Mobile applications have quite literally taken over the world, dominating every sector imaginable. It is safe to say applications are making human life easier in many ways by offering benefits and convenience like no other and in abundance at that. However, that only applies to a few apps that are built to perfection and actually provide a user-friendly and seamless experience. And with so many apps available today, not all apps make the cut on the good side.
According to research, “There are more than 8.93 million apps available around the world today, divided across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.”
More than half of these apps lack responsiveness and features or are just straight up and not developed correctly. This is where mobile app QA testing steps in and comes into play to change the narrative. Mobile app QA testing is what ties together the entire hard work carried out during the iOS and Android app development process. While almost all of the apps are tested during the QA phase, not everyone is tested in the right way. So, what is the right way to conduct mobile app QA testing, and above all, how does it benefit an app? Therefore, to find all the answers, let’s dive into mobile app QA testing and discuss it all in this complete guide to mobile app quality. So, without any messing around, let’s get straight into it.
What is Mobile App QA Testing?
Mobile App QA Testing is a critical process in the development lifecycle of mobile apps. It involves testing the app’s functionality, usability, performance, and security across different devices. Moreover, QA testers examine the native apps to identify bugs, glitches, and inconsistencies that can affect user experience.
There are many types of testing, such as functional, compatibility, usability, and performance testing, that come under this process. QA testers test the mobile apps to ensure the app’s quality meets standards, functions as desired and provides a seamless and user-friendly experience to the end-users. Rigorous testing of a mobile app empowers developers and QA testers to create high-quality mobile apps that outclass their competitors in the growing competitive app market.
We have a similar blog on BETA testing that you can read as well.
Benefits of Mobile App Testing for Mobile Applications
Mobile app testing offers various benefits for the developers of mobile app development companies and businesses. First of all, it improves user satisfaction by ensuring the app provides a bug-free and smooth user experience, which in turn allows the app to get higher ratings and positive reviews. Besides, testing improves the performance of the hybrid apps, reducing the possibility of crashes and increasing stability across different devices. Moreover, it aids in finding and fixing security vulnerabilities, thus protecting users’ data and maintaining their trust.
Furthermore, testing the app across various mobile platforms ensures compatibility, hence increasing the reach of the app. Testing can further uncover usability issues so that designers can make improvements in design and functionality. Therefore, all of this allows developers to identify issues early in development, and it, in turn, helps save a lot of time and resources in the long run. The end result of thorough testing of a mobile app is a better end product, which will help your application stand out in the competitive app marketplace.
Importance of Mobile App Quality Assurance Testing
The importance of mobile app QA testing cannot be understated. However, mobile app QA testing proves its value and importance in many ways, some of which include the following:
Enhancing User Experience
Mobile app QA testing makes sure the app has seamless navigation, user-friendly interfaces, and responsive design. Moreover, It provides a smooth experience by identifying and solving any usability issues that keep users engaged and satisfied. This encourages users to use the app and increases retention rates and positive reviews.
Ensuring Robust Performance
Performance testing in mobile app QA testing measures the app’s speed, responsiveness, and stability under various conditions. Moreover, It makes the app run smoothly on high loads by users or on lower-end devices by optimizing the use of resources, reducing load times, and preventing crashes.
Safeguarding Security and Privacy
Security testing in mobile app QA testing includes the handling of data, authentication, and encryption. In turn, this protects users’ information from breaches and ensures compliance with data protection regulations. This builds trust with people and safeguards the app’s reputation.
Facilitating Cross-platform Compatibility
Mobile app QA testing provides compatibility testing, which ensures that the app works well across all devices, operating systems, and screen sizes. This will help maximize its reach by providing a consistent experience to all users regardless of which platform they use.
Mitigating Post-launch Risks
Thorough mobile app QA testing before launch minimizes the chances of some potential issues before the app reaches the market upon release. Therefore, this prevents bad reviews, emergency fixes at high costs, and potential brand reputation damage, ensuring a smoother and more successful app launch with app store optimization.
How are Mobile App Quality Assurance and Quality Control Different?
