How to test a taxi booking app like Uber?

How to test a taxi booking app like Uber? They are extremely complex and demand high data security.  On the top, they have to offer unvarying stability and high UX. If you are thinking about testing. you need assistance from someone who knows what they do.
However, some might be thinking that they have put a lot of effort when it comes to the development of the app, they have extremely skilled developers and they can carry out the process with ease.
But remember one thing, user perspective is what matters, your developers might be partial, and this might be has a huge weightage considering the competition that you are going to face and the huge amount of money hat’s been invested.
Testing is indeed extra cost, but the amount of risk it mitigates is immense.
But the question prevails! How to test a taxi booking app like Uber?
before we get into that, let’s know about the need in detail.

Why thorough testing is needed
Every customer user app needs thorough testing to succeed in the market. No customer would be willing to use a non-secure or slow app. In this digital age, competition is very high and most likely you will not get a second chance. Here are some reasons why a thorough and meticulously planned testing effort is needed for a taxi booking app:

  1. Security of Customer/Driver Data: the app would include the customer’s and drivers’ personal data (PII). Any security breach in this area can lead to legal complications for the app company and owner. 
  2. Integrated Payment and Wallets: Most booking app would have an integrated payment gateway to enable easy payment for the rides. These gateways and payment options need to be tested minutely to make sure the clients’ money is safe. 
  3. Easy to Use UI: The app should be designed in such a way that different types of users including aged people and people who are new to the internet can use the app with ease. 
  4. Accuracy of data: The app needs to be tested to ensure data accuracy in multiple points. This will include the data of the customer, driver, the trip details, the offers, the fares, the distance calculations, and much more. The accuracy of every data displayed on the app needs to be verified for its correctness. 

Uber App Screen
What to test in a taxi booking app?
Now that we have understood why testing is so important for the taxi booking app, let us look at some important focus areas and test points. While this list is not exhaustive, it will give you a fair idea of how to get started. Feel free to add points as per the app and requirements in hand.
From a Customer Perspective

  1. Customer Data: The customer data in the app needs to be tested to ensure it is accurate. This will include the personal details, the payment details (if they wish to save), the trip details, favorite pick-up and drop location, the offers available, and more.  
  2. User and driver registration: Registration for both customers and drivers needs to be tested to check the data is getting saved corrected in the server. The users and the drivers should be able to add, edit, and delete their details as well. 
  3. Map Related and live tracking: Testing the map related functionalities are very critical for any taxi booking app. This includes opening the app in the current location, finding cabs in the vicinity, and live tracking of the cab movement before and after confirming the booking. 
  4. Time Tracking: The live movement of the cab should be linked to the time taken to reach the destination or time to reach the customer. These values need to be constantly changed to verify the functionality is working fine. This can be tested by simulating a moving vehicle and then calculating the location and time. A critical requirement here would be the refresh. This needs to be decided by the business, ideally, it should be 1 sec or less, so the customer does not see a lag. But based on the system design and the load the business may decide for 2-5 secs also. 
  5. OTP: Most apps will have an OTP generation system for authenticating the user at the time of registration and even when boarding a cab. The OTP needs to be validated against the customer data with valid and invalid entries. The number of retries allowed is another important yet overlooked point. If the OTP is regenerated, the system should accept only the latest OTP and none of the previous ones should be accepted. Ignore this if not applicable to your app. 
  6. Wallet Transactions and history: Most apps will have an option to load money into the wallet using a pre-established payment gateway. The wallet needs to be checked for money top-up, balance, transaction history, refund, and offers. The same will be true for other payment options like debit card, credit card, UPI, and other options as per the app.
  7. Trip – distance and time: The details regarding the trip needs to be tested. This will include the distance between the pick-up and drop location. The way chosen should be the shortest way with the least traffic based on the congestion points in the location. The estimated time of travel and other details of the trip as per the business needs. 
  8. Trip Modification: The user should be allowed to make changes to the trip. This will include cancellation and changing the destination point. In the case of the latter, the trip distance, time, amount, and route should change accordingly. Check if there is a limit on the number of times the user can make the changes. If there is a limit like 2 or 3 then it needs to be tested that the 4th change is rejected by the system. 
  9. Cab Sharing: Most of the apps would allow the sharing of the cab between people. In this case, it is important to test the distance between the shared pick-up points. This limit must be set by the business. Check with the requirements and then test to make sure the sharing pick-ups are scheduled within that range. 
  10. Driver and cab details: The customers should be able to view all the driver details and his previous customer ratings. They should also be able to see the cab number and the model along with the driver’s contact number. As per the app, these may contain driver pictures as well. 
  11. Push messages and SMS: Every app has its own requirements for SMS, email, and push notifications. These will include notifications for booking confirmation, cab arrival, driver details, OTP, trip completion, the amount payable, cancellation request, feedback request, and others. Each of these needs to be tested to make sure they are time-bound as per the business requirements.
  12. Search: One of the most important aspects of the map search. This will include searching for cabs in the current location and location as per the user’s interest. Suggestions for the location once the user starts typing will be good to have feature. The search should show the cabs available in the area along with a route map. It should inform the customer of the distance and time to the nearest cab. 
  13. Offers: Every now and then, the company may come with offers and discounts for all or specific customers. The offer code and their validity need to be tested along with any specific requirements for availing the offers. The amount being reduced after availing the offer is another test area. 
  14. Feedback and Rating system: The app should include a feedback and rating system for both the customer and the driver. They should be able to give feedback and ratings to each other. These ratings need to be analyzed to improve the drivers and the services provided.
  15. Customer Support and Escalation: The app will have customer support and escalation mechanism in place. This can include support through email, call, or chat. Each must be tested along with the different escalation levels. 

