Mobile App Testing: Tools, Strategies & the Best Practices

Mobile testing refers to an effective process using which a developer or a tester tests a developed application for a specific mobile device. The testing is performed to check the application's usability, performance, and functionality.
An automated and manual mobile testing technique is available, and it helps ensure the delivered application meets all the user demands efficiently.
Mobile internet usage is on the rise, while desktop usage is on the decline, a trend going on for years. As customers spend extended time on their mobile devices, giving them a positive mobile app experience is more important than ever.
No matter which kind of app you're using or the platform it's built for, mobile app testing provides a positive mobile experience.

Why should you use Mobile App testing?

Here is why using mobile application testing is essential:

● Boost fundamental metrics while improving in-app experiences: You must thoroughly test your app to see which iteration offers improvement in key metrics, including retention rate, monthly active users, drop-offs, etc., to ensure that you constantly give uninterrupted user experiences. This way, when planning your mobile app development strategy, you'll only make data-driven decisions.

● Segment your user base and provide them with personalized experiences: You can use deep segmentation in mobile apptesting to groups and categorize your consumers and target them differently.You may then separately target each user segment with a different variation of the app experience and regulate the users' percentage who see a specific test variation. It will allow you better to understand your audience, experiment at a granular level, and create better, more relevant experiences.

● Experiment with different production features: Needless to say, you should try out numerous iterations of a critical feature, if not multiple features, before deploying one to guarantee it has a good influence on the performance of your app. You might even wish to run a test on a single feature with different user segments to see how sticky it is with the correct people.

Types of Mobile Apps

Here is why using mobile application testing is essential:

● Boost fundamental metrics while improving in-app experiences: You must thoroughly test your app to see which iteration offers improvement in key metrics, including retention rate, monthly active users, drop-offs, etc., to ensure that you constantly give uninterrupted user experiences. This way, you'll only make data-driven decisions when planning your mobile app development strategy.

● Segment your user base and provide personalized experiences: You can use deep segmentation in mobile app testing to categorize your consumers and target them differently. You may then separately target each user segment with a different app experience variation and regulate the percentage of users who see a specific test variation. It will allow you better to understand your audience, experiment at a granular level, and create better, more relevant experience.

● Experiment with different production features: Needless to say, you should try out numerous iterations of a critical feature, if not multiple features, before deploying one to guarantee it has a good influence on the performance of your app. You might even wish to test a single feature with different user segments to see how sticky it is with the correct people.

How mobile testing differs from web testing?

Even if you're testing a web app, there are more challenges to consider than testing mobile applications. Users interact with your app on a wide range of OS and devices, with standard resolutions and device-specific functionalities.
Beyond the differences in hardware, mobile users are in different scenarios than desktop/laptop web users, which must be considered during testing. The environment constantly varies, including battery life, signal strength, contrast, and brightness.
It can be challenging to ensure extensive test coverage across even the most typical cases.

Best Practices for Effective Mobile App Testing

1. Know your App

First, it is essential to know what your app includes, each of its minor and major functionalities, and who its target audience is. This will ensure that you develop the correct practices to make your application more compelling and profound.

2. Mobile Usability Test

Usability testing, also popular as user experience testing, determines how user-friendly an app is regarding simplicity of use. Usability testing should ideally focus on the whole app-driven customer experience, including issue detection and recommendations for improving the consumer experience both inside and outside of the app. Keep the following in the mind:

● Layout and design are excellent

● Response time

● Intuitive Decision

You should know your target end-users and their preferences because usability testing is subjective.

‍3.Functional testing is a must.

The purpose of functional software testing is to guarantee that the program is working correctly. This testing type concentrates on the app's primary purpose, ensuring that most of its features are responsive and meet the requirements.

Other situations to test for to limit failures,additionally the mobile app's unique functionality, include testing if:

● The application installs and runs without a hitch.

● Users can register and log in.

● The text boxes and buttons work correctly.

● Notifications sent via push are displayed accurately.

4. Compatibility Testing

Compatibility testing ensures that your mobile app is compatible with various devices and applications, operating systems,internal hardware specs, and network environments.

In particular, you should be aware if:

● The app is compatible with various OS and their versions.

● The app works effectively with a variety of networks and characteristics.

● The app works with a variety of browsers.

● The software works on a variety of devices.

5. Run Performance-Based Tests

Performance testing determines how well a mobile application works when subjected to a specific workload. These tests are necessary to guarantee that your app isn't broken. Device, Network, API/ Server performance are checked during performance and load tests.

Additionally, your app should provide built-in backup and recovery features that store/ recover user data that may be lost due to various factors.

What are the Tools Used for Mobile Testing?

Several tools aid mobile app testing, including Sahi Pro, Appium, XCUITest, Calabash, Taplytics, etc. However, Sahi Pro is the best means to automate mobile app testing. Sahi Pro is an exclusive and low-cost automation testing platform that allows you to work with complex automation scenarios.

FAQs

1. What to Look for in Mobile Testing Tools?
How do you choose the best tool for creating test scripts? Begin by focusing on the following characteristics critical for successful mobile app testing.
• Multiple scripting languages are supported.
• Developing tests for several mobile operating systems
• Test creation choices that don't require any scripting.
• Seamless integration with continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD)tools.
2. Which one is better – Mobile manual or automated testing?
Manual testing is done entirely by a human, who evaluates the software independently, systematically searches for issues, and logs any flaws a user might face. Automated testing removes some activities from humans' hands and offers them automated technology, freeing human testers to work on other projects.
Both methods of testing offer their own set of benefits. Manual testing can take advantage of human intuition to find unanticipated faults, but it can take longer. Automated testing saves more time and is especially useful for repetitive tests, although it can overlook less apparent problems that manual testing would identify.
The application need will determine whether you employ one method or a hybrid approach in your testing.