Mobile App Testing Process

August 27, 2021

Quality assurance is an integral part of the mobile app development process since it ensures an app’s reliability, stability, and usability. Testing can be broadly classified into two categories- Manual testing, and Automated testing.  The type of application determines whether manual or automated testing is required.

The mobile app testing procedure is accomplished in several stages or phases.

Testing Phases

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of the entire mobile app development testing process.

Test Scope

In this first crucial step, you define the parameters, features, or functionalities of the app to be tested. Test scope decides whether a few functionalities or the entire application is to be tested. This narrows down the testing process and makes it easy to select the testing methods to be deployed. 

Parameters to consider while defining the scope of testing:

  • Type of app: Native or Hybrid
  • Behavior:  Interacting with other apps?
  • The necessity of network compatibility testing
  • Front-end or back-end testing, or both
  • Device, OS, version coverage, and demographic coverage 

Planning

In this stage, the strategy of testing is finalized by breaking down the entire process into modules for ease. The plan of action in this stage decides whether manual or automated testing is to be followed. Test cases and scripts are created in this phase if they decide to choose automated testing. Things included in the planning stage are,

  • Deciding the testing methodology (automated or manual) based on app requirements
  • Creating and selecting test cases tailored to the application 
  • Deployment of testers if testing is not in-house

Execution

The execution phase can be successfully carried out only if the scope and testing methodologies are clearly defined. The testing execution phase primarily focuses on the specifications of the devices, platforms, or operating systems on which the application is to be tested. A few points for consideration in this phase are given below.

  • Execution of various testing methodologies depend on the scope and priority
  • Need to identify the areas of improvement and reset the testing goals accordingly
  • Send test results periodically to deploy changes with immediate effect
  • Continuous and regular testing alongside the development stage to the deployment stage

Tracking

Tracking refers to analyzing and logging in the results and errors. While tracking the results of testing, prioritize them based on the severity of the issue, its impact, and the need for immediate corrective action. Highly non-negotiable, risky defects with deep and wide impact need to be addressed first. The important factors in tracking test results are,

  • Prioritization of the defects: Low, Medium, High, or Blocker and resolutions based on priority
  • Logging defects to make sure that they are corrected in time
  • Deploying reliable resources for tracking testing results

Review

In the review process, you need to create a summarized report of the entire testing process and then review it to get a better understanding of the errors and behavior of the mobile application. The documentation should include even the simplest or lowest priority detail and not missing out on anything. Things to be included in the review document:

  • Details of all the devices, OS, and versions on which the application was tested
  • Complete summary and count of all the tests conducted along with results and the relevant software used
  • A final note regarding the application whether its market-ready or needs improvement

Any application needs to go through a variety of testing procedures for optimization. 

Some of the most important testing methodologies for mobile applications are discussed below. 

Functional Testing

Functionality testing is critical since each user will act and interact with the app differently. As a result, you must ensure that the app performs as expected in all potential test scenarios. It includes:

  • Installation & initialization of the application on all the distribution channels
  • Testing fields, parameters, business features and user feedback fields
  • Testing any possible interruptions
  • Testing necessary device resources
  • Testing possible updates for each distribution channel

Performance Testing

This testing checks for the consistency in the performance of the application when the load varies or there are any exceptions. It includes:

  • Volume testing indicating how well the app performs with high volume data 
  • Load testing to see the speed of the app under typical and heavy loads 
  • Stability testing determines the normal behavior of the app in all circumstances
  • Response time testing in all scenarios
  • Concurrency testing to check app behavior when multiple users are logged in
  • Battery consumption testing to ensure the lack of battery drain or memory leak. 

User Experience & Interface Testing

The main aim of UI/UX testing is to ensure that the user interface is designed and developed as per the client’s needs and specifications. Final implementation should not only match the envisioned or proposed design but also must be easy to use and easily accessible.

  • Testing visual interaction, and ease of navigation
  • Checking on the consistency in design, fonts, icons, etc. across the application
  • Ensuring that the design guidelines are strictly followed so that the color scheme, design, and performance sync with the theme of the application
  • Checks for interaction speed and navigation ambiguity 

Documentation Testing

Documentation testing verifies that instructions on how to use the system correspond to what the system really performs. Through this testing, we can identify the mismatch between the prepared document for the app and the developed application. Documentation testing includes,

  • Creation & Analysis of requirements, testing plans, test cases, navigation flow, screen layouts, etc
  • Testing for any discrepancies in the documentation
  • Examining the design for completeness and compliance with the documentation’s requirements 

Security Testing

Security is a big concern in app creation because slight errors can lead to major vulnerabilities and data leaks. Security testing involves: 

  • Authentication of login credentials 
  • Vulnerability analysis to check if the application has any flaws that hackers could exploit.
  • Testing for the right platform and safe server controls
  • Any rights to be granted to applications will be tested for any potential dangers.  

Configuration Testing

In configuration testing, the actual performance of the application is checked on various devices and detects missing features, if any. Configuration testing comprises of,

  • Testing device & OS configuration for all the devices
  • Checking browser configuration and compatibility
  • Ensuring secure database configuration & network connectivity

Platform Testing

Platform Testing is crucial in the mobile app development process since new devices with different hardware and features are entering the market daily. The main focus points here are

  • Testing platform compatibility for different operating systems on various devices, and client-side browsers
  • Checking cross-browser compatibility 

Recovery Testing

Recovery testing checks the mobile application’s capacity to recover from any type of hardware fault or software failure. It contains the following items:

  • Checking response time and behavior of the application during hardware or software failure 
  • Testing the lagging or the response time and recovery methods at the face of communication issues 

Beta Testing

Beta testing is a holistic approach to test the overall reliability, security, functionality, and compatibility performance of the completed application and is done by end-users. It includes,

  • Multiple users checking the reliability, behavior, and response time of the application
  • Testing the vulnerabilities by users over a large demographic area
  • Testing application behavior during in-app purchases

Certification Testing

Certification Testing includes:

  • Analyzing the licensing agreements & User policy from different App stores
  • Checking whether app behavior stay compliant with the terms and conditions of different App stores

Conclusion

The ultimate goal of mobile app development is to enrich, streamline and optimize the user experience. To stand out in a crowded mobile app market, you will need to develop a highly scalable, high-quality, solution-providing app. And to obtain this result, quality mobile app testing is essential.