From a Driver Perspective

  1.  Driver Data: Like the customer data, the app will also contain the driver data, his incentive, the number of trips undertaken, the star ratings (if available), his payment schedule, and other details. This again needs to be tested to make sure the mapping in the database or server is correct and the queries used to fetch the data is as expected. 
  2. Trip Visibility and Options: The driver should be able to see the customer search within a specific distance as per his current location as fixed by the business. He should have the option to accept or decline the trip as well. Once accepted the trip should be hidden for the other drivers. 
  3. Benefits and Trip history: Most drivers will be paid based on the number of trips they have undertaken, and the benefits would increase with the increase in the daily or weekly completed trip count. All these details along with the payment options and history should be available for the driver to verify. 
  4. Hiding Customer Personal Data: Customer data is very critical especially the phone numbers. This information need not be shared with the drivers. To contact the customers there should be a hotline number and the customer details should be hidden from the driver. 

Types of Testing 
For all the above test cases, there are different types of testing that will be done. Here is a list of these:

  1. Manual Testing: Critical business functionalities need to be tested manually. Manual testing is also needed in cases where the team does not have the time or money for automation or when the automation feasibility for the features is low. 
  2. Automation Testing: The app will have a lot of validations. If the testing is to be done only once, then automation is not required. But if there are likely to be regular updates or new features added, it would be better to have an automation suite in place to reduce the future testing efforts and save time as well. 
  3. Security Testing: The app server or database contains personal data of the customers and the drivers. This will include the names, address, phone number, mobile number along with the payment details that can include the bank or card numbers. The security of this data is very important. The app should be safeguarded against external attacks. 
  4. Performance Testing: Based on the anticipated load performance testing needs to be done so that the search, map loading time, and other transactions are well within the SLA at peak and off-peak loads.  Based on these results the business will decide to scale-up the infrastructure if needed.
  5. Integration Testing: There are several systems involved in the app. This includes the GPS tracking or mobiles of the driver and customer, the database or server, and the booking app. The integration between these systems needs to be verified for accuracy and data flow. 
  6. DB testing: Customer and driver details along with all the trip information are store in the database. Hence, DB testing is imperative. While testing we need to ensure that the basic operations like adding a record, editing a record, deleting a record, fetching the record are being performed as per the expectation. 
  7. Exploratory Testing: Exploratory testing is a kind of informal testing in which the user would just explore the application trying to go through all the different pages and verify that nothing is broken. 
  8. Responsive Testing: Responsive testing needs to be done to ensure that your taxi booking app renders itself well in devices with different screen sizes and resolution. With so many new devices entering the market and the extensive usage of the internet, responsive testing of the app needs to be taken very seriously. 
  9. UAT Testing: The ultimate testing for any app or software must be the UAT or User Acceptance Testing. UAT gives the usage pattern and the most frequently used areas of the app. This will be helpful in deciding the future features of the app. 

app crash
How do I test the Uber app?
Apps like uber are bound to be installed across many devices with varied OS versions.  Performance testing has to be done at intervals to make sure that the app is working fine and it has what it takes to meet up customer expectations.
While testing make sure that

  • Complete assessment of the business requirement of the apps
  • Identify the important performance testing metrics
  • Create perfect and realistic test scenarios
  • Analyze and validate the test result and measurements
  • Preparation of reports that can also be useful for developers.

