Feature Testing: Why is it important before Release?

Feature testing is a necessary process since updates are essential for an app to keep up with time, for monetary benefits and to make the customers feel that the makers of the apps are putting in so much effort.
Apart from bug fixing, the addition of new features is also essential for the survival of any app.
The biggest question here is how to test these new features of an app that has already been tested or not been tested?
interested? go through this blog.
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Developing New Feature?
While developing a new feature for your mobile app you need to determine what you are going to develop? The new feature that you will develop should be worth releasing, otherwise, it might mislead users.
You need to come up with a feature according to the app’s user base responds to various elements of the mobile application.
Run various experiments for in-app elements to better understand the missing feature.
How do you test new features?

  • Determine the type of audience the feature caters to. By knowing the right audience you can calibrate your test according to it
  • Release the software with the intended features to a small amount of audience before the actual test
  • Make sure that you are recording the results and categorizing it to the appropriate section. For instance, Order values by departments, average order values, conversion rates, o add to cart rates, hits on the checkout page per department,  etc. Categorization will help in analyzing interaction on various segments of the software
  • Once the software has been validated by a small number of users.  Prepare it for the larger  A/B test.
  • Create a product management system so that feedback can be run through a loop

Why you should do Feature testing?
Before releasing new features that you have developed, it needs testing to determine the impact among the users and application.
To better understand the impact of your feature you need to perform mobile application testing.
Mobile app testing will help you to understand the business impact of this new feature and what improvements should be made before release.
Testing of New Feature
Before releasing a new feature, it has to be tested with real-world test cases.
As the feature will be released among thousands of users, it becomes even more difficult to release an application that is error-free, as every individual is different from another.
Thus, below is some process for testing a new feature for mobile applications.
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  • Field Testing

Field Testing becomes an important aspect of testing this new feature and its impact in real-world scenarios.
This test will be carried out by QA testers where they would be using this integrated feature as per the need in the real world.
However, field testing becomes a little difficult to carry out as it requires a large number of dedicated testers to execute field testing effectively and smoothly.
Also, field testing would require a number of devices and their maintenance which increases the cost of testing.
Although, this test may cost more it will provide an excellent overview of your new feature and its acceptance in the real world.

  • Leverage Your Community

 Another option for you to test your new feature in real-world cases is to leverage your community.
You can easily source alpha and beta testers for testing your new integrated feature in the mobile application.
With the help of alpha and beta testers, you will be able to get appropriate feedback from actual users who will be using your new app feature in a real-world scenario.
While sourcing alpha and beta testers may come with risk, it provides an excellent method for exposing bugs to them.
It becomes a reliable method that can be gathered in a form of valuable feedback from actual users and let you do further improvement in your mobile app.
gametesting

  • Incorporating Your Application

For a more efficient field testing of your new feature, you can also incorporate your integrated mobile application into the daily activities and workflow of your team members.
This will help you to encounter bugs and issues in your new feature naturally by your team.
Not only, it will save some cost for sourcing alpha and beta testers for your test but also it will increase the efficiency to detect any issue in a timely manner and improves it as soon as possible.
You can also use this approach to uncover details such as battery usage, device compatibility, and other environmental factors.

  • Crowd Sourced Testing

 This test will expose the benefits, effectiveness, and efficiency of your application.
To perform Scaling UX and exploratory tests, testers would require enough time to devote to these valuable testing approaches.
Your team would need to use automation tools and services to free up the team’s time which can be utilized for other testing approaches.
Automation tools will enable them to eliminate the effort of testing applications in a repetitive cycle.

  • A/B Testing

A/B testing for your new feature in the mobile application would enable you to observe which versions perform better.
This test will compare your version A app with version B app and checks which one is performing better.
While conducting A/B testing you need to focus on key aspects such as user onboarding, user engagement rate, or user retention.
Making an Announcement of Your New Feature In-App
After completing mobile app testing for your new feature with improvements,
you can now make an announcement to all the users about the addition of the new feature in the application.
Introducing your new feature to the application will be useless if the right users are not aware of it.
To ensure that the right people know about this addition, you need to decide on how you are going to tell users about the new feature.
You can either use real-time context to tell them about the new feature or just make a proper announcement of your new feature before global release.
After achieving all these steps you can successfully release your new feature to your mobile app without any hesitation.
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Once, your new feature is live and released globally, you need to get feedback from different users who had just used your new feature.
This will help you to understand the true nature of your new feature. What if people did not use your new feature?
Or did they have any issues?
You can easily get feedback from your users regarding your new feature and make sure to improve them.
After releasing your new feature you can also record the impact and compare it with your testing results to ensure more improvement in testing areas.
Benefits of Feature Testing

