What is Mobile App Testing and Why is It Important?

  October 22, 2019

The number of mobile users is on the rise: according to Statista, by 2023, it is expected to reach 7.26 billion users worldwide. No wonder that by 2022, the number of mobile app downloads is forecasted to rise to a whopping 258 billion. Today, there are apps for every mobile device and purpose, and all of them depend on user reviews. People won’t miss an opportunity to leave a bad review, be it performance problems, poor user interface or crashing, so make sure to invest in mobile app testing.

What is Mobile App Testing?

Mobile app testing is the process of running tests against a mobile application to make sure that it is functionality and usability meet the requirements and the application is ready for launch. Mobile app testing includes general types of testing (functional, performance, usability, security, load) as well as mobile-specific ones (interruption, memory leakage, location, certification, installation, etc.).

As you can imagine, mobile app testing is a complex process: dozens of screen resolutions, several versions of operating systems, all kinds of connection types, etc. But you just can’t hope for a successful mobile app release without it. Mobile app testing guarantees that an app released through a marketplace is of superb quality.

Here are a couple of things to catch up with before getting down to mobile app testing:

  • Choose your testing method: mobile apps can be tested on either real devices or emulators. There are also real device clouds that allow you to use hundreds of devices remotely, testing concurrently and record the results.
  • Make sure your test coverage is sufficient. If you don’t think it is, there are surefire ways to enhance it.
  • You might not be new to mobile app testing, but there’s always room for improvement. Having a plan, going for continuous testing and mobile app test automation are just some of the tips you can use to make testing more efficient.
  • Speaking of test automation, you need to decide which testing processes you would like to automate and which are better left to be tested manually. From the get-go, it might be a good idea to test your app manually. Later on, you might want to test it across various devices and platforms, changing codes and test scripts. Automated testing is a good fit for this scenario. Just keep in mind that manual and automated testing are not rivals but rather two colleagues working together to make your app best of the best.
  • Mobile games deserve special attention too, so don’t forget to give them a proper test.

What Makes a Five-Star Mobile App?

The cost of an error in a mobile app release can be devastating. Bugs and lags trigger a storm of negative feedback that leads to low ratings and bad reviews on Google Play or App Store – and one-star-rated apps barely attract new users. But if you take mobile app testing seriously, you have every chance to rank high. Let’s look at what makes people give five-star ratings to apps and what benefits of mobile app testing will lead your app to the top.

Intuitiveness

Ask people why they love and use their favorite apps, and you’ll hear: “They’re simple and easy-to-use.” Since mobile apps don’t come with a user manual, an excellent mobile app is all about impeccable user experience. Intuitiveness is what most users value and, ironically, something that’s oh-so-hard to achieve when designing an app. Quite a few app developers tend to overdesign, but the thing is that users would often delete apps with complex UX, feeling frustrated with something that should’ve made their lives easier. So, make sure to test the user experience of your app throughout every stage of its development. And better yet, ask actual users to do that.

Easy Feedback

A mobile app that works seamlessly is an app that has been thoroughly tested. But even the mightiest of QAs can’t cover every test scenario: sometimes users discover bugs themselves, and you have to give them a way to communicate these bugs to you directly instead of writing them on your download page. It also helps build trust between your business and your potential customers.

Performance

The first impression is critical. If a mobile app performance fails to meet user expectations, it’s extremely unlikely that people will give it a second chance. Performance is the ground stone of app quality, and you have to put every effort into testing it before the app goes live.

A mobile app can’t win by having an awesome idea only; it needs an appropriate implementation to hit the top of the list on the app store. And, as you can see, a mobile app can only hit five stars if it is thoroughly tested.

3 Advantages of Mobile App Testing

A mobile app development company that isn’t serious about quality is unlikely to succeed, sending all the hard work down the drain. Poor reviews on App Store or Google Play are mostly complaints about crashes, lousy performance or battery drain, all of which could be avoided if the app had been tested adequately. Here are just some of the benefits mobile app testing brings.

Better UI/UX

Testing allows QA engineers to put themselves in users’ shoes and assess the overall app experience. They explore the logic behind the application and double-check if it’s intuitive and convenient to follow. It’s essential, however, to keep running UI and UX tests throughout the entire development life cycle if you’re expecting impressive results.

Proper Functioning

QAs’ mission is to make sure that an app functions without a glitch. They check if an application performs properly under specific performance requirements: different load conditions, changing networks, etc. Every QA team decides for itself whether it will be using real devices for testing or emulators. When weighing up these two options, we strongly recommend against putting all your eggs in one basket. Simulators are quite handy in the initial stages of app development, but to ensure that your app performs smoothly, consider real devices before launch. Our experience tells us that combining the two approaches and complementing them with a device cloud would be the best option.

Loyal Users

In the end, it’s all about the user. People who enjoy an app will keep using it and even recommend it to their friends. This will help your business build a strong reputation in the industry and reach an even wider audience. But you will never achieve a high level of loyalty is your app keeps enraging users. So, be sure to test often and test a lot.

Let’s Recap

Your ultimate goal is for more people to be using your application, and they are highly unlikely to do that if the app is faulty. That is why mobile app testing is so important. To stand out in the market overflowing with mobile apps, you should be able to build a user-friendly, scalable and high-quality application. Yes, mobile app testing might seem like a daunting task. But if you do your homework and embed a testing strategy into the app development process, you can develop that five-star-rated app that will climb to the top of the marketplace ranking.