A Comprehensive Guide To Mobile App Testing

By the end of 2024, mobile apps are expected to generate more than $935 billion in revenue. That being said, a fault-free and fully functional mobile app is crucial for your business’s success. From managing finances to staying connected, apps play an essential role in our daily lives. However, with millions of apps seeking users’ attention, only those offering a seamless, glitch-free experience stand out. This is where mobile app testing comes into play. Mobile app testing is the process that ensures your app is polished, functional, and ready to meet user expectations across various devices and operating systems. This blog will explore what mobile app testing is, its types, checklists, benefits, and more. Read along to find out.

What is Mobile App Testing?

Mobile app testing ensures an app functions correctly on various devices and operating systems. It involves checking usability, performance, security, and compatibility to identify and fix bugs or issues. This process ensures the app provides a seamless user experience and meets quality standards before release.

This step is crucial because it helps you avoid problems that could lead to poor user experiences, negative reviews, or even app failure. By thoroughly testing your app, you ensure it performs well across various conditions, whether used on an old Android phone, the latest iPhone, or under different network speeds.

Types of Mobile Apps

Understanding the type of mobile app you’re working with is key to determining the right testing approach. Here are the three main types of mobile apps:

• Native Apps: These are built for a particular platform, like iOS or Android, using platform-specific languages such as Swift for iOS or Kotlin for Android. Native apps are known for their high performance and smooth integration with the device’s features, but they require separate development and testing for each platform.
• Hybrid Apps: Hybrid apps are developed using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They are then wrapped in a native container. Further allowing them to be distributed through app stores and function across multiple platforms. While hybrid apps offer the convenience of cross-platform compatibility, they may not perform as well as native apps and often require thorough testing to ensure consistency.
• Web Apps: Web apps are mobile-optimized websites accessed through a browser. They are platform-independent, meaning they work on any device with a browser but have limited access to device features compared to native and hybrid apps. Testing web apps focuses on compatibility across different browsers and screen sizes.

Mobile Testing Vs Mobile App Testing

Understanding the difference between mobile testing and mobile app testing is important, as each focuses on different aspects of mobile devices and their functionalities. Here’s a breakdown of how they differ:

 

Aspect	Mobile Testing	Mobile App Testing
Scope	Involves testing both the hardware and software components of mobile devices	Focuses solely on testing the software—the app itself
Objective	Ensures that the entire mobile device, including its features and built-in apps, functions correctly	Ensures that a specific app performs well across different devices and OS versions
Testing Areas	Includes battery life, connectivity, camera, sensors, and overall device performance	Covers app functionality, usability, performance, security, and compatibility
Tools Used	May involve hardware testing tools and device simulators	Uses mobile app testing tools like Appium, Espresso, and XCUITest
Device Interaction	Tests how the device interacts with various networks, accessories, and environments	Tests how the app interacts with the OS, other apps, and hardware features
Outcome	Ensures the device as a whole is reliable and meets user expectations	Ensures the app delivers a consistent, bug-free user experience

Mobile App Testing Checklist: What to test?

Here’s a comprehensive checklist of what to test when performing mobile app testing:

• User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX)

You need to ensure that your app is intuitive and visually appealing. This involves testing the design for consistency and ensuring that elements like buttons, menus, and icons are easy to understand and interact with. A good UI/UX ensures users can navigate the app effortlessly and enjoy using it.

• Functionality

Verify that all features work as intended. This includes testing core functions like logging in, signing up, searching, and making transactions. Any functionality that is broken or doesn’t work as expected can lead to frustration and drive users away.

• Input Methods and Gestures

Test how your app responds to input methods like touch, voice commands, and gestures. Ensure the app accurately detects and processes these inputs, whether a simple tap or a complex multi-touch gesture.

• Multitasking and Interruptions

Ensure your app can gracefully handle multitasking and interruptions. Test how the app behaves when a user switches between apps, receives a call, or gets a notification. The app should save the user’s progress and resume without issues when they return.

• Network and Connectivity

Test your app’s performance under various network conditions, such as WiFi, 4G, and 5G. Also, check how the app behaves when the network connection is slow or unstable. The app should handle network changes without crashing and provide feedback when reconnecting.

• Performance and Resource Utilization

Assess the app’s speed, responsiveness, and resource usage. This includes checking how quickly the app loads, performs under load, and manages resources like battery life and CPU usage. An app that drains battery or lags can lead to a poor user experience.

• Security and Data Protection

Ensure your app is secure from vulnerabilities and properly protects user data. This involves testing for potential security flaws, such as data breaches, unauthorized access, and data encryption. Your app should also comply with security standards to protect sensitive information.