Mobile app quality assurance and quality control are more similar than people think. At the same time, they have their fair share of differences, which helps differentiate the two. These differences are as follows:
Timing
Mobile app QA testing is proactive in nature and applied during the development process. On the other hand, quality control is reactive and is implemented at the end of development stages. It finds defects in the end product after development.
Nature and Focus
Mobile app QA testing is focused on preventing defects through improving processes and methodologies. On the other hand, Quality control identifies and corrects existing defects in the product. Furthermore, mobile app QA testing is process-oriented, whereas QC is product-oriented and ensures that it meets specified requirements.
Tools and Techniques
QA uses process analysis, audits, and training to enforce better development practices. On the flip side, QC deploys testing tools, comprehensive test cases, and debugging techniques to detect and fix problems within the app itself.
Responsibility
QA is assigned to the development team as a whole, encouraging a quality culture. On the other hand, QC is performed by dedicated testers or a QC team focused on evaluating the final product.
Outcome
QA is about building quality into the development process and reducing overall defects. The outcome of QC is a well-tested product that adheres to the defined quality standards before it is released, catching any remaining issues.
QA Testing Strategies
There are a few best practices that every QA tester of an app must follow when mobile app QA testing is done. These QA testing strategies will help testers tackle the unique challenges of mobile testing, and they are as follows:
Understanding User Requirements
Testing priorities should be guided by a thorough analysis of user needs and expectations. In doing so, it will ensure the app meets real-world usage scenarios by focusing on which critical features and functionalities tangibly impact user satisfaction and app success.
Early Involvement
Integrating QA from the beginning of the project is a QA strategy that allows for problem identification and solution in advance. Such an approach reduces costs, offers better quality, and ensures testing is aligned with the goals of development throughout the entire QA process.
Adopting Automation
Implementing automated testing for repetitive tasks increases efficiency and coverage. This is important when doing rapid regression testing and ensuring consistency in the results. Therefore, it frees up the QA professional to do something of higher complexity and more exploratory test cases.
Emphasizing Cross-platform Compatibility
Testing on various devices, operating systems, and screen sizes ensures broad usability. This strategy helps in the very early detection of problems that are specific to a certain platform and guarantees a uniform user experience independent of the device or OS used.
Integrating Continuous Testing
By incorporating testing into the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, testers can perform frequent, automatic testing. This will help detect problems brought in by new code and thus uphold quality through rapid development cycles.
Focusing on Performance and Security
Performance testing guarantees an app’s speed and stability under all conditions. Moreover, security testing detects vulnerabilities in an application and helps protect user data. All of these are very important factors to a user’s trust and success in the highly competitive app market.
Utilizing Real Devices for Testing
Testing on real devices, not emulators will give real-world performance insights. This strategy uncovers device-specific problems and ensures that the functionality of an app is right across different hardware configurations and screen sizes.
Iterative Testing with Agile Methodology
Aligning testing with agile development allows for frequent and incremental testing throughout sprints. Therefore, this approach provides quicker feedback and faster bug fixes, which ultimately maintains quality throughout the cycle of development.
Monitoring Post-Release
Continuous monitoring post-launch enables the identification of unpredicted issues arising during real-world usage. This strategy allows for updates and quick improvements based on user feedback and performance data, ensuring the ongoing quality of an app.
Emphasizing Collaboration and Communication
Fostering open communication between QA, developers, and stakeholders ensures everyone understands the quality goals. This increases collaboration and leads to more effective testing, faster resolution of failures, and, ultimately, a better quality end product.
Maintaining Comprehensive Documentation
Detailed documentation of test cases, results, and processes provides consistency and allows for knowledge sharing. It allows for easier onboarding and supports future testing efforts. Moreover, it gives a very clear record of the quality assurance journey an app has gone through.
Focusing on User Experience (UX) Testing
UX testing evaluates the app’s intuitiveness, design consistency, and overall user satisfaction. This strategy ensures the app not only functions correctly but also provides an enjoyable, seamless experience for users.
Compliance with Regulations
Compliance testing with regulations like GDPR or CCPA is of utmost importance. Such a strategy keeps the app safe from legal issues, secures user privacy, and builds trust with the privacy-conscious consumer.