  • The environment of the product can be figured out easily
  • Helps in gathering metrics of features and validate it
  • Basic elements of software can be tested
  • Helps in keeping a check on various integration
  • You can check the different configuration of the software product
  • bugs and issues can be found out
  • You can perfect the software and prepare it for success

How to use Selenium for the automation of feature testing?
How It Can Help in Feature Testing?
It depends on the kind of developer you are. If you are a developer who believes in testing all key features after deployment then Selenium Webdriver would be a panacea for you.
But there are many developers who just believe in developing new stuff and not first testing the existing features and then go ahead with building new ones. This would lead to a lot of bugs and the cost incurred with finding a defect would increase in the defect life cycle.

Also Read : 15 Top Selenium WebDriver Commands For Test Automation

So, the strategy should be testing the existing features and then building new stuff. If you are thinking that testing existing new features would consume a lot of time then in that case you can use Selenium Webdriver to cut the time taken to test these features.
In this way your code would be bug-free and costs associated with defects will decrease.
Let’s now prepare the first test with Selenium WebDriver. If you are thinking that you are not a Java Expert; then how would you start writing code and explore. Selenium Webdriver needs minimal use of Java if you want to start with it so don’t worry and go ahead!
Set-Up Needs To Be Done

  • The first thing is to download the Chrome Browser as you will test your code on chrome.
  • Next is to download ChromeDriver from Seleniumhq official site and hence; you can download the chromedriver.exe file in your system.
  • You should have Java installed in your machine and this you can check by opening cmd and fire command “java –version”.
  • You should have Eclipse installed in your machine as it is a perfect IDE to develop the test to check the features.
  • You can now open eclipse and then click on New -> Java Project -> Next -> Give Project Name and Finish
  • Now add Selenium library to your project by first downloading the Jars from Seleniumhq site. Then click on Properties of your project and click on Build Path and then click on “Add External Jars”.
  • After this, you are ready to start with your code. All initial setup is ready.

First Test With Selenium Webdriver To Test Login Feature
For writing code you need to make a class file in your project. For doing that; click on New -> Class -> Next -> Name your Class -> Finish. Now, you can start writing your code in this section. As of now just copy the code below and run it on your local machine.
import org.openqa.selenium.By;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
public class Test1 {
static WebDriver webDriver;
public static void main(final String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
// Telling the system where to find the chrome driver
System.setProperty(
“webdriver.chrome.driver”,
“C:/PATH/TO/chromedriver.exe”);
// Open the Chrome browser
webDriver = new ChromeDriver();
// Maximize the browser window
webDriver.manage().window().maximize();
if (testlogin()) {
System.out.println(“Test WordPress Login: Passed”);
} else {
System.out.println(“Test WordPress Login: Failed”);
}
// Close the browser and WebDriver
webDriver.close();
webDriver.quit();
}
private static boolean testlogin() {
try {
// Open google.com
webDriver.navigate().to(“https://www.YOUR-SITE.org/wp-admin/”);
// Type in the username
webDriver.findElement(By.id(“user_login”)).sendKeys(“YOUR_USERNAME”);
// Type in the password
webDriver.findElement(By.id(“user_pass”)).sendKeys(“YOUR_PASSWORD”);
// Click the Submit button
webDriver.findElement(By.id(“wp-submit”)).click();
// Wait a little bit (7000 milliseconds)
Thread.sleep(7000);
// Check whether the h1 equals “Dashboard”
if (webDriver.findElement(By.tagName(“h1”)).getText()
.equals(“Dashboard”)) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
// If anything goes wrong, return false.
} catch (final Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getClass().toString());
return false;
}
}
}
Run this you will find Chrome Browser opening up and then testing the login functionality. Let me explain the steps one by one for better understanding.

  • setProperty(“webdriver.chrome.driver”,”C:/PATH/TO/chromedriver.exe”);

This statement is to tell your program where it can find chromedriver.exe file in your local.

  • webDriver = new ChromeDriver();
  • manage().window().maximize();

These commands will open Chromedriver instance and then would maximize the size of the browser.

