Improve App Quality Through Performance Testing

In a fast-growing digital world, mobile app performance is more important than ever. According to research, by the end of this year, more than 70% of e-commerce sales will be made on mobile devices. And almost 40% of mobile app users tend to abandon mobile apps if they have to wait for the app to load for more than 3-seconds while using it. These statistics are increasing exponentially, which answers the question, why does performance testing matter? 

Many of us have had bad user experiences while interacting with mobile apps. We have experienced lagging screens while reducing our dependence on certain apps. When it comes to mobile apps, the performance describes how efficiently an app works and how convenient it is to use. This is why an organization tends to invest in a performance testing company to improve its product quality. 

Following are three important considerations when it comes to performance:

User Engagement 

According to human engagement studies, actions that take under 100milliseconds to complete are considered to be instant, and actions that take longer can cause the human mind to be distracted. Thus, even a perception of slow performance in an application can affect user engagement. Thus, performance holds great importance in creating the first perception of an app. 

Cost Saving on Infrastructure 

Mobile apps download a lot of content from remote servers, so decreasing the number of requests will result in improving the speed of an application. This will also reduce the traffic on the backend, allowing the growth of your infrastructure while keeping the costs low.  

Sales and In-app Purchases 

The load time for each product UI view should be reduced to load additional screen views of the product in an average session. This allows customers to add more items to their cart, or complete their transactions faster. Thus, performance can have a significant impact on the potential transactions.

This tremendous increase in the usage of smartphones and tablets is one of the modes people use to perform their business operations via mobile apps. It is simply an indicator of the importance of mobile apps to ensure effective business flow in the current market conditions. With a variety of mobile apps available, users continuously look for the best apps. User preference depends on the actual performance of the mobile app and it plays a crucial role in making an app more visible. 

Improving App Quality through Performance Testing

Following are a few points that highlight the importance of performance testing to improve app quality:

Network Quality 

The network bandwidth and latency issues can directly affect the performance of an application. Mobile app testers need to conduct performance testing in varying network conditions to ensure app quality and its performance. 

Time-to-Market 

As the competition between mobile apps increases, organizations release apps with new features to attract new users and retain existing ones. Due to the need for faster release cycles and lack of time for thorough testing, the app performance may be affected. Since the time provided for testing is limited, but the expectations with respect to quality are high – performance testing is something that can handle both pressures simultaneously. 

Availability of a Wide Range of Devices & OS

Mobile applications are used across a wide range of devices and OS like iOS, Android, etc. that normally affect the mobile app performance. It is challenging to perform tests on all types of devices. Thus QA teams use emulators to test different devices in the same environment and support effective mobile testing. 

Wide Range of Screen Resolutions 

We know that different screen resolutions have an impact on the app performance and so they require more thorough performance testing on mobile devices. 

Why Does Network Matter?

The network on which customers use an app has a direct impact on the mobile app user experience. It is crucial to test your app across different devices and different networks. A developer can understand how apps perform in different network conditions. 

How to Optimize the Network?

The following tips can help you optimize your network:

• Make a few HTTP requests
• Use a content delivery network (CDN)
• Reduce the number of DNS searches
• Avoid redirects (As they involve new TCP connections)

Mobile app performance is divided into three parts:

1. Device Performance 

Mobile app testers working for a performance testing company check the following parameters to test device performance:

• App startup/loading – This tests how much time an app takes to start when a user taps at the app. 
• Battery time while using an app – Some apps tend to heat the smartphone on being used for a long time. 
• Memory consumption – When you implement certain functionalities in an app, its memory consumption increases. Thus, you need to test it. 
• App in the background – It is important to retrieve data from an app that is running in the background.
• Battery while usage with other apps – There should be no interference when an app is being used with another app. 
• Hardware/software variation – It is crucial to check if an application is running smoothly on different types of devices.

2. Network Performance 

The performance of an app on different networks and properties needs to be measured. These include:

• Jitters
• Network speed
• Packet loss

3. Server/API Performance 

When an app interacts with the serve via API, the response time matters to ensure high performance. For this, QA needs to check:

• Data to and from the server
• Server downtime
• API Calls generated from the app

Conclusion 

The exponential growth in the smartphone and mobile device market calls for more quality software apps. Organizations are looking for more and more reliable solutions that can ensure releasing apps that are known for their high-performance. For effective mobile app performance testing, it is imperative to have a proper testing strategy backed by the right set of tools.