Regular Review and Improvement
Regularly reviewing or updating the test strategy keeps the app relevant to evolving technologies and user expectations. By doing so, this approach ensures that QA practices remain effective and efficient throughout the app’s lifecycle.
10 Types of QA Testing
There are many different types of mobile testing, each one responsible for handling a specific part of mobile app testing. These mobile app QA testing types are as follows:
Functional Testing
Functional testing ensures that every function in an app works as expected. Moreover, testers test the features against requirements to ensure all buttons, forms, and navigation work appropriately. This basic form of testing will catch fundamental errors and confirm if the app indeed meets its core functional specifications.
Usability Testing
Usability testing evaluates the app’s user-friendliness and intuitiveness. This includes testing the ease of navigation, clarity of the interface, and overall user experience. It helps testers point out certain elements or processes that might confuse users. This ensures that the app is accessible and pleasing to use for the target audience.
Compatibility Testing
This type of testing ensures the application works fine on different devices, under diverse operating systems, and on different screen sizes. Moreover, this testing identifies issues specific to a platform and ensures a consistent user experience regardless of mobile devices and operating systems used.
Security Testing
Security testing identifies vulnerabilities in the data protection, authentication, and encryption procedures of the app. Moreover, testers attempt to breach into the app to ensure the user information is completely secure from all threats and that the app complies with security standards.
Performance Testing
This testing type evaluates an application’s speed, responsiveness, and stability across many different conditions. This includes load time and battery usage in poor network conditions and ensures smooth operations in the most difficult scenarios. It can help ensure that the app performs well at all times.
Localization Testing
Verifies that the app functions correctly in different languages and cultural contexts. This includes checking translations, date formats, and cultural appropriateness, ensuring the app is ready for global deployment.
Verifies that the app is functioning correctly in various languages and cultural backgrounds, which includes checking translations, date formats, and cultural appropriateness. Surely, this will play a part in global deployment processes.
Memory Leak Testing
Memory leak testing Identifies points where an app fails to release system resources and causes performance degradation over time. This kind of testing helps an app keep up with the speed and stability during long sessions of using the app.
Installation Testing
It verifies that the app installs, updates, and uninstalls properly on various devices. This way, it makes sure that users can access an app very easily and that it does not cause any problems with the functioning of other device features under these processes.
Interruption Testing
This testing type checks how the application deals with interruptions, such as incoming calls, notifications, or low battery. Therefore, it ensures the application is able to resume and keep data in an appropriate state after an unexpected disruption.
API Testing
This testing type validates the functionality, reliability, and security of the app’s application programming interfaces. Therefore, it ensures smooth communication between the app and external services, which is crucial for apps that rely on third-party integrations.
Types of Mobile Testing Tools
There are also different types of testing tools that manage all aspects of testing an app. Some of the most commonly used types of tools are as follows:
Automated Testing Tools
These tools automate repetitive test cases, thus increasing efficiency and coverage. They can simulate user interactions, validate UI elements, and conduct tests across various devices.
Performance Testing Tools
These tools measure app speed, responsiveness, and resource usage under various conditions. They simulate different network scenarios and user loads to identify performance bottlenecks. Examples include Apache JMeter, Gatling, and New Relic for comprehensive performance analysis.
These are tools for measuring the speed, responsiveness, and resource usage of a variety of applications under different conditions. They simulate a variety of network scenarios and loads of users to point out performance bottlenecks.
Security Testing Tools
Security testing tools are designed to discover vulnerabilities in the app code, data storage, and communication protocols involved. Moreover, they carry out penetration testing, source code analysis for security vulnerabilities, and compliance checking.
Cross-Platform Testing Tools
Cross-platform testing tools enable testing in many operating systems and devices through a single interface. They mostly provide a cloud-based device farm for real-device testing. Some
Continuous Integration Tools
These types of integration tools integrate some testing into the development pipeline by running tests on each code commit. Moreover, they are able to detect issues far earlier in the testing process and ensure quality throughout development.
