Emulators vs Real Devices

Mobile Responsive Test across range of Mobile Devices and platforms is extremely important for superior User Experience. However, Mobile Responsive Test and debugging can get knotty, especially when there are issues like obfuscated HTML/CSS/javascript code, improperly implemented HTTPS, browser inconsistencies, page load performance and so on. So how do you overcome these issues? Using a Web Developer Tools or debugging extensions make debugging your web application easier. Here we’ll talk about the most popular one – Google Chrome Developer Tools.

The Google Chrome Developer Tools is a consolidated environment built into Google Chrome Browser. It is used for web authoring, debugging, monitoring, optimizing, and understanding web applications or websites. (Sourced from Google Chrome DevTools)

A responsive testing simulator provides a virtual environment where you can test the functionalities just like in a real device. You can also test websites on mobile devices online and test websites on different screen sizes. It is easy to perform responsive design testing across devices on a simulator.

Here are some of the key Chrome DevTools features

• Inspect and edit the DOM and CSS of your website in real-time
• Run code snippets from any page
• Debug Obfuscated code
• Set advanced breakpoints and debug JavaScript using graphical debugger
• Troubleshoot Security issues
• Analyze run-time and page performance to improve the speed of your app
• Trace reflows and repaints as your app loads

The Chrome DevTools provides almost all the gears required to inspect, debug and monitor the performance of a Web App/mobile web. It also provides additional capabilities to simulate Mobile Devices to test and build mobile-first, responsive web sites. You can even debug web content on a real Android Device from a development machine. But, is it enough to perform Mobile responsive test on one or two devices?

Remote debugging using Chrome DevTools in integration with pCloudy’s Mobile Device Lab

Device fragmentation is a very real problem when testing Web apps on real devices, particularly for UI and functional tests. The number of devices with unique specifications and proprietary build variations has increased. At an advanced level, to perform Mobile Responsive Testing and to check performance of the Web App on real devices, you will need to experiment your site on various platforms, across a number of device form factors. pCloudy’s Mobile Device Lab offers complete integration with Chrome DevTools to test your apps on real devices. This integration allows you to test Web Apps on a myriad of android devices with different sizes and configurations.

Here’s how most App developers test their Web Apps

Inspect and live edit your site’s design and content

Test and edit your site in live mode by inspecting all the HTML and CSS in your page. In the Elements Panel, you can live-edit a DOM node by simply double-clicking a selected element and making changes.

You can even live-edit style property names and values in the Styles pane. Examine and edit box model parameters.

It is also possible to edit the current element’s box model parameters by making changes to top, bottom, left, right values for the current element’s padding, border, and margin properties using the Computed pane.

Remote Debugging on real devices to fix errors in the code

Debugging Obfuscated Code: Make your code readable and easy to debug even after you’ve combined, minified or compiled it. You can easily change the formatting of your minimized code by clicking on { }.

Test and optimize the performance of the Web App

The Network Panel allows you to see how your page renders, and time taken to render from start to end. To do this click into the “Network” panel, click on the camera icon and refresh the page on the device.

The Timeline panel helps you to record and analyze all the activities in your application as it runs. It’s the best place to start investigating perceived performance issues in your application.

To make a recording of a page load, open the Timeline panel, open the page that you want to record, and then reload the page. The Timeline panel automatically records the page reload. You can also record page interactions on the page and view the performance details through the recorded timeline.

Here are some more details you can view using the Record Timeline

• Record the Timeline to analyze every event that occurred after a page load or a user interaction
• View FPS, CPU, and network requests in the Overview pane
• Click on an event within the Flame Chart to view details about it
• Zoom in on a section of a recording to make analysis easier

There are some things to be kept in mind while performing responsive testing:
 
Device selection
It is better to ask your business analyst or your manager which devices we need to perform the testing. Creating a device matrix is a tedious job due to device fragmentation with frequent browser and OS updates. Even if you spend a lot of time on making a strategy for the combination of devices, that may not get approved by the product manager or scrum master.
 
Automation testing and Manual testing
It’s better to use both automated and manual approach to perform testing. Based on the type of testing you can share the effort like 70% automated and 30% manual. It is obvious that sometimes automated testing will miss something that a human eye can see. A tool clicking on a link or zooming in and out is different from doing it manually.
 
Emulators, simulators and real devices
If you wish to test your app on many verities of devices then you can also opt for emulators and simulators. It won’t be possible for you to set up a device lab as it will cost a lot. So you can use a real device that is popular in the market and emulators for the devices that are not that popular.
 