Tips for testing apps like uber

  • Apart from the normal workflow of the registration module, you must also make sure that social media login and integration is carried over the system with ease.
  • Check email authentication process to make sure that your domain will not be marked as spam
  • Make sure that there are unnecessary links attached to the mail send by the system
  • Make sure that the user is able to differentiate auto-generated messages
  • Make sure that the geographic information system (GIS)  is in sync with the system and functionalities
  • Check the OS compatibility of the app with various versions
  • Make sure that the information provided to the user is concise and precise
  • Proper localization testing needs to done to make sure that it’s not hurting any sentiments
  • Real drivers and passengers have to be used for testing rather than a simulated environment
  • A payment gateway is integral for taxi booking apps. make sure that it doesn’t have any loophole and is working fine
  • Trace out all the security loopholes in the system
  • Test the authorization workflow and functionality
  • Gamification is indeed the star nowadays. Make sure that it’s in a way that will make the driver and the customer feel rewarded
  • Test the system in varied internet strength and load

Top 10 Taxi booking Apps

  1. Uber
  2. Lyft
  3. Ola Cabs
  4. Taxify
  5. DIDI
  6. Cabify
  7. Lecab
  8. Curb
  9. Gett
  10. GoCatch


Which are the tools that can be used for taxi booking app testing?
While the listed set of testing might be overwhelming, here is a list of tools available in the market to get you started.

  1. Appium and Appium Studio
  2. TestComplete
  3. Calabash
  4. Webload
  5. Zed Attack Proxy
  6. Android Debug Bridge
  7. Lambda Test
  8. Studio Press
  9. DBFit, SQLUnit
  10. Visual Studio Team Edition

Hope you have a fair idea now about how to test a taxi booking app now. This should be enough to get you started and rest you can improvise when you are at it. 

How to Test a Social Media Application?

Social media apps have literally become the lifeline of the present generation.

Social media apps are now a podium

  • to connect with people,
  • for entertainment purposes,
  • do business,
  • find or offer jobs,
  • get some information and whatnot.

Apart from its benefits, social media apps could also be very harmful. These apps could lead to high-security breaches if they are not properly validated for their security.
Apart from this improper functioning of these apps in any aspect could affect the business of thousands of people depending upon these apps for their business needs.
Hence Proper Testing of Social Media applications is very important.
Here is a sneak peek into how to test social media apps.
Why is it important to Test Social Media?
How to Test a Social Media Application.


According to Statista – “Number of worldwide users is expected to reach some 3.02 billion monthly active social media users by 2021.”
Such a large podium definitely needs to be secure and provide a seamless experience to all its users. Hence it is very important to test these applications for their efficient and effective working.
Types of Social Media Testing
Social media is a bundle of various functionalities. Testing social media apps requires you to have extensive domain expertise, large experience, and the correct skillset for it. Testing of Social media applications includes:

  • Enterprise Software Testing: Social media applications serve a large number of people and are very robust to test and require a high level of security testing. Hence these applications require some high-end enterprise testing solutions to be tested.
  • Web 2.0 testing: Being a web 2.0 based application, testing of social media applications requires the early involvement of testers. These applications are also susceptible to frequent changes and hence automatization of the test cases for such applications is preferred.
  • Web-testing including compatibility, functional, Security Testing, Performance Testing and database testing needs to be done for social media apps.
  • SaaS Testing: SaaS is referred to software as a service model. Social media services follow the Saas model and are requires to be validated for proper functioning using SaaS testing.
  • Web Analytics Testing: Social media apps deal with a large amount of data, Web analytics testing helps in collecting of website data and then analyzing and reporting based on your user’s targets.
  • User Acceptance Testing: includes testing social media apps for its attractiveness and user-friendly nature.
  • Content Management testing: Content management testing validate that the content is appropriate for the audience. Social media applications like Facebook are an ocean of content, new content is posted every now and then, and hence, content management testing becomes an on-going task and is very important to avoid any content related issues.
  • SEO testing: SEO is the need for the hour to promote your websites/applications online. Hence SEO testing becomes very important to ensure proper growth and exposure of your social media application.
  • Online Advertisement application testing. Social media applications these days promote businesses using online advertisement. Validating the proper functioning of online advertisements is very important.