Top 10 Software Quality Assurance Tools for Mobile Application Testing
There are ten different mobile testing and automation tools for testing an app. These types of mobile application testing tools handle different aspects of testing from execution to documentation. Therefore, the list of the best mobile test automation is as follows:
New Relic
New Relic is one of the best mobile testing tools, as it traces in-app performance in real time. It provides detailed crash analytics, user interaction insights, and network performance data. With this tool, developers will be able to identify and fix these issues quickly enough to ensure great app performance across a variety of devices.
Tricentis Testim Mobile
Testim Mobile provides AI-driven automation to create and maintain stable tests. Furthermore, it allows for codeless test creation and thus allows even non-technical members of the team to contribute to it. The tool adapts to Changes in the app, reducing efforts for test maintenance and increasing the acceleration of release cycles.
Kobiton
Kobiton offers real device testing and automation features. Moreover, it provides a cloud-based device lab with both manual and automated testing across a wide range of real devices. Furthermore, the platform supports scriptless automation and seamless integration with popular continuous integration/continuous deployment tools.
LambdaTest
LambdaTest has cross-browser testing services available on real devices and emulators. Furthermore, it supports manual test and automated tests, with integrations of the most widely used automation frameworks. More so, the platform provides detailed logs and screenshots to reproduce and resolve bugs quickly and effectively.
BrowserStack
BrowserStack provides a cloud-based infrastructure for testing web and mobile applications. Moreover, it offers access to real devices and browsers for both manual and automated testing. The platform supports popular automation frameworks and integrates with CI/CD tools.
Headspin
Headspin deals with performance testing and monitoring of mobile apps. Moreover, it provides real-device testing in many locations around the world. This helps testers gain insights regarding the performance of apps on various networks. Moreover, this platform identifies and resolves bottlenecks in performance rapidly.
Endtest
Endtest is a codeless automated testing tool for web and mobile apps. Testers use it to create, manage, and run tests without any coding skills. Moreover, it supports cross-browser testing and seamlessly generates detailed reports for the easy identification of issues.
Apptim
Apptim’s focus is on performance testing for mobile apps. Moreover, it analyzes the speed of the app, usage of resources, and user experience-based metrics. Based on these, it provides actionable insights and testing requirements to help developers optimize the performances of apps and deliver smooth, responsive mobile experiences right from the get-go.
Mobot
Mobot uses physical robots to test mobile applications, simulating real user interactions. Moreover, this unique way will help testers detect issues that might remain otherwise undetected using only software-based techniques. Moreover, it is useful in testing complex gestures and multi-touch interactions.
Perfecto
Last but not least is Perfecto, which provides cloud-based testing for web and mobile applications. Moreover, it provides access to real mobile devices and browsers for both manual and automated testing. Furthermore, the platform supports continuous testing and allows teams to easily integrate tests into their CI/CD pipeline.
Choose Linkitsoft’s Mobile QA Team for Software Testing & Mobile App Development
When looking to carry out successful mobile app QA testing, outsourcing the project to expert professionals such as Linkitsoft is the best bet. That is because firms like Linkitsoft have outstanding domain expertise in software development and testing of mobile applications. With years of experience testing and a deep understanding of the mobile ecosystem, their team ensures that your app is developed with the highest standards of quality.
Moreover, they will leverage cutting-edge testing methodologies and tools to test every aspect of your application. This includes functional, mobile app performance, security, and usability testing across various devices and platforms. Furthermore, they take pride in attention to detail, fast time to market, and clearly communicated testing. So, by choosing LinkItSoft, you’re partnering with a testing team focused on delivering polished, user-friendly mobile app development. Their development and QA testing solutions ensure the app stands out in today’s competitive market.
Parting Words
That is the end of the road, and now we will wrap up this guide. We hope that this guide can give you an idea of the world of mobile app QA testing and why testing must be done according to strategies to ensure the app is free of bugs and has high performance. Furthermore, we have listed the best tools for testing the app so QA testers can choose from our picks of the best mobile app testing tools. If you like reading this guide, make sure to check more like these on our website.
