Today, more than half of the world’s population has access to smartphones. With the growing use of mobile apps across all industries, businesses are also increasingly turning to mobile testing as a means to get their apps in front of users as quickly and effectively as possible.
In other words, getting your mobile app user-friendly is now more important than ever. But what exactly is mobile testing? What can it offer you — and how can you take advantage of it? The good news is that there are many benefits to incorporating mobile testing into your software development process from day one.
Here are 9 things you need to know about mobile testing:
What is Mobile Testing?
Mobile testing is the practice of testing a software application on a mobile device — like a smartphone or tablet — before it’s deployed to actual users. Why is Mobile Testing Important? Mobile apps span a wide range of device types. The way your app looks, works, and functions on one device might be totally different on another device type.
When you write your app, you want to make sure it looks and works well on every device type. If your app looks terrible on a certain device type, it could significantly reduce the number of users who are able to actually use the app. With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why mobile testing is so important.
- Use Real Devices – Although it might seem like a good idea to run all your mobile tests on a simulated environment like a lab environment, you’ll find it much more useful to run tests on real devices.
- Emulate the Device – If you’re testing an iOS app, make sure to test on the appropriate model. This might differ from model to model, so you want to make sure to test on the model that your app actually runs on.
- Avoid Common Issues – In order to get the most out of your mobile testing efforts, you want to identify the most common issues that developers face when writing apps for mobile devices. These issues can include things like app crashes and other bugs.
- Use Real Data – Another thing you want to avoid is using fake data in your tests. Using fake data can only give you an unrealistic picture of how your app will behave in certain situations.
- Consider Your Audience – Before you start testing any app on any device, you need to keep in mind the type of users you’re testing against. You might find that certain features of your app are actually quite helpful to your users, but are completely useless to them.
How to Conduct a Successful Mobile Test
There are many different ways to conduct a mobile test. The method you choose will depend on a variety of factors, like your team’s available time, the type of app you’re testing, etc. One thing you want to keep in mind is that mobile testing is not meant to replace manual testing. Instead, you want to use both types of methods to make sure your app is as robust as possible before it’s made available to users.
If you want to start a mobile testing project, it’s important to determine the type of testing you want to do. Do you want to conduct in-depth functional testing on specific parts of your app? Pushing it to its limits? Do you want to look at other parts of your app, like marketing or support?
Below, we’ve outlined six common mistakes that developers often make when conducting mobile tests. Make sure to avoid these mistakes to ensure that your mobile app delivers the best possible user experience.
- Ignoring Errors – The only way to truly know if your app is working as intended is to identify and correct any errors before they negatively affect your users.
- Not Emulating the Device – There’s no way to tell what your app might look like on a particular device, let alone how it will behave, without conducting a mock run on a real device.
- Not Considering Audience – Just like any other type of software, an app’s usability and functionality are directly related to how effective it is. You want to make sure to look at these factors when conducting your mobile tests.
- Using Fake Data – As mentioned above, using fake data can give you an unrealistic picture of how your app will behave in certain situations.
- Ignoring Errors in Test Scripts – As we mentioned above, you want to make sure to identify and correct any errors in your app before they negatively affect your users.
At the end of the day, what’s most important is that your users have a great experience when using your app. You can make sure of this by conducting regular user testing sessions to identify any issues with your product before users encounter them. However, with mobile testing, you don’t have to rely on just luck.
Once you’ve incorporated mobile testing into your software development process, you’ll be able to identify any issues the same way you would if you had access to any other type of testing. With this in mind, here are five benefits that come with using mobile testing.
- It’s Real-World Testing – Real-world testing is the only type of testing that offers you a true glimpse into how your app will perform in the real world.
- Better Quality Assurance – One of the biggest concerns that most developers have when starting a new project is actually getting past the writing phase. You want to make sure your code is written well enough to run, but you also want it to be free of any major bugs.
- Better Communication – When you start incorporating mobile testing into your workflow, it will become easier for you to communicate with your team members and stakeholders. Before, you might have been unsure how to convey the effects of certain changes on your app, but now you have a more reliable way to do so.
- It’s Cost-Effective – While it’s important to make sure your mobile app works well, it’s also important to keep expenses in mind. It’s no secret that expensive software development tools like HTML5, Xcode, and Android Studio can be quite expensive.
Conclusion
Mobile testing is becoming an even more important part of the software development process as more and more businesses turn to mobile apps as a way to reach their customers. As the mobile market continues to grow, so will your need for mobile testing. It’s important to make sure your apps are robust and user-friendly, no matter the type of device they’re being used on.
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