testing easily and efficiently
Selecting the right automation tool is the first step towards automation. There are plenty of mobile testing tools available in the market.
Here are a few key things you should consider before choosing the right tool for your mobile app testing:
Scripting support: Even if you go for a codeless test automation tool, make sure the tool also allows you to extend your testing capabilities whenever required. For this your tool should allow you scripting too.
Scriptless option for test creation: Test creation without coding is vital for those who lack programming skills and it also speed up the entire process
Ability to create tests for different mobile OS’s: Look for a tool that can support your tests across multiple mobile platforms from the same place.
Easy to setup: Your test automation tool should be easy to setup and maintain.
Seamless integration with the CI/CD tools: Ensure that your mobile testing tool easily integrates with the tools you are using for your CI/CD process
It is hard to imagine effective mobile application testing without the help of an automation tool. And before choosing the right automation tool you should try the tool too.
Testsigma is a codeless test automation tool that allows you to automate your test cases in simple English and has above features as well. You can try it for free here before you decide to go ahead with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is mobile testing different from Web testing?
Which factors should you consider while selecting a Mobile automation tool?
Who Perform Mobile App Testing?
How does Mobile App Testing benefit your business?