Also Read: How To Test a Mobile Application

Social Media Application Testing Life Cycle
stlc
To ensure that your social media testing goes well, follow a proper testing methodology. Here are the steps you can follow to ensure proper testing of your social media apps.
1. Analyze Test Requirements:
First and foremost step if to analyze test requirements. Determine the scope of the testing and the test objectives.
Make a list of what all you need to test, how much time and how many resources you will require for testing.
2. Test Plan Creation:
Test plan creation is the next step towards conducting successful social media application testing.
Test planning is dependent on what does tester’s aim to achieve from the testing.
Hence they should have a clear understanding of what they are supposed to test like are they supposed to carry out only front-end testing or back-end testing or the both.

3. Allocation of Resources for Testing:
As per your analysis in test requirement phase, allocate resources for the testing like the human resources, allocate the time for testing, etc.
Before starting testing your social media mobile app, you should shortlist the testing techniques -Functional and Non-functional.
functional non functional testing
Also make a note of network, operating system, and device platforms for functional testing.
For Non-Functional Testing, techniques select from various testing techniques like Performance Testing, Usability Testing, Adaptability Testing, and Security Testing.
4. Test Case Document:
This is the first step towards actual testing.
Create test cases based on the test plan created by you in the initial phases of testing.
Create a test case document with all the features and functionalities of your social media app.
The test cases should include all the functional test cases along with various other test cases for usability testing, adaptability testing and other test cases like testing the speed of the app, memory usage, battery usage, and data requirements.
5. Defining the alliance of Manual Testing and Automation Testing.
Testing of social media apps includes an amalgamation of both manual and automatic testing. Prepare a separate document for manual testing test cases and automatic testing test scripts.
6. Execution of the Test Case:
The actual testing takes place here, where you will actually execute the test cases created in the previous step. You can execute test cases and scripts in physical devices or using testing tools, or in the cloud.
7. Identifying and Removing the Bugs:
While executing the test cases, all the bugs that are detected have to be reported to the development team, for removing them.
8. Documentation:
Document all the bugs that you have found. This documentation can help you as a reference for future testing.
9. Test Completion:
After bug’s removal, the application has to be retested to check if the bugs are properly removed and to check that the change in code has not affected the present functionalities.
Though there is nothing like test completion, as the application may require to be repeatedly tested whenever there is any code change.
But if in any round of testing, the code is identified as bug-free, the testing is considered to be completed.
Tips for Testing Social Media Applications
Here are a few tips to test your social media application effectively:

  • Testers should be experienced in the design and implementation of Web 2.0 testing
  • Carry out all-inclusive website testing.
  • Autonomous validation is important for social media apps.

Conclusion
Social media applications are witnessing a sudden hike. People are getting dependent on them for their day to day enquires and uses.

Such a wide platform requires to be tested comprehensively so that they possess no threats to their users either at a personal or professional level.