  • if (testlogin())

This would test if the login feature is properly working or not. If it is not working then “Test failed” would be printed else “Test passed”.

Also Read : 52 Software Tester Interview Questions That can Land You the Job

  • The test login module has tried and catches statements inside it. If everything goes as expected as per you then code in try block would be executed else code in catch would be executed. Suppose when you try to locate an element and it is not present in DOM then it would throw an exception “NOSUCHELEMENTEXCEPTION” and this code in catch block should be executed.
  • In this testlogin function steps are mentioned.

webDriver.navigate().to(“https://www.YOUR-SITE.org/wp-admin/”);
webDriver.findElement(By.id(“user_login”)).sendKeys(“YOUR_USERNAME”);
webDriver.findElement(By.id(“user_pass”)).sendKeys(“YOUR_PASSWORD”);
automation testing
These would be hit the URL in the browser and then find username and password fields. With the help of sendKeys you will be able to write to these text boxes.

  • findElement(By.id(“wp-submit”)).click();

With the help of this command you are clicking on submit form.

  • sleep(7000);

This sleep is included in order to follow the test visually. 7000 means 7000 ms that means 7s.

  • Now if the login is successful then the headline of the page should change to “Dashboard” and h1 headline is used only once in every page so you can get it by using tagname h1. You can get the text out of the webelement and then compare it with “Dashboard” to test whether you have successfully login or not. The below code is for that.

if (webDriver.findElement(By.tagName(“h1”)).getText().equals(“Dashboard”))
{
return true
} else {
return false;
}

  • You can find the elements using various locators like ID, Name, Xpath, CSS Selector, and Link Text. Mostly you should prefer ID and name when they are not dynamic. Otherwise it is good to go with Xpath and CSS.

Conclusion
Feature testing increases the chances of success and mitigates risk to a great extent.  Do think of it as a setback or baggage, development alone is not the key to software success. You gave to make sure it has what it takes to survive the market.

How to Test a Music App like Spotify, YouTube Music etc.

Music apps have at last switched people’s state of mind towards music as well as the music market both.
Hence, they flourished in application stores and became one of the best ideas to invest your money
But you must understand that a robust app is a key to your success and for that, you need to test your app from the development stage itself.
A nice music streaming app has a simple UI that makes it simple to sort out a library of a plenty of playlists or songs available over the internet.
It’s likewise totally important that your music application gets stream music properly of different devices.
It should be capable to run on iOS and Android apps, and at times, Windows app and desktop Mac.
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10 Factors to Consider for Music App Testing
So, what to test in a music app? While testing the music streaming apps, there are lots of factors and features to be considered for testing.
Every music app feature needs exceptional consideration, and, following the worldwide buzz of moving from song downloading to online music streaming apps, how about we give due consideration to the most important factors of music app features.
If you’re thinking to develop a music app, firstly, you need to observe what all features your music app will have to proficiently test them before launching the app to the market.
The below-listed points are extremely critical factors while considering to develop the music app like Amazon or Apple and eventually, to improve a listening experience for the users.
1. Registration:
Getting to the most used streaming music app is as basic as you can even think with all the base data and personalization, as the registration process on the app is free.
2. User Profile and Approval:
Installed with endpoints to recover an entire data about a person’s profile and approval of each user with the same database of user, for example, email address, Password and so on helps in limiting the spam intervenes.
3. Login and Sharing with Social Media:
Registration can even be easily accessed through online networking systems for additional memberships.
Additionally, with the development of social media networks, users are able to share anything they loved with their friends and family members.
So, maximum music streaming platforms also offer various sharing options, incorporating a probability to follow friends and share content.
4. Music Streaming:
An intriguing component that enables the music app user to remain notified on the latest launch of blockbuster tracks.
A person can tune in to the most recent collection on various music tracks whenever he or she wants to.
5. Suggestions and recommendations as per user’s music choice
A Personalized system to control all the tracks based on the user particular taste in music for a creating a compelling safe platform.
A user can find up as many numbers of tracks and spot the top choices.
The music streaming app can use an algorithm to slowly figure out the music choices of every app user which is one of the most engaging concepts in the advanced music applications industry nowadays.
Exploit deep learning techniques and make this factor a component of your future music streaming application.
Also, music streaming app users ought to have the capacity to locate their favorite artists, songs, music genres, trending music etc. as well as find new releases or genres.
With an advanced search option, they’ll have the capacity to discover precisely what befits their music tastes with an ease and in a very less time.
6. Playlists and presets creation
It is always a good choice to give users a chance to make their very own playlists for various activities and moods.
This feature doesn’t restrict here, as one can even be allowed to share their playlists with different users of the music application.
7. Able to save music when offline
This factor proves to be very useful in the circumstances when individuals are traveling anywhere and are having a hard time to get Wi-Fi or Mobile Internet access.
8. Push Notification:
A must element to keep the users connected with the music app so as to acquire the utmost from the latest updates from artists, friends, and community on the user’s application circle.
9. Sending Invitation to Friends:
Your friends and followers can listen to your preferred music tracks when you invite your friend’s group through the linked email address or social media platforms to dig in all the tracks on the list.
10. Event Calendar
This will be a fabulous element that would be apprehended by concert lovers. The app can assist them to hunt down the upcoming concerts or concert dates or meetups with fan clubs.
Testing Process
Developing and releasing a music streaming application can be a lucrative business, and, particularly when it is a quality app having all the relevant features and factors we’d discussed above.
But how to make those features effective is by implementing right testing strategies.
Significant viewpoints are that it is better to formulate test documentation comprising of Test Strategy, Checklists, and Software Prerequisites information.
All this will support in assuring the flawless user experience and steady streaming of media data.
Here are the important testing processes to perform before releasing the music app:
Functional Testing
Functional testing of music app generally includes a user interface.
A tester will check the application is performing the proposed functions, as directed by the business strategies or described in the specifications.
Functionality testing is performed to eradicate problems like:

