Mobile App Testing Challenges and Solutions

Nowadays, mobile phones are the basic requirement of communication for consumers and businesses worldwide, with these thousands of apps are becoming in the market each day. Also, apps are now used in cars, wearable tech, home appliances, offices, multiplex, and any other more places

Today’s mobile application developer found complex functionality and we have limited resources for computing. So, we need to require unique testing strategies to present unique challenges.

Mobile App Testing Challenges:

1. Device, Platform, and Operating System Fragmentation

In our market 2 billion Android devices and more than 1 billion iOS users are available. iOS comes with its large numbers. Device fragmentation is one issue for the android operating system. This count covers handsets, mobile phones, iPad, tablets, wearable tech, etc. This variety makes it difficult for the QA team to assure you whether a tested application will work equally well on another device from the same well-tested product family since the CPU, memory, screen resolution, OS optimization and hardware could be various.

2. Multiple Screen Sizes

Nowadays, Mobile testing is very difficult for QA as new devices are coming very fast in the market. An application UI shows good on one screen size but for another screen size disturbs its UI. Testers need to test the application on different screen sizes. The use and format of elements need to be completely tested before deploying the application to the end-users.

3. Different Platform & OS types

Currently, there are thousands of devices available in the market with various versions of OS. Android and iOS both have so many versions of OS published to date, so it’s a challenging task for testers to test applications on different combinations of OS and Platforms.

4. Different Connection types

The network has a large affected on the behavior of a mobile application. Most of the applications that we use normally communicate with its server, this server is very far from us. Because the type of connection here is wireless, it becomes even more incompatible. As users move from one palace to another, they happen to switch from one network to another. Moreover, Mobile apps are expected to work effectively on a fast Wi-Fi or a normal 2G connection. It is very important to test the application performance on 2G network to the bandwidth used for unlimited data size.

5. Usability

Generally, Mobile device screens are small, and our goal is to present maximum and clear information in minimum screen size. It is very important to make sure that the information displayed is perfect, useful and all text is displayed properly. The text is also should display clear without zoom in or out.

6. Internationalization / Localization

Mostly all designed applications are published to the international market. It is very important for QA to review the target audience and some particular traits. For e.g. – If the user is traveling then the application is required to review time zone changes. some applications designed for one user may not be like those of other users. It is very important to do this all appearance.

7. Touch Screen

It is also a most important source of user communication today and these touch screens enable to display and input of data. The signals or the indication which form an indication in the process of data input also cause a challenge in the testing. The process where testing of touch screens needs to be more complex and stronger.

8. Security

This is one of the most important points to be examined in any application. The standard security practices are essential to be followed at the time of the development. Nowadays, with the increasing use of e-commerce, passwords, bank/card details, personal information should be kept confidential and protect from hackers.

Mobile App Testing Solutions:

1) In our market multiple simulators and emulators are available for the use of testing. These simulators give a sense of the screen size and the view. we cannot completely trust them because the scenarios are not real-time. Here are available simulators for different operating systems and for different platforms also. Another option is that we can establish a mobile testing lab where we have available multiple devices for testing.

2) For connection types, it is important to switch from one network to another network for more clearness on how the application is behaving. To test the application performance, it is very important to switch from 2G network to 4G network. Sometimes the app is on offline mode so a test to see what features are accessible when no connection is present is important. It is also required to verify the transition between disconnect to the network and again reconnect.

3) For internationalization, it is necessary to have translations in the regions where the app is published. It is most important to make sure that the translations are correct and as per grammar standards in that place, as nowadays all people have lots of options and they can move for another application that satisfies their needs.

4) The app must not have difficult and tricky navigations but should be user-friendly and very easy to understand. While testing, it is important to check that structure is clean, the colors and fonts are in proper combinations so they are readable. The response time must be less so that the user does not have to wait for much time.

• Instant access to Developer Tools within the test sessions
• Geolocation testing is for testing the application response in different geographies area
• Simulation of various network conditions by use of Throttle Network facilities
• Embedding with bug reporting tools like Jira, Trello, DevOps, and Slack
• Uploading of applications directly from the App Store or Play Store.

Conclusion:

The main aim while testing a mobile application should be that it conforms to the market standards and offers the best creative solution to the users. It is not possible to test the application on all devices but to complete test the coverage of the whole process flows. It is the responsibility of testers to select the best way to test the application completely. The selection of suitable policy, devices, and emulators is a confirmation to deliver the best in quality – market flexible application to the end-users.