What You Need to Know About Localization Testing

Localization testing is a software customization process in which a product or application that was earlier designed for a particular market can be made available to foreign markets. Its all about quality checking the localized version of a product. Principles of this method are concerned to check if your product is in line with the locale settings that are governed by the culture of the geographical location that will be native to your product.
app testing
Localization testing, as you have just understood will require the translation of all native language strings into the targeted languages. Along with the target language requirement, your product should also look into Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Content and GUI are the two parameters that come under the umbrella of localization testing with efforts directed to match your product with the innate requirements of your target market. In a nutshell, localization testing is mainly concerned about quality checking the parameters linked to linguistics, content or UI, culture and all those that are dictated by the geographical placement of your product.
A Testing Concept That Surpasses All Language Barriers
A tester who has the source code commonly written in English will perform the same set of test cases on both the localized and source codes; simultaneously.
Say for example, you are launching a Chinese product and wish to test it as part of your localization activities. You don’t need a tester who is proficient in speaking the official Chinese language of Mandarin Chinese or Standard Mandarin.
You can assign the testing job to a tester who can test your Chinese product with the code written in English and execute a set of test scripts on it; without any hassles. He will ensure that the localized product will behave exactly the way in which the English version was designed.
The Requirements of a Localization Tester
You should understand the fact that localization testing is conducted once functional testing is completed. Localization testing is conducted by testers who do not follow any of the testing languages. Such testers who are tech-savvy simply add the native language of the locale to your product mix. They are also concerned about all the parameters that will impact the usability and functionality of localized platforms.
Localization testers thus ensure that the local version looks, feels, behaves and functions exactly the same as the source version. The only difference is that your product mirrors the native language linked to the locale in which it is launched and operates.
A Localization Tester should:

  1. Demonstrate some technical expertise
  2. Understand and identify issues that fundamentally come along with the software during localization
  3. A skill to holistically identify key differences in languages so that he/she can spot a number of issues that emerge due to localization

Scope of Localization Testing
You may have the opinion that functional, linguistic and localization testing procedures are entwined. But, it is not the case. They are distinct procedures that need different types of testing resources. Hence it is important that you have a clear and precise understanding of each and every testing procedure, with specific reference to Localization testing which is now the topic of discussion.
Below are the various issues that can be tackled by Localization Testing.

  • Defects in the user-interface and layout including redundant or missing controls, overlap of content and issues concerning alignment
  • All the non-functional features of your product
  • Since the content of a localized product is assembled dynamically, Localized Testing procedures will identify the presence of jumbled dialog boxes and scrambled web pages
  • Bugs in concatenated strings and strings which are composed using placeholders, can be unveiled
  • You can also address the issues concerning text expansion, namely text bleeding and truncations with Localization Testing procedures
  • When you experience a problem with all the extended characters in accepting a tested system
  • Any issue concerning the “search and replace” functionality
  • You can rectify incorrect formats of calendar along with date and time that should match your geographical locale
  • When you encounter and have to manage files with extended characters featuring in their file name or directory path
  • Localization testing allows you to sort issues concerning the language and grammar of your target market
  • You can effortlessly rectify the bugs in converting from different currencies to your home currency along with the inclusion of the monetary symbol of your country or area in which your product operates
  • You can check for consistency in messages along with online help that is offered to your customers
  • Printed documentation and command key sequences can be also checked
  • Scenarios concerning Windows applications mirroring redundant or missing hot keys can be tackled
  • When your product is battling incorrect metric conversions with unmatched numeric formats, negatives and separators
  • Input, display and system requirements can be checked against the demands your environment comes up with along with confirming their adherence
  • While you can unveil and fix typographical errors, you can also check the usability of the UI
  • Localization testing procedures handhold you to assess your product to check whether it is matching the cultural requirements of your target market
  • To identify and address scenarios which have omitted politically sensitive content; the significant part of your product
  • Along with checking for the appropriateness of video content, you can also ensure the adherence to basic parameters like keyboard, mouse, operating system, audio interface language and accent

The Importance of Localization Testing To Your Global Business Model
The premise behind localization testing is to introduce a product that delivers functionalities in accordance with the demands of the target language. Calling digital marketers across the globe to spend time and money on localization, localization testing should only come as a revenue-saver.
automation testing
If your product is released with a number of language-centric bugs, it does not do you any good except showing your product in a bad light to global customers. Hence, the onus is on localization testing to ensure that your product is error-free so that customers across the globe will embrace and patronize it.
You should also be wary of the fact that you can expect bugs even after you have localized your product. Which means localization testing is the only instrument that helps you steer clear of the issues that can cost you a fortune if they are remain undetected. This way, localization testing procedures ensure quick and budget-friendly means to fix issues and come up with a localized product that is user-friendly in more ways than one.
Final Thoughts
All in an attempt to come up with a holistically interpreted product that matches the cultural and geographical needs of your target market, you should strive towards the implementation of appropriate business processes.
You should also be watchful of governmental and regulatory requirements that are innate to every geographical area. Thus, it is a big task to localize your business logic so that consumers across the globe patronize your product and bestow you with a good return on investment.