Prioritize
Mobile app testing including mobile responsive testing needs to be perfectly prioritized as testing is a time-consuming process. Responsive testing priority should be discussed with the BA and the product manager well in advance and take some suggestions from them. The issue is that there are a plethora of devices and while prioritizing, the most popular devices will be used first for testing.
 

Conclusion

“Using the right tools for the right job” is an old aphorism that applies to all domains including Software Development. As we’ve seen, Chrome DevTools has several features that help you develop better, debug faster, and measure efficiently the performance of your website or application. An ideal choice for you for Mobile Responsive Testing.

The features discussed in this blog are some of the most common ones used by developers, designers, and testers to write, debug, monitor and optimize Websites and Web Apps. Using these features in integration with Mobile Device Lab like pCloudy can transform the entire process of creating, testing and launching Websites and Web Apps.

For more information check out this video:

 
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Types of Testing

Since there are many players in the mobile app market, the competition is endless. To beat the heat and to keep providing an enhanced mobile app experience to the users, the app needs to be constantly updated with the changes happening and for doing this, there are different types of testing techniques. Let us have an insight into the types of testing methods.

1. Compatibility Testing

Compatibility testing is a critical QA task. It assures that a given application works as intended with selected operating systems, selected devices with different screen sizes resolutions, and internal hardware (memory size, processor speed, and button/input differences). It defines the feasible compatibility combinations of devices and interfaces for a specific testing assignment, in concurrence with the customer’s requirement.

Compatibility Factors:

There are different factors that play a very significant role in mobile compatibility testing strategy. Mobile operating systems and their supported versions, mobile devices developed by different manufacturers, different device screen sizes with different resolutions and internal hardware including different input types, processor speeds and memory size of devices.

Let’s develop a test strategy for compatibility testing. The first step is to identify the Operating systems and devices based on key factors described in the previous slide. Once you identified the devices based on different compatibility factors you need to set up your environment for testing. You can either set up your internal test lab or you can go for external cloud providers like pCloudy. Now, the next step is to execute your test cases on a defined set of environment. Report the defects to appear while testing and report these defects to your development team.

The main purpose of compatibility testing is to ensure whether different software is compatible with different configurations and whether the application is compatible with the client’s environment.

2. Installation Testing

Mobile phones come with different types of mobile apps like Native and Web and Hybrid. Installation testing is a type of testing that is done at the initial stage of mobile app life span or maybe it is the first impression on the users, in other words. Installation testing checks whether the mobile app installs, uninstalls and updates properly without any interruption.

Installation Testing Factors:

There are some of the factors that play a significant role in installation testing of an application. Factors like which platforms and operating systems supported by the application and how they will be distributed whether it is directly available in the app store or are going to get the installable files on mail itself or is it available on an app distribution platform and can be accessed through public URL. The user behavior regarding installation changes from person to person. For eg: the developer may install the app (By using ADB install command) and a different user might directly install it from the app store or public URL.

Important points to be noted in Installation Testing:

Some of the common checkpoints which can be converted to standard test cases are:

• Installing the app in phone memory.
• Installing the app in phone memory is full.
• Installing the app on an external SD card.
• Installing the app on an external SD card is full.
• Check the memory space after installing. It should not occupy more than promised.
• Check if it is releasing the space after removing

Another part of the installation and uninstallation testing is the testing of patches/updates
These are the common situation when we need to test app after updates.

Check for updates:

• Can I download an update?
• Can I update the app when there are multiple updates available?
• What happens if I don’t update?

When App is upgraded:

• Check that the user is still logged in
• Check that data is still the same
• Backward compatibility:-Check that database changes will not affect the current data.
• Test the update from an older version to the current version

When OS is upgraded:

• Check the app compatibility.
• App updated gracefully without a crash.

3. Interruption Testing

Interrupt testing is a process to replicate abrupt (Unexpected) interrupt to the application. It is done to understand how the app behaves under certain interruptions before resuming to its original state. This can be achieved in various ways and techniques depending on the application under test.

Following are some Common Interrupts:

1. A phone call when the application is running or is in background
2. Battery removal when the application is running or is in the background, battery high, battery low, incoming call or SMS
3. Plugged in or out of charging
4. Device shut down
5. OS upgrade
6. Network loss and restoration, etc.