  • Issues in connection speed
  • Vague error message
  • Application loading and speed issues
  • Bugs and crashing
  • Errors when screen sizes vary

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Usability Testing
Usability testing is done to test the music app for adaptability, usability, and ease of use.
The testing method ensures that the application is now simple to use and provides a proper user experience to the users.
Performance testing
Performance of the music application needs to be tested in every likely situation.
Different real-time situations are reenacted like no or low network, low memory, low battery, server not reachable, and so on.
The application’s behavior ought not to be influenced by every one of these scenarios.
Performance debasement can happen either on the server end or client end.
Thus, performance testing needs to guarantee every one of these situations is checked efficiently.
Installation Testing
This type of testing will help to test whether the user can install, uninstall, and update the music streaming app accurately without any sort of interruption
API Testing
An Application Programming Interface (API) serves to connect the app to the network and to other APIs.
API is the collection of protocols, tools, standards, and code that fixes the digital world unitedly.
Thus, API testing on your music app is done so that the integrations and APIs permit operation in the highly optimal way.
Load Testing
It’s no doubt that the majority of the smartphones rely upon the network carriers for their connectivity.
Load testing needs to guarantee that the music app ought to perform reliably across networks and across device both.
In the event that the music app is at the same time accessed by numerous users then it will extricate the server load, such loads must be recreated and tested for execution.
Cross-Browser and Cross-Platform Testing
Cross-browser and cross-platform testing refer to testing the music app in multiple operating systems and browsers.
It is a pretty critical aspect of quality assurance. The objective of performing this test is to check compatibility testing to assure that the music app functions and seems in the same way over different browsers and platforms.
The music streaming app ought to be compatible with the current browser version and also with operating system adaptability.
For instance, when the app is run on Android it can operate perfectly on Nougat but is not supported on Oreo version.
These kinds of problems can be recognized simply by performing cross-browser and cross-platform testing during app testing process.

Specialists You Require to Successfully Test Music App
Obviously, you cannot manage such a prominent project without relevant professional support.
It is impossible that you have ability and aptitudes to build up and test every aspect of music streaming app all by yourself without taking help from the right specialist.
It’s an excessively multi-step and tedious process.
In this way, you must contract or hire the given professionals:

  • App developers who must thoroughly consider the structure of the platform and compose a readable and clear code. So, you’ll require all – Android, iOS, and web specialists.
  • UI/UX designers whose duty is to create an easy to use and intuitive application interface.
  • Project Manager who’ll supervise the whole development process of music application and will turn into an intermediary for testers and the organization.
  • QA Engineers and testers who’ll test your music streaming application and work beyond any doubt to offer hassle-free use of music app.
  • Marketers ready to create the savvy marketing efforts intended to advertise your music streaming application.