• Localization and Internationalization

Verify that your app supports multiple languages and regional settings. This includes testing how the app displays different languages, currencies, date formats, and other locale-specific elements. Your app should adapt seamlessly to users in different regions.

• Compatibility and Interoperability

Check your app’s compatibility across various devices, operating systems, and screen sizes. Also, ensure it works well with other apps and services, like social media integration or payment gateways. This ensures that users get a consistent experience regardless of their device.

• Installation and Updates

Ensure your app installs, updates, and uninstalls smoothly. Test the app’s installation process, how it handles updates, and whether it leaves behind unnecessary files after uninstallation. A smooth installation and update process is crucial for maintaining a positive user experience.

Importance of Mobile App Testing

Mobile app testing is a crucial step in the development process that shouldn’t be overlooked. Here’s why it’s essential:

Ensuring High Quality

Mobile app testing helps you deliver a seamless, bug-free user experience. By thoroughly testing your app before it hits the market, you can identify and fix any issues that might lead to an app crash, glitch or behave unexpectedly. High-quality apps meet user expectations and stand out in a crowded market.

Increasing User Satisfaction

A well-tested app enhances user satisfaction by providing a reliable, smooth experience. When users can trust that your app will work as expected, they will keep using it, recommend it to others, and leave positive reviews. This can significantly boost user retention and overall success.

Protecting Brand Reputation

Your app reflects your brand, and a buggy or unreliable app can quickly damage your reputation. You can prevent negative reviews and protect your brand’s image by catching and resolving issues during testing. A strong, positive reputation is key to long-term success in the competitive app market.

Reducing Costs

Identifying and fixing issues early through thorough testing is far more cost-effective than dealing with them after the app has been released. Post-release bug fixes can be expensive and time-consuming, often requiring emergency patches or updates. Investing in mobile app testing upfront can save time and money in the long run.

Different Types of Mobile App Testing

To ensure your mobile app performs at its best,  there are two main approaches to testing: manual and automated. Each approach has its own set of techniques that can be employed to evaluate your app thoroughly. Here’s a detailed look at some critical mobile app testing techniques:

Manual Testing

Manual testing involves human testers manually executing test cases to identify issues. This approach allows for exploratory testing and can be particularly useful for detecting issues that automated tests might miss. Here are some key manual testing techniques:

• Functional Testing: Verifying that all features of the app work as intended by manually executing different functions.
• Usability Testing: Assessing the app’s user interface and experience by interacting with it to ensure it’s intuitive and user-friendly.

• Accessibility testing: This testing ensures your mobile and web applications are easily accessible to people with disabilities. 

• Installation Testing: This involves checking that the app installs, updates, and uninstalls correctly on different devices and operating systems.
• Interrupt Testing: Testing how the app handles interruptions, such as incoming calls or messages, to ensure it resumes correctly afterwards.
• Memory Leak Testing: Monitoring the app for memory leaks or excessive resource consumption during manual use.

Automated Testing

Automated testing uses specialized tools and scripts to test your app, allowing for faster and more repetitive testing. It’s beneficial for regression testing and scenarios that need to be repeated frequently. Here are some critical automated testing techniques:

• Performance Testing: Automated tools measure the app’s performance under different conditions, including stress testing and load testing.
• Compatibility Testing: Automated tests check the app’s compatibility across various devices, OS versions, and screen sizes.
• Security Testing: Automated tools scan for vulnerabilities and security issues to ensure the app protects user data effectively.
• Regression Testing: Automated regression tests verify that new updates or changes haven’t broken existing functionality.

Other Testing Techniques

In addition to manual and automated testing, several other techniques play important roles in ensuring app quality:

• Memory Leak Testing: Detecting and fixing memory leaks ensures the app doesn’t consume excessive resources over time.
• Localization Testing: Ensuring the app works correctly in different languages and regional settings, verifying translations and locale-specific formatting.

How to Conduct Mobile App Testing?

Conducting mobile app testing involves a systematic approach to ensure that your app functions correctly, meets user expectations, and performs well across various devices and conditions. Here’s a detailed step-by-step process for conducting effective mobile app testing:

1. Test Planning

Test planning is the foundational step in the mobile app testing process. It involves defining the scope, objectives, and resources needed for testing. Here’s how to plan effectively:

• Identify what you aim to achieve with your testing efforts, such as verifying functionality, usability, performance, or security.
• Decide which features, functionalities, and scenarios need to be tested. This includes deciding on the devices and operating systems you’ll focus on.
• Create a comprehensive test strategy that outlines the types of testing to be performed (e.g., functional, usability, performance), and the methods and tools you will use.
• Assign roles and responsibilities to your testing team, and ensure you have the necessary tools and devices.
• Establish a testing schedule with milestones and deadlines to keep the process on track.

