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Mobile Software Testing Guide for First Time App Developers

Posted on May 18, 2016 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

As everyone knows, mobile technology and smartphones are becoming a trend now and for sure is going to transform the future of the world. If you are a beginner in mobile app development you may get puzzled at thinking the challenges of mobile software testing.

As an aid for first time app developers, we are introducing a guide on mobile software testing. Unlike other software guides we tried to explain testing aspects in a lucid style. We hope this guide will boost your confidence in app developing.

Let’s have a look on different types of mobile Testing

Kinds of mobile software testing

Mobile testing is mainly of two types:

Hardware Testing

Hardware testing is otherwise known as simple mobile testing. You have to test the internal processors, screen sizes, internal hardware, memory, resolution, camera, radio, WIFI, Bluetooth during this process.

Software Testing

The functionality of applications on various mobile devices is tested during this process. Hence it is known as Mobile app or Mobile Application Testing. When it comes to mobile applications, it is important to know a few basic differences:

Native apps: Native apps are developed to use in devices like mobile and tablets.
Mobile web apps: Mobile web apps are very much like native apps, but are not implemented as such. You can use these server side apps to access sites on mobile via different browsers.
Hybrid apps: As the name suggests, hybrid apps are developed by combining native app and mobile app. Web technologies like HTML and CSS are used to write these apps.

Read Also : 8 Key Challenges of Mobile App Testing Services

Importance of Mobile Application Testing

Here are some reasons why mobile software testing is more challenging than testing apps on desktop

Types of mobile gadgets with varying screen sizes and hardware configurations.
Different kinds of mobile brands like Samsung, Nokia, Apple, HTC, etc.
Varying platforms like Android, IOS, Windows, Symbian, etc. Various versions of these mobile operating systems also create challenges.
Different technologies used by network operators like CDMA and GSM
Repeated updates from Operating systems (For e.g.- iOS-5.x, 6.x)

Mobile and Desktop Application Testing – Common Differences

Here are a few aspects that make you understand what makes mobile app testing and desktop testing different

The mobile apps are tested in mobile handsets like HTC, Samsung etc. while in the case of desktop it is tested on a central processing unit.
Screen size of a mobile device is smaller when compared to desktop
Memory of mobile gadget is less than desktop
Usually desktop use broadband or dial up connections where mobile gadgets use services like 2G, 3G, 4G, WIFI etc.
You can never use the automation tool for mobile app testing but it works on desktop applications.

Kinds of Mobile App Testing

If you want to resolve all the above technical aspects you have to perform the following kinds of mobile app testing.

Usability Testing: With this test you are able to know if your app is user friendly
Compatibility testing: You have to do this test to make sure your app’s performance on various mobile gadgets, OS versions, browsers, screen sizes etc.
Services testing: This test will help you to address issues related online and offline performance of your app
Performance testing: This type of testing is a must to ensure the performance of your app when switching connections from 2G, 3G to WIFI. Also, other issues like battery consumption can be checked

Interface testing: You should perform this test to make sure the modules of your application like menu options, settings, bookmarks, etc. are working properly
Operational testing: You can prevent data loss while upgrading your app from the store by doing operational testing. This test will help you to set backups and recovery plan for your app.
Security testing: Vulnerabilities of your app can be detected because of this testing

Recommended Read : 5 Types of Testing to Make Your Mobile Apps User Friendly

Testing strategy for mobile apps

A sensible test strategy will enhance the quality and performance of your app. Here are a few tips for you.

Selection of gadgets is crucial – You need to study the current market trends and choose the popular used gadgets for testing. (Since clients consider the popularity factor of gadgets, you can develop your app according to the marketing needs.)
Emulators – As emulators permits speedy and efficient checking of the app, it will help you in the first stages of development.

Let’s know about kinds of mobile emulators

Device emulator – Usually offered by device manufacturers
OS emulators – Top mobile brands like Apple, Microsoft and Google are providing emulators for iPhones, Windows phones, Android phones respectively.

Some user friendly emulators for mobile gadgets

Mobile Phone Emulator – You can use this tool for testing devices like Samsung, iPhone, HTC etc.
MobiReady – This tool will be helpful for you in checking web apps and codes as well.
TestiPhone – You can see the real preview of your app with this amazing tool.
Screenfly – You can test sites under different categories with this tool.