Some specific scenarios for an application using a network:

1. Connect to the network but remove LAN connection from the router so the device can sense wifi state on the device but cannot connect to the internet
2. Connection via VPN and VPN disconnected

Scenario for Application using services:

1. Kill service by clicking on the recent button and swiping the application right to kill app and services
2. Kill app using third-party App killer
3. Kill specific services from Settings->Manage Applications
4. Scenarios for Application Linked to account Manager
Remove account from Settings->Account Manager

Incoming and Outgoing SMS and MMS:

An application is running in your mobile and you send an SMS/MMS from another mobile to your mobile. In this situation, SMS/MMS notification should display for a while and then close and the application should continue to run.

Incoming and Outgoing calls:

You are in a login page trying to log in and you have just pressed the submit button that will take you to the application home page. This is a transition period because loading is happening.If we receive a call during this time then the application should not end abruptly or crash.

Battery Removal:

If the application is running, remove the battery of your mobile and it will shut down. After rebooting the mobile, run the application again, it should run smoothly and without a crash.

Data Cable Insertion and Removal:

When the application is running, connect the USB Cable, the system should display “USB Connection Screen” and if the user returns to the application then the application should not crash or end abruptly

Interruption Testing Strategy

Let’s prepare a test strategy to test interruption testing:
The first step in this process is to decide the critical interrupts based on your application components and architecture. For example, if your application is using GPS include common interrupts related to GPS. Let’s Include two type of interrupts:

Application specific interrupts:

Prepare your test cases and try to fit theses interruption test cases with state of the application. For example, interrupt your Network while performing payment.

Interrupt testing process:

List of common Interrupts:

Phone calls, Text messages, App notifications, Battery Warning, Forced updates, Voicemail, Shaking the Phone, Different Gestures, Switching between apps, Locking and unlocking the screen, Changing the orientation, Music playing while using the app, Out of memory (general performance interruptions), Data app interruptions (What Sapp, Viber, Tango), Audio interrupts from multiple sources (iPod, Media player, Other audio apps), phone in standby mode, switch the network to plane mode.

Tools to test interruption Testing:

Use tools like Joule Unit (Android), On iOS use the Energy Usage Function of Instruments, Monkey for Android to stress test your app and see the handling of the interrupts, UI Auto Monkey for iOS

Scenario

A) Once the user connects the mobile earphone jack with Nokia Lumia and starts music Player.
B) Now when the user resumes the application the cart gets empty.

4. Localization Testing

This type of testing is a technique in which we check whether the mobile app adheres to the local cultural settings, customizing the apps according to target country and language and also according to the linguistic aspects. Localization is also known as “L10N” as there are 10 characters between L & N. For eg: Chinese language-search engine offered by Baidu beats Google in China. Baidu does better than Google because it looks and feels fully native to the Chinese speaking audience.

Also, regional language speakers can’t get many games in their own language, so they turn to race games, which are easy to understand. We must have noticed in these examples, language is the common issue. Apart from Translation there are different other elements in the localization, like Usage of proper Time zone, local formats of dates, addresses and phone numbers, Design and layout to fit translated text, Converting to local requirements (such as currencies and units of measure), Adapting graphics to target markets, Modifying content to suit the tastes and consumption habits of other markets, Addressing local regulations and legal requirements.

Why should we localize?

Localization is important in order to understand the cultural and linguistic aspects of a particular region. While testing, testers keep repeating the tests to check typographical, linguistic errors, cultural appropriateness of the UI, etc. Research says:
1.  56.2 percent of consumers say that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price. (Common Sense Advisory, Can’t Read, Won’t Buy: Why Language Matters on Global Websites, 2006)
2.  74 percent of multinational enterprises believe it is either important or most important to achieve increased revenues from global operations. (California State University at Chico, 2007.
3.  95 percent of Chinese online consumers indicate a greater comfort level with websites in their language. (Forrester Research, Translation and Localization of Retail Web Sites, 2009)
4.   A critical success factor for cross-border merger and acquisition deals is the ability to communicate information clearly and accurately in multiple languages. (Merrill Corporation, How to do Better Multinational M&A Deals, 2008)

Types of Localization Testing:

In the localization testing, validating whether a mobile app is capable of performing given a geographical location, in particular, is found out. It includes four major types of testing like linguistic, culture, cosmetic, and functional tests.
1. Linguistic testing– ensures that the UI text appears in the congregation with the language and is not mistranslated or misapplied. This requires language skill and knowledge of the product. Mistranslation, irrelevant usage of the language are few of the errors in this.