2. Test Execution

Test execution involves carrying out the tests as per your plan. Here are best practices for executing tests effectively:

• Develop detailed test cases and scripts based on your test plan. These should cover various scenarios and include clear execution steps.
• Ensure that your testing environment mirrors real-world conditions as closely as possible, including device configurations, network conditions, and user settings.
• Execute the tests manually or using automated tools depending on your testing strategy. Make sure to follow the test cases precisely and document the results.
• Keep track of the test results in real time to identify any immediate issues or failures.

3. Bug Reporting

Bug reporting is crucial for tracking and managing issues discovered during testing. Here’s how to report and track bugs effectively:

• Record detailed information about each bug, including the steps to reproduce, expected vs. actual results, and screenshots or logs if applicable.
• Categorize and prioritize bugs based on their severity and impact on the app. This helps in focusing on critical issues first.
• Utilize bug-tracking tools like JIRA, Bugzilla, or Trello to manage and monitor bug reports. Ensure that all relevant information is included to facilitate quick resolution.
• Share bug reports with the development team and provide context to help them effectively understand and address the issues.

4. Continuous Testing

To ensure ongoing quality, continuous testing involves integrating testing into your continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. Here’s how to integrate continuous testing:

• Implement automated testing tools and scripts to run tests continuously throughout the development cycle. This helps in detecting issues early and ensures consistent quality.
• Connect your testing tools with CI/CD platforms like Jenkins, GitLab, or CircleCI. This enables the automatic triggering of tests with every code change or deployment.
• Continuously monitor test results and generate reports to track the quality of each build. Address any issues promptly to maintain a high-quality standard.
• Establish a feedback loop with your development team to ensure testing results are used to improve the app iteratively.

Mobile App Testing Tools & Frameworks

When it comes to mobile app testing, utilizing the right tools and frameworks can make a significant difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of your testing process. Here’s an overview of some of the most popular mobile app testing tools and frameworks available:

1. Appium

Appium is an open-source tool for automating mobile app testing on iOS and Android platforms. It supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Python, and JavaScript, and can test native, hybrid, and mobile web apps. Appium is highly flexible and allows you to write tests using your preferred programming language and testing framework.

2. Espresso

Espresso is a robust framework provided by Google for testing Android applications. Integrated with Android Studio, Espresso is designed for UI testing and ensures that your app’s user interface behaves as expected. It provides a rich set of APIs to simulate user interactions and verify UI elements, making it ideal for automating Android app tests.

3. XCUITest

XCUITest is Apple’s framework for UI testing on iOS applications. Built into Xcode, XCUITest tests the user interface and user interactions in iOS apps. It allows you to write tests in Swift or Objective-C and integrates seamlessly with Xcode’s testing environment, providing robust tools for iOS app testing.

4. Calabash

Calabash is an open-source mobile app testing tool that supports Android and iOS platforms. It is based on Cucumber, allowing you to write tests in a natural language format that is easy to understand and maintain. Calabash is useful for behaviour-driven development (BDD) and helps create readable and maintainable test scenarios.

5. Robotium

Robotium is a testing framework for Android that simplifies the creation of black-box UI tests. It is designed to test native Android apps and provides easy-to-use APIs for interacting with UI components. Robotium is particularly useful for writing functional and system tests.

6. Selendroid

Selendroid (Selenium for Android) is a test automation framework for Android applications. It extends Selenium WebDriver to support Android devices and emulators, allowing you to write tests in various languages such as Java, Python, and Ruby. Selendroid is suitable for testing native and hybrid Android apps.

7. Katalon Studio

Katalon Studio is a comprehensive automation testing tool supporting web and mobile applications. It provides a user-friendly interface and integrates well with popular CI/CD tools. Katalon Studio supports Android and iOS testing and offers test recording, script generation, and reporting features.

8. TestComplete

TestComplete is a commercial tool from SmartBear that supports automated testing for mobile, web, and desktop applications. It offers a powerful environment and supports various scripting languages, including JavaScript, Python, and VBScript. TestComplete provides extensive features for UI testing and integrates well with other tools and frameworks.

Final Thoughts

Thorough mobile app testing ensures your app delivers a seamless user experience and performs reliably across various devices and platforms. By following a structured testing approach and utilizing the right tools and techniques, you can identify and address issues early, enhancing the overall quality of your app. 

QA Touch can significantly streamline this process by providing a comprehensive test management platform that integrates seamlessly with your existing workflows, improves collaboration, and ensures better test coverage. 

Ready to take your mobile app testing to the next level? Connect with us to discover how QA Touch can support your testing needs and drive your app’s success.