3.Make use of Google Cloud Testing for testing your app’s performance on multiple devices

Mobile App Testing and Test Cases

It is important to develop functionality based test cases and special test cases as well for mobile app testing. Test cases should include the following criteria

Battery usage– It’s vital to monitor battery utilization while running application on the mobile phones.
Application speed – It is a known fact that the response time on various gadgets with diverse memory parameters will be different
Data requisites – You need to check if a user with limited data can download your app without technical issues
Memory/ Storage – Need to verify the memory requirement to install and run the app

Developing the right strategy for testing is vital for the success of a mobile app. So, we hope that our software testing guide will help the app developers, especially the beginners.

Things to Know about Android App Testing Services with Google Cloud

Posted on March 21, 2016 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

It is news to android app developers that google has launched Cloud Test Lab. It is a new technique for developers to test their Android apps.

Android App Testing Services can make use of this cloud based technique to test Android apps against multiple Android devices in bulk.

The boundless number of various Android gadgets makes it all but Android developers cannot guarantee that their applications run well on every one of them. No need to worry about it, Google Cloud Test Lab Service could help with this.

Read Also: 6 Top Android App Testing Challenges

Google describes the service in this way:

For complete testing before launching your app, Cloud Test Lab gives you access to physical gadgets so you can see what’s happening for your clients in the real world. Additionally, you can run the majority of your tests over all gadgets, all in the meantime – giving you access to greatly parallel testing, bringing you profound and scaled insight.

This innovative service launched at Mountain View’s Google I/O Developer Conference, will allow developers to upload their apps through the Google play Developer Console. Developers will get the opportunity to test their apps on both real and virtualized versions of the major 20 Android gadgets across the world.

In the event that the application crashes anytime, Android App Services will get a report with a video showing the failure. Google affirms, the reports will likewise call attention to if the app’s format doesn’t work with a specific screen resolution and if it has any issues running on gadgets with minimal memory.

Usefulness of Cloud Test Lab

Appurify provides the technology for Google Cloud Test Lab. Appurify have some really wonderful technology; there is nothing wrong with saying that Google Cloud is a service packed with potential.

Each APK submitted to Play Store’s Alpha and Beta channels will be so filtered on more than 20 physical gadgets and get a free launch execution report. Android App Services which need to run customized testing can in the end buy it through Cloud Test Lab.

With Google cloud, Google aims to drive a quality improvement of apps. The service can possibly make it quicker and simpler for developers to manage the issues connected with the fragmentation of Android Gadgets. It is proven that this will work with a subset of functionality on a subset of devices being given for free. This will be awesome for game developers and small organizations that don’t profit from their apps to burn through $1000’s on testing.

Basic app crawlers can do wonders with Google Cloud. They likely to use this free functionality to provide unscripted pseudo – random testing.

Recommended Read : How to Master the Art of Cloud Testing

A larger set of practicality from a way larger pool of devices isn’t an expensive service to produce and will come at a cost for developers. This may target the top 1% of apps and supply a technique for supplementing the apps existing internal testing. The type of extra functionality likely to add would be features such as:

Support of customized testing structures, such as, Espresso and UIAutomator.
Complete control of gadget environment, such as, network connection, language, memory, signal quality and location.
Ample network traffic, memory, CPU, battery and FPS profiling.
Comprehensive gadget library

Gadgets to include are as follows

Gadgets from every manufacturer.
Flagship gadgets for each of the past several years.
Each released CPU design.
Every Android API, including preview APIs
Blends of Feature Sets
Android One gadgets
Different physical screen size
Different screen densities
Varying screen resolutions
Variety of languages
Languages with RTL layouts
Android TV gadgets
Android Auto gadgets
Android Wear gadgets

8 Key Challenges of Mobile App Testing Services

Posted on March 15, 2016February 1, 2024 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Today, millions of people depend on mobile app to conduct internet browsing for social networking as well as for other purposes. The increased use of mobile apps and its rapid development, stress the need for proper testing before releasing it to the market. As end users are more concerned about user experience and performance, there is a need to discuss major challenges of mobile app testing.

Read Also: 6 Top Android App Testing Challenges

Some of the key challenges of mobile app testing services are:

User experience and issues related to app performance

Customers always prefer an app with greater user experience. Also the app should give a fresh, proper and pre-defined user interface. A delay of more than two seconds can affect the user performance and thus cause a significant impact on their preferences. Mobile applications which are free from errors and faults will give a better user experience and this will directly affect on the business sources of the application. Quality of the mobile application is graded by users according to the user experience. Most customers choose the application based on the previous reviews and grades. Sometimes poor user experience or old errors may lead to business failure of the application.