2. Cultural Testing– Few words may imply different meanings in different cultures. So, this has to be translated properly in relation to the target culture.

3. Cosmetic Testing– For easy understanding, let us use this scenario. For eg. In the apps used in Afghanistan, the text will be in Arabic and will start from right to left unlike other languages like English, French that are read from Left to right.

4. Functional Testing– In this testing, testers follow prescribed test scripts to run through all aspects of the product to make sure it functions as designed in a localized environment. Often functional testing includes verification that the localized product is compatible with various operating systems and third-party products. Functional testing generally requires a good knowledge of the target language and total familiarity with the product. Some of the major Functional testing problems may include– Incorrect or missing UI elements, graphics, and windows, Incorrect error messages, Localization bugs that may cause software crashes, Errors generated by installing the localized software on a localized OS.

5. Performance Testing

Performance testing is to test the performance of the mobile application in expected workload scenarios and to eliminate the performance hurdles. It checks whether the response of the app is quick, the ability of the app to tale load, and app stability in those load situations. Performance is very critical because if the app is malfunctioning, it is more possible that the user might uninstall the app and might shift to a competitor’s app which is better.

The three main pillars of Mobile app performance testing are:

Device Performance

App start-up time is the most critical performance parameter from the user’s point of view. It shouldn’t take more than 2 seconds for the app’s first screen to pop up after the user taps on the app’s icon. Battery time is the second most important issue. Some apps consume a high amount of battery life. Excessive resource usage creates a burden on the processor and the phone heats up. In some cases, it is observed that the new app installed uses the same amount of battery as the OS. If more features are added in the app its memory consumption also increases. This is why memory consumption should be checked while testing the app.

Network Performance

The app needs to be tested on different mobile networks and network properties. If there is packet loss then the app should generate alerts or resend the request for the information. Jitters or delay in receiving information

Server/API Performance

Performance is directly proportional to the response time from the Server. In this, tests are run to check how efficient the app is to handle data transfers from the server and how quickly and in what format the data is transported by the app. The number of API calls generated by apps should be lesser and how and where the data is saved in the ‘server down’ case is all that is tested here.

Mobile app testing tools make it easier for the testers to identify and rectify any error that comes up. For different OS there are a different set of Mobile app tools. For Android, we can use Robotium and Monkey Runner and for IOS we can use Automator.

6. Usability Testing

Usability testing is a type of testing which is performed to check how user-friendly the mobile application is in terms of the navigation, ease to use the app, flexible app controls, etc. It is also known as user experience testing.
What matters in Usability Testing?

Workflow: To understand, below image represents the workflow of how the user reaches its goal while navigating through the app controls.

We must understand what the user needs to do in order to use the app’s functionality. If the workflow was overlong and included repetitive actions It may annoy the user while performing the task.
Design and Layout: Good layout and design allow a user to easily complete tasks. An app need not offer so many features or content that the app is difficult to navigate. A friendly app has a design that allows less user text entry, helps differentiation between the selected items, finger-sized targets, should provide intuitive hints to texts, etc.

The response time of the application: It is one of the key factors. This means how long the user takes to complete a task. Often long delays while the app interacts with the server hinders the user experience standards.

The emotional state of users: Emotional state of user measures the user’s motivation to use the app. The apps should be smart enough to understand what the users want and how to engage them, this can be achieved by usability testing.

Usability Testing Strategy:

The first step is to identify users who match your expected audience. Watch and listen to them as they use your products. You can use video and audio recording equipment for archiving test sessions, in case later review is needed. However, our primary tool is taking notes with paper and pencil! This is still the fastest way we have found to get information quickly to developers and designers. You have your data. You now need to organize and analyze it. How the results are absorbed as a report in order to be useful for product changes.

Tools and techniques for usability testing

1. Mr. Tappy: It is a tool set up to capture how users interact with the apps naturally. The user data so generated could be used for better user experience.

2. Paper Prototyping: It is a technique that consists of creating hand drawings of user interfaces in order to enable them to be rapidly designed, simulated and tested. As simple as this technique may look like, it has been effectively used since the 1980s and is likely to continue to be used with a guaranteed degree of success for many more years to come.

3. Magitest: It allows you to perform mobile user testing of native apps and websites. Captures the participant’s voice and facial expressions during the session. Here the users complete the tasks you specify and allows to listen to them speak their thoughts aloud as they interact with your mobile app.

4. Reflector: This app allows us to see the iPad, iPod, iPhone screens on MAC or PC. The devices connect wirelessly to proceed with further functions.

