Despite mobile being such a revolution, most mobile app testing still lacks the prime ingredient called quality. The shocking stats from the Cap Gemini Quality Report in mobile application testing confirms the above statement. Around 18% of the participant companies say that they don’t have time for any mobile application testing. Plus, approximately 65% of them don’t possess the right tools to conduct the testing. And lastly, 52% of the participants show that not having devices is the reason for not performing the tests. Now, all these are real-time mobile app testing hurdles that organizations face. This shouldn’t be an excuse not to provide your customers with full quality and satisfaction.
This will be changed completely; it already began as mobile has become one of the major markets of digital content consumption. If you are a digital, e-commerce, or software company, this is what you need to worry about. But, if you already have a specialized QA team in place, you can read our best practices in Mobile testing here.
Or, if you are someone struggling to find the right solution in mobile application testing, then this blog is for you. Let’s get started with the details.
What is Mobile app Testing?
It’s a method through which the developed applications are tested to check their performance, usability, functionality, compatibility, and more for a better user experience. The mobile application Testing can be both manual and automated. Lastly, it’s a growing profession for people who are interested in QA.
How to Test Mobile applications?
First, you need to start with the selection of the devices on which you want to test your application (consider the metric of highly used devices and what your target audiences prefer the most). Up next is deciding on the emulators and simulators. Then comes to judging what you want to automate and what should be manually done.
Automation is vital in saving your time but choose not to automate some human aspects of your application. And then, the various stages of testing come into play. You can find the guide to different types of mobile app testing; questions on how to test an app are given in detail here.
5 Real-time challenges in the Mobile Application Testing process
There are so many hiccups in the mobile app testing process, and we’ll address the top 5 of them and resolve them with the most accessible solution in the article.
#1 Various Mobiles Devices
The variety of devices people get these days in the market is unbelievable—for example, tabs, pads, smartphones, handsets, and more. All this also indicates a wide variety of environments the app has to face. The real challenge here is that after spending a great amount of time testing on one device, there is no guarantee that any QA or Development team can provide it would work exactly the same on the other device. It also applies to the instances where the device belongs to the same product family; it doesn’t matter if the screen resolutions, CPU, OS optimization, etc., differ from each other.
Talk to your team:
Well, to simplify this situation, you can focus on your target groups without wasting much time on devices where your target audiences aren’t there. Or if your CEO is okay with a certain set of devices like 5 – 8 or If it’s your team call, then it’s a thumbs up.
#2) The massive challenge of Device Fragmentation & different OS Platforms
Device Fragmentation is indeed a big hurdle for mobile application testing, and it’s growing 20% every year. Now, design fragmentation is the use of different devices at a given time. The device matrix of iOS is growing at a fast pace, but fragmentation is still a big deal for Android. And another major concern in the same sphere is the growing variety of Operating systems in mobile, posing several challenges to the engineers. Compatibility issues come next, as a mobile app can be used on various devices that differ in:
Operating systems like iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.
Versions of an operating system such as iOS 4.X, iOS 5.X, BB 4.X, 5.X, and 6.X.
Tip: If you are a big organization and deal with several users worldwide and mobile testing is very much the need of the hour, you can set up your own external testing lab. Have a dedicated team to run the process and can be a huge investment initially, but the results would be worth that money.
Also read: Guide To Android App Testing And Its 10 Testing Types
#3 Existence of Several mobile app types
A mobile can be of any type; it can be a native app. A hybrid app. Or a web app and, at times, a mixture of both. Especially talking about the difficulties with their testing here, we must understand their implementation because it’s different from one another. All the apps, starting from their installation to functionality and behavior in different environments. Everything varies. And so their testing and Test converge, even though they differ.
#4 Number of Test Interfaces
Here in mobile app testing, the role of emulators and simulators is really crucial. They allow you to establish the basic functionality and execute regression tests. The primary role of emulators and simulators is that the testing is done in an environment that doesn’t exist or is not real.
The scope of these tools is minimal, and they shouldn’t be replaced with real-time testing. Sequentially employing the emulators and simulators will generate the best results.
#5) Different Testing Tools
As just mentioned above, automation can save your time, but which tool should you opt for in this big ocean of automation tools? There is one single best in the market. There are plenty of good ones out there speaking the truth, and they come for free and paid. And that being said, you need to do your research. Further, match your project requirements with what the tool has to offer. And you are good to go.
Conclusion:
The best way to test mobile application is by using it. A user’s eye isn’t just a keen eye. They can tell us a lot about the software and the issues and what can be done to better the overall experience. So, finding the right tools, communicating with the team, incorporating the right tools, best practices, and these challenges are just experiences to learn more of the best.
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