Touch screen

Touch screen enables display and retrieval of data faster and easier. Today it is one of the major sources of user interaction. Testing of touch screen tends to be more complicated and stable. Apart from this, signals or signs which show data also cause a challenge in the process of testing.

Context awareness

One of the greatest challenges in mobile app testing is context awareness that demands new and innovative approaches. Mobile applications in different contexts along with different data can often create a new challenge in the entire process of testing. Constantly changing usage patterns and environment of smart phones can create a great impact on context.

Lesser time to market the app

Declaring of strict timelines can affect testing of mobile app. Strict timelines can prevent fulfilling of proper design, development, need and overall testing of mobile apps according to the needs of the user. Certain stages of mobile app development are closely related and it needs to be properly tested. For effective testing and later release, there is a need for framing ample timelines otherwise it becomes a complete failure.

Security issues

There is more security for apps running via private cloud when compared to apps running in a public cloud. There would be no data violation for a secure private cloud and it provides access to testing teams.

Variations of mobile user interface

There are different user interfaces for different operating system such as Windows, Android, etc., which guides by a different set of rules and regulations. While publishing mobile applications in the market, it is necessary to carry out a careful checking on the layout of the elements and usage of apps as a part of the verification process. Publishing process gets delayed if the apps fail to follow the rules and regulations which later increase the cost of testing and development.

Lack of access to multiple devices

There are chances where two testers need the same devices at the same time. It would be impossible to use the same devices by two testers. Hence, one tester would be left out until the other one leaves it. Procurement of multiple devices is time consuming and expensive. Also, it is not advisable to place testers across continents.

Device based testing approach

Under this approach, there is a necessity to buy real new mobile devices as well as setting up a testing laboratory. It is costly and this approach needs to cope with changing mobile devices and platforms as well.

Recommended Read: Best practices to follow for iOS mobile app testing

A proper, specific and structured testing strategy can make mobile app testing services successful and worthy. It would be helpful to consider the above challenges at the time of testing mobile apps.

6 Top Android App Testing Challenges

Posted on February 16, 2016February 1, 2024 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Unlike traditional desktop and web applications, android app testing is different and more complex. It has its own set of challenges.

The movement towards mobile devices has brought a whole different set of challenges to the testing world. Not only consumer targeted apps, but enterprise apps as well are on the rise.
Read Also: Top 5 Automation Testing Tools for Android
Here are 6 key challenges that android app developers and testers are facing.

Screen Sizes: The android world is not simple. There are devices with display sizes ranging from sub-3 inches to over 10 inches. The variety of different aspect ratios and pixel densities can be overwhelming as well.

With the launch of iPhone 6, Apple brings new screen sizes to iOS as well. Though iOS developers are used to pixel perfect screen design, they now need to change their mindset to adaptive screen design. But for android it’s at an amplified rate. For testing, it means that we need to check on various devices that all the necessary screen elements are accessible with different screen sizes and aspect ratios.

Connection Types: There are several standards for mobile data connections (edge, umts, 3G, 4G) as well as for wifi (b, g, n). Sometimes there might be no connection available at all or the device is in flight mode. When users move around the connection type might change.

Unfortunately some carriers filter the web on their own will, which results in the devices being connected without actually having connection with a specific service (messaging or calling through apps). Even though connection APIs on mobile platforms have been developed keeping those challenges in mind, the real world environment is still very much varying and interesting set of issues may occur. It’s important to test the bandwidth usage as not all carriers are supporting unlimited data volumes.

Different OS versions: iOS users are known to upgrade quickly to newer versions. On the contrary, Android uptake has historically been very slow and the fragmentation is wide. This means that app developers need to support older OS versions and older APIs and testers need to test those.

Power consumption and battery life: Innovation in the battery storage capacity field hasn’t been keeping up with the app consumption rate. We are running lots of apps during the day and several processes are running in the background without us even noticing. This all requires CPU cycles. Thus, batteries tend to dry. When testing mobile apps, we need to make sure that the power consumption is kept minimal and the app is developed keeping the best practices in mind.

