With over 6.5 million smartphone applications already available on the IOS and Android app stores, we could say there is a mobile app for everything. Yet, there is room for more - more ideas, more opportunities, and more user engagement.
If you are planning to launch a mobile app and expect it to be successful in such a dense marketplace, then you must ensure two things:
Missing out on either one would mean throwing both time and money down the sink.
Pre-launch mobile app quality assurance is important in order to avoid deploying a negative user experience. With this article, we aim to shed some light on 4 types of quality issues that go unnoticed during app development and 10 quality assurance tips from our app development experts.
4 COMMON MOBILE APP QUALITY ISSUES
Functionality issues.
Functionality issues deal with identifying the anomalies infested in the user journey and navigation flow of an application. The app should provide a functional User Interface that meets the functional requirements. The key areas to test involves:
Usability issues
This phase deals with determining how easy it is to use the app interface. The interface functions should be clear and not create any misunderstandings. There shouldn’t be any glitches in accessing any functionality offered by the app.
Performance issues.
Performance issues account for nearly 30% of complaints on the Appstore and Play Store. As the user base of an app increases, the performance of an app is certainly be affected. It is wise to be aware of the number of concurrent user limit that would start affecting the performance of the app and at what time it can recover.
Additionally, developers often tend to ignore the load an app puts on the device, it’s a battery, RAM, and data usage. Always make sure the usage is within industry limits.
Security issues
A fully functional yet unsecured app can lead to severe consequences. The application should always be tested on the basis of:
10 QUALITY ASSURANCE TIPS FROM OUR EXPERTS
Use Multiple Testing Approaches
Ensure mobile app quality assurance by performing an array of tests that include:
Start with a Smoke Test
This includes a basic check-up of the application’s functionality while expecting positive results and realistic data. This is a very basic yet critical test as it ensures that none of the existing functionalities are affected during the development of any new functionalities.
A Different approach for Native and Hybrid apps: While Native apps need to be tested from the point the app begins installation, Hybrid apps should be tested for how effectively the web view is implemented in the app container. If it is not pixel perfect and does not pass standard usability tests then it will definitely not impress the users.
Test on different devices
While emulators can help you find screen size specific issues, it is also critical to find device specific issues as well. Draw out a list of at least the top 5 mobile phones used by your target audience and test the app on those devices so as to verify that the app performs all executions in a uniform manner across devices.
Keep an eye on resource usage
Always deduce the resource usage of the app before publishing it to the end users. A battery or RAM hungry app plays a huge spoilsport and is instantly deleted by the users.
To verify, run the app with the device at 100% battery and then use it on a regular basis for 3-4 hours. Also, compare the performance of other apps on the device while your app runs in the background. This will give you average battery consumption per hour.
Test under various stress levels
This includes extremely high data, inputs, memory utilization, CPU usage, battery and signal strength. It helps in identifying how the application behaves under the pump. Keep a check on background process and how efficiently they are managed under such use cases.
Perform automated testing: Always use automated test mechanisms to consistently track and identify new bugs in newly developed features. Such an approach is crucial for projects developed under Agile methodology, as automated tests can provide continuous feedbacks for each deployment without interfering with the development process. We recommend using tools like Selenium or Appium to write automated test cases efficiently.
Document each test case with consistency
Clear and well-maintained documentations end up as a project lifecycle guide that lists the phases of development and bugs discovered/fixed under each phase. Make sure to keep track of each new bug found and document it right away.
Check device’s hard keys
Last but not least, make sure that all the hard keys are working with the app. This includes Power key, Volume keys, Home button, Fingerprint scanner (if applicable), etc.
CONCLUSION
If you have reached this far then we hope you have realized the structure and substance of the mobile testing process. While we have not covered every bit and piece of the mobile app testing process, it goes without saying that one must depend both on manual and automated methods to increase the test coverage for developing a bug-free app.
If you are looking for a mobile app development company that can provide professionally developed and thoroughly tested solutions, then hire mobile app developers from Designfort. We provide supreme mobile app development services while assuring a budget-friendly and quality product
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