Mobile application testing techniques
Mobile application testing techniques are specific methodologies and approaches used to test mobile applications for functionality, usability, performance, security, and compatibility across various mobile devices and platforms, most common as we all know are iOS and Android.
The testing methodologies do not change much as regular desktop apps / website, but each one of this will have its adaptations
Functional Testing: This technique consist on verifying the functional aspects of the mobile application, including the user interactions, navigation, data input, and output. It ensures that the application meets the specified requirements and functions as intended. (A good tip in here is that we can trigger through code the input usage of the dashboard, wether if we do need to input number data or text data, this will help us from the beginning to avoid defects / bugs, user errors on data input)
Compatibility Testing: Compatibility testing ensures that the mobile application works correctly on different devices, operating systems (as we said, iOS and Android being the top popular at this moment), and screen resolutions (TIP regarding layout, you can always use the Web Dev tools, checking the app/site un 390px and 420 px, those are the most common resolutions that are used on mobile). It involves testing on various devices, simulators, or emulators to identify any compatibility issues or inconsistencies.
Usability Testing: Usability testing evaluates the user experience of the mobile application, including ease of use, intuitiveness, and overall user satisfaction. It involves testing user interface elements, user flows, and app responsiveness to ensure a positive and intuitive user experience.
Performance Testing: Performance testing measures the responsiveness, stability, and scalability of the mobile application under different loads and stress conditions. It involves testing factors such as response time, resource usage, network connectivity, battery consumption, and memory usage to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize application performance.
- TIP Some tools we can use to test performance in mobile apps are:
- Apache JMeter: a popular open-source performance testing tool that can be used for mobile app testing
- Gatling: another open-source load testing tool that is gaining popularity for mobile app performance testing.
- Firebase Performance Monitoring: Firebase Performance Monitoring is a mobile-specific performance testing tool provided by Google. It allows you to measure various performance metrics like app startup time, screen rendering time, network latency, and more. It provides real-time monitoring and reporting capabilities for Android and iOS apps.
Security Testing: this technique focuses on the vulnerability of the mobile application to unauthorized access, data breaches, and malicious activities. It involves testing authentication mechanisms, data encryption, secure data transmission, and protection against common security threats like cross-site scripting (XSS) or SQL injection.
Localization and Internationalization Testing: Localization testing ensures that the mobile application functions correctly when translated into different languages, adapting to regional standards, and cultural requirements. Internationalization testing verifies that the application is designed to support different locales, character sets, time zones, and currency formats.
Interrupt Testing: This is a big thing in mobile apps, this technique evaluates how the mobile application handles interruptions, such as incoming calls, SMS messages, battery level changes, and network connectivity disruptions. It ensures that the application can handle interruptions without data loss or crashes.
Installation and Upgrade Testing: Installation and upgrade testing verify the smooth installation, uninstallation, and upgrading of the mobile application on different devices and operating systems. It ensures that the installation process is error-free and that existing user data is preserved during upgrades.
Push Notification Testing: Push notification testing validates the functionality and behavior of push notifications within the mobile application. It includes testing scenarios such as receiving notifications, handling different notification types, and verifying their impact on the application's performance.
Device and Network Configuration Testing: This technique involves testing the mobile application on different devices, screen sizes, resolutions, and network conditions (3G, 4G, Wi-Fi) to identify any issues related to specific configurations or network environments.