Also Read : Top 10 Mobile App Testing Companies In India

Mobile Security: Factors To Look Out For While Testing an App

Today, we use mobile phones practically for everything from shopping for clothes to performing business activities, so mobile security has prominence than ever.

app testing

There are so many apps available in the market that you are confused which is the right one for your needs and also the most secure. Before going to that, you must know about the three basic types of mobile applications:

  • Native Applications – mobile applications that run on a specific platform. For example, iOS apps like Health, Voice Memos, and Find iPhone that works on an iPhone.
  • Web Applications – these are websites that you can access using any smartphone.
  • Hybrid Applications – mobile apps that can be used on different operating systems. Some of the classic examples are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Here are seven important activities that developers and businesses should perform to check the security of their mobile applications:

  • Hack Proof Code

It is common for mobile apps to be attacked with malware and data breaches. It means that developers need to be extra attentive while writing code, which is reliable and free from any backdoors. Robust code is the secret to error-free and hack-proof mobile application, which forms an integral part of its mobile security. One way to test the application’s security is by checking if it doesn’t store, use, or transmit a lot of data.

  • Security Features

A mobile app is made for functioning on different systems including Android, iOS, platforms, and devices. While making a hybrid application, the software developer should be careful about features, capabilities, and limitations of different operating systems. It will help the developer to optimize mobile security and make the mobile application hack proof.

  • User Permissions

Another way to secure your apps is by putting security measures at the application layer. It helps the app users to stay away from malicious applications by giving them the choice to select the mobile security setting level.

  • Third-party Libraries

Many application developers use third-party libraries, but there’s a lot of risk attached to them. They are vulnerable to malicious content, which means developers need to be extra careful from where they source the third-party library. Make sure you test the code before using it for your mobile application.

Also Read : Video Game Testing – Play Games and Earn Money

  • Unnecessary Security Risks

Features like social network connectivity are essential for proper functioning of a mobile app; therefore developers should pay particular attention to them while including it in the application. They should be managed in such a way that they don’t slow down the application.

  • Backend

A reliable and secure backend system is essential for developing an application. You must know that hackers get into an application mostly through its backend systems, so give it as much as importance you give to the frontend system. It is these little things that when you ignore makes your applications hacker-friendly.

  • Strict Testing

Security testing the application might be your least favorite part of the whole development process but it is the most critical one. To reduce the pile of work in the end, perform security testing after completion of each stage of the process, so that testing work is over soon after the development process is. Make sure you develop the mobile application according to national and international security regulations.

Steps involved in security testing of mobile applications:

1. Threat Modelling
In the first step of the process, you identify the threats to your mobile app.
2. Analysis of Vulnerability

In this step, you identify aspects of the mobile application that are vulnerable to be hacked, which are found by tests including Dynamic methods, forensic methods, and Runtime analysis.

3. Information about the Mobile Application
Make sure you gather as much information you can about the mobile app that you’ve developed.
Reasons why Mobile Application Security Testing is an essential part of the Development Process for Companies:
1. Reputation of the Business

No one is going to download apps from a business that is continuously hacked or was hacked in the past. Downtime due to these security breaches could lead to huge amount of loss to any business and thus damaging their reputation in the market. Companies can’t be stubborn and cut costs on application security because it might lead to intangible expenses.

2. Business Mergers

Companies merge all the time because they bring in more business. If you plan to combine your app development company with another, you need to have clear records. It isn’t easy to find vulnerabilities but companies should have a holistic approach to app security.

3. Customer Safety
Mobile application market is expected to grow year-on-year. Customers have a big appetite, so it goes without saying that you need to pay close attention to safety measures taken while developing an app. Application security is as important as quality user interfaces and it’s also a healthy way to attract potential customers.
4. Time is Money

What do you prefer more? Going back to the same application because it gets hacked again and again or develop an app so perfect that is the most hack-proof? With the demand for mobile apps being more than ever, developers are in a race against time to meet deadlines, which only makes it right to make the application that is perfect in all sense.

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5. Everything Counts

Let’s say you use a simple application to enter data or calculate interest, which you didn’t test well enough. Hackers get in it and cause a security breach and you might end up losing all your data, some of which will be confidential and might end your business. Hackers will give you a run for money if they crack into many such applications.

The first step to avoiding unnecessary risks is realising the importance of mobile application security. A new way to reduce cybercrimes is by preventing security mistakes in the development stage, which helps in the company’s success and safety of app users.