Mobile Application Testing: 5 Best Practices for Ensuring Quality

Before releasing your mobile application, it is important to make sure that that you validate its functionality and usability. Mobile application testing allows you to ensure your users will have a positive and meaningful experience when they use your mobile application. Throughout the application lifecycle, it is crucial to thoroughly test the mobile application to prevent the users facing any defect on their mobile, as that in turn would cause a bad impression on the users, which could lead in a loss of potential customers and revenue. Mobile application testing can assist you in the development process of your application to bring out a good quality final result. 

To make sure your mobile application testing is up to the mark, below are 5 best practices for ensuring quality of your application. 

1. Rely on automated and manual testing: 

Automated testing provides multiple benefits to developers as it keeps track of any bugs to be removed during the mobile application testing period which significantly reduces the cost of failure, while saving time through its repeatability. Moreover, automated testing provides coverage that manual testing cannot, by efficiently executing thousands of various complicated test cases throughout each test run. One can supplement manual testing with frequent automated testing to gain maximum advantage, which can essentially reduce the time and costs required to test the quality of your mobile application. 

2. Incorporate user feedback: 

You can gain valuable insights by hearing what manual QA testers and end users have to say about how the app works and feels. Every time an update is made to your application, having it tested by your QA team as well as general users can give you meaningful feedback which can then be incorporated into the development of the application. It is important to not only listen, but implement the feedback of users in an attempt to improve the user experience and hence the overall growth and success of your application. 

3. Perform your testing on the real device before release: 

Due to the increased use of mobile phones, businesses are turning towards developing mobile applications and since there are multiple operating systems and configurations, it is important to rely on the actual device for your mobile application testing instead of emulators, because then you can get more accurate results and insights which will allow testers to look into every test scenario in the testing cycle. As a result, the debugging capabilities will improve by looking at bugs appearing through the direct use of the application on a mobile device. 

 4. Testing as Part of Your App Development:

One of the best practices to ensure good quality, on time, and with fewer overall work and expenditures is to become involved with mobile application testing as early as possible in the development phase. 

One of the first steps developers should consider is how to create a standard testing process from the start, in addition to thinking about how to test early. If done in the right manner, you can save significant amounts of time in the actual development of the application and in bug fixing. The complexity of modern applications is increasing, making testing imperative and urgent. 

 5. Conduct cross-platform testing: 

To prevent the occurrence of compatibility issues, it is crucial to test your mobile application on various browsers, operating systems, iOS or Android devices. Each environment will have its own limitations because of which it is important that your mobile application testing covers the entire market of mobile phones. Apart from the consideration of different operating systems, there’s even the factor of difference device screen sizes with which it is important that your application is able to adapt to in terms of its user interface. 

6. Security and Performance Testing:
Security and performance are crucial factors in mobile application testing. It’s essential to perform rigorous security testing to identify vulnerabilities that might compromise user data and app functionality. Security testing involves checking for potential breaches, such as data leaks, inadequate encryption, or other security gaps that may lead to hacking or misuse of the application. Moreover, performance testing ensures that your application works efficiently under various conditions, such as different network speeds, heavy loads, and simultaneous user access. By conducting performance testing, developers can pinpoint potential bottlenecks and optimize the application’s performance.

7. Usability Testing for User-Centric Experience:
Usability testing is indispensable to ensure that the mobile application is user-friendly and offers a smooth, intuitive experience. This testing checks how easily users can navigate through the application, whether the layout is intuitive, and if the functions are easily accessible. Evaluating user interactions, the flow of tasks, and the overall user experience helps in refining the application to meet user expectations. Usability testing can uncover flaws in the design or functionality that could otherwise lead to user frustration, affecting user retention and app success.

8. Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD):
Implementing CI/CD practices in mobile application testing streamlines the development process. Continuous Integration ensures that all code changes are immediately integrated and tested with the existing codebase, reducing the risk of conflicts. This allows for faster identification and resolution of bugs. Similarly, Continuous Deployment automates the release process, enabling faster and frequent releases. It not only speeds up the time to market but also facilitates more rapid feedback and quick resolutions to identified issues.

9. Regression Testing for Version Updates:
With each update, developers must perform regression testing. This ensures that new features or fixes don’t affect the existing functionality. By retesting the unchanged parts of the application, you can verify that new code changes haven’t introduced new defects. Regression testing maintains the overall quality and stability of the application through updates.

10. Documentation and Reporting:
Comprehensive documentation and reporting are critical in mobile application testing. Properly documenting test plans, test cases, and results ensure that the testing process is traceable and repeatable. It allows teams to collaborate effectively and ensures a clear understanding of the testing process and its outcomes. Detailed reports and logs provide a roadmap for identifying bugs and assist in making informed decisions for further improvements.

Considerations

By overcoming significant obstacles that adversely affect development, release, and distribution, efficient mobile application testing can help you provide a streamlined user experience. As a result of positive user experiences, your application can gain favorable reviews, which will help you further connect with a wider range of audience. 

Efficient mobile application testing serves as the cornerstone in the software development life cycle, acting as a guardrail against potential pitfalls and ensuring a smooth and engaging user experience. The challenges developers face in today’s competitive mobile app landscape are multifaceted, ranging from stringent release timelines to the need for continuous updates and the ever-evolving mobile device ecosystem. Overcoming these hurdles requires a robust and comprehensive testing strategy.

The process of mobile application testing involves addressing a myriad of factors. It starts with understanding the target audience, their preferences, and the multitude of mobile devices, screen sizes, operating systems, and network conditions that the application will encounter. A thorough understanding of these variables is essential to design a robust testing strategy that reflects real-world user scenarios.

In this context, automated testing stands out as an invaluable asset in the mobile application testing arsenal. The integration of automated tests significantly reduces manual effort, shortens the testing cycles, and enhances overall accuracy. By leveraging automated testing tools and frameworks like Selenium, Appium, or TestCafe, developers can rapidly execute numerous complex test cases, ensuring a broad test coverage across various mobile platforms and device types. The financial benefits are notable as well – automated tests allow for cost-effective and quick identification of issues, reducing the overall time and costs involved in mobile application testing.

User feedback is equally instrumental in shaping the mobile app testing process. Engaging manual QA testers and end-users for feedback provides valuable insights into the application’s functionality and user experience. Continuous feedback loops enable developers to refine the app features, aligning them with user expectations. By incorporating user feedback into the development process, applications can evolve to meet the ever-changing user demands, increasing user satisfaction and the potential for a wider user base.

To ensure a robust and accurate testing process, testing on real devices, instead of relying solely on emulators, is crucial. The use of actual devices provides more accurate insights into real-world usage scenarios, making it easier to identify and debug potential issues. This approach helps in simulating real-world conditions and uncovering bugs and issues that might go unnoticed in an emulator-based test environment.

Furthermore, initiating the testing process early in the application development lifecycle is essential for identifying issues in the nascent stages. By creating a standardized testing process at the onset and incorporating continuous testing throughout the development, developers can save considerable time in the application development and debugging phase.

Cross-platform testing, emphasizing compatibility across different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes, is indispensable. An application’s adaptability across various environments is critical for its success. By ensuring the application is compatible with the diverse mobile ecosystem, it becomes more appealing to a wider user base.

Conclusively, efficient mobile application testing has a profound impact on the overall user experience. It not only enhances the app’s performance but also guarantees high quality, offering users a seamless, intuitive, and satisfying experience. The successful implementation of these testing practices ultimately leads to an application that garners positive reviews, establishing a strong connection with users and thereby ensuring a wider audience outreach.