Usability: Mobile devices screen are comparatively small and there are always more data we would like to present than possible to fit to the screen. It’s challenging to keep the interaction clean and simple for the user, and at the same time display all the necessary information. Font size and readability are other challenging factors of usability. When testing mobile apps, it’s important to pay attention to the size of click areas and making sure that all texts are readable without lenses.

You May also Like: 5 Types of Testing to Make Your Mobile Apps User Friendly

Internationalisation: Most of the apps are designed to be used on international markets. Testing for translation is only one piece of the whole internationalisation testing. Testers should also take into account regional traits like locale settings and time zones and target audience.

Changing time while app is running might cause some interesting artefacts. Also some designs that are working in the western world might not work in the east and vice-versa. Right-to-left languages have always kept developers puzzled.

Top 5 Automation Testing Tools for Android

Posted on August 7, 2015 by tbsupadminnxtbackendacc

Automation testing is used these days in almost all the test processes. The advantage of a reduced testing time along with reduction in error has led to its widespread acceptance among software testers. With a wide variety of testing tools available for this purpose, one should be aware of their features to better understand them.

Choosing a single tool to support you entire project is rather impossible, since most tools may not be able to fully correspond to you project. Here we discuss the top 5 tools that have been the most sought after by Android testers around the globe.
1.Robotium Android Testing Tool
Pros
It is one of the first and frequently used automation tools for Android software testing. Robotium, a free Android UI testing tool is suitable for test automation of different Android versions. Often referred to as Selenium by Android Software developers, the tests created by Robotium are written in Java. Robotium is also a library for unit tests.
Cons
But Robotium is time consuming and needs much more effort to create tests in it. This is because in order to automate tests, one must work with the program source code. Also the tool is unsuitable for interacting with system software; it is incapable of locking and unlocking smart phones or tablets. Robotium does not have a record or a play function and it also does not provide screenshots. As part of continuous integration, Robotium incorporates easily with Maven, Gradle or Ant for the execution of tests.
2.MonkeyRunner
Pros
This is a popular Android app testing tool used for the automation of functional tests for Android software. This tool is more low-level when compared to Robotium, but does not have to work with the source code in order to automate tests. Written in Python, it also gives provision of using a recording tool for creating tests.
With MonkeyRunner, it is possible to run tests on real devices connected to a PC or emulators. The API within the tool helps to control a smart phone, a tablet or an emulator from outside of the Android code.
Cons
The biggest disadvantage of this mobile app testing tool is the necessity of writing scripts for each device. Another drawback is the need for a test to be adjusted each time the user interface of a test program changes.
3.Appium Android Automation Framework
Pros
Appium is used to test iOS and Android native mobile web and hybrid applications. While native apps are written with the help of iOS or Android SDKs, mobile web apps can be opened on mobile browsers and hybrid apps are totally involved with “webview”. It is an open-source mobile automation tool.
The running of tests does not require any changes to be made in the source code which is a huge advantage. The Selenium JSON Wire Protocol used in Appium allows you to write the test in any language supported by Selenium. Appium facilitates testers to reuse the code between iOS and Android test suites even though it is considered a “cross-platform” tool.
Cons
The advantages are in plenty, but it would be a sin not to discuss its drawbacks as well. It takes a long time to configure appium for both android and iOS and also is prone to too many unexpected errors.
4.UI Automator
Pros
UI Automator allows you to do more in Android app testing and games when compared to the basic framework that is Robotium. You can test the user interface (UI) of your native Android apps on one or more devices with Google’s test framework. Another advantage of UI Automator is that the cases can span across different processes with JUnit test cases having special privileges. It also provides five different classes for developers.

Cons
UI Automator has its downsides, one of them being it only works on Android devices with API level of 16 or higher. Another drawback of UI Automator is its lack of support for webview, were directly accessing Android objects is not possible.
5.Espresso
Pros
It is the latest Android test automation framework open-sourced by Google. It is available for developers and software testers to work on their UIs. Its API is small and predictable making it easy to learn and above all built on top of the Android instrumentation framework.
It helps to write concise and reliable Android UI tests and is supported on API level 8 (Froyo), 10 (Gingerbread), and 15 (Ice Cream Sandwich) till current versions.
Its reliability and the ability to synchronize with the UI thread makes it fast since there is no need for any sleeps.
Cons
Just like UI Automator, it too suffers the drawback of not supporting webviews.