7. Conformance Testing

Conformance/compliance testing is a type of testing which is performed to validate if the application is meeting the Market place and Enterprise policy guidelines. It is like an audit done to check whether certain standards are being met or not. Conformance Testing is focused on two main areas- App store guidelines and Enterprise policy compliance. Each Market place has their own guidelines. We need to validate if the application is following the guidelines of each of these app stores.

1. App store Guidelines pertaining to User Interface, Media Content, Privacy, Spyware and Phishing, nudity, religion, culture, violence, etc.

2. Enterprise Policy Compliance pertaining to a different set of industrial standards. For eg: For the pharmaceutical industry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed rule comes into the picture, For the pharmaceutical industry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed rule comes into the picture, In healthcare, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) includes an administrative simplification section, which mandates protecting the information assets of patients. So, it is a dire need for the testing organizations to follow the necessary guidelines and compliances to limit the risk that non-compliance might follow.

Reap the benefits of different types of testing

In this day and age, mobile app quality matters the most as the market is very competitive. We need to focus on user experience as well as the performance of the app. If the app contains bugs the app ratings will go down and so will the number of app downloads. If we can make our app bug free than the chances of app gaining popularity will increase. This can be achieved by performing different types of testing on the mobile application. In the next blog in this series, we will talk about mobile app testing strategies.

Watch this video for more information:

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• Accelerated Mobile App Testing powered by pCloudy
• Traditional Mobile App Testing Vs New Way of Mobile App Testing with pCloudy
• Mobile Application Testing Trends in 2019
• Types of Mobile Apps: Native, Hybrid, Web and Progressive Web apps

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You can fix the issues in your Android phone by connecting it with your computer and writing some easy commands. For this, you will need some command line tools which you can download from the Android developer’s site. If you are using Windows then you will need to visit the manufacturer’s page for your device and download the ADB and fastboot drivers for Windows. But first, let’s understand what are Android shell commands.

Android Shell Commands

ADB is Android Debug Bridge which is a command line utility included with Google’s Android SDK. It provides a terminal interface to control your Android device connected to a computer using a USB. ADB can be used to run shell commands, transfer files, install/uninstall apps, reboot and more. You can also backup and restore your android devices using these commands.

pCloudy also allows you to execute ADB Shell Commands on the connected device to perform mobile testing.

Select your desired device from the list and connect.

Click on “Execute ADB” icon.

While trying to execute ADB Shell command, you just need to follow few simple steps as given below:

1. Select a device from the displayed list

2. Confirm connection of your selected device

3. The connected device is ready testing

4. Enter ADB shell command to the given text box

5. Execute given ADB shell command

6. Android ADB shell command execution result

Useful Android terminal commands:

1. ADB reboot-bootloader and reboot recovery commands:

This command will let you can reboot your device in the bootloader. If due to some malware your device is stuck or if your device is not rebooting then you can connect your device to the computer and run this command to reboot. To run the command just type adb reboot-bootloader in the command line and to boot the device in recovery just type adb reboot recovery.

2. Fastboot device command:

Fastboot is a diagnostic and engineering protocol that you can boot your Android device into. ADB does not work in the bootloader. If you have to boot into Android and the debugging tools are not active to communicate then you can use the fastboot command. Type fastboot devices in the prompt and you get the serial number.

3. Fastboot unlock command

Fastboot flashing unlock command unlocks your bootloader. This command is not supported in many phones that support fastboot but you can check if your phone supports it. Just type fastboot flashing unlock in the command prompt and hit enter.

4. ADB sideload command:

You can download the update zip file in your phone instead of waiting for the update to be pushed into the phone. To do that just download the update to your computer and connect your device to the computer. Now reboot into recovery on your phone and using the volume buttons choose to apply update from ADB. then open command line and type ADB sideload Full-Path-to-the-file.zip and hit enter.

A lot of users create android shell commands root in a device in spite of security. The adb reboot-bootloader command allows you to boot directly to your phone’s bootloader. Once you’re in the bootloader, ADB shell commands won’t work anymore. That’s where Android ADB fastboot command comes into the picture. Fastboot allows you to send commands to your phone while in the boot loader.

ADB Shell Commands for Reference

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Guide for Mobile App Testing

 
This blog and a few upcoming ones in this series will talk about specific aspects of mobile app testing.
 
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Mobile app testing involves many intricacies and in this series of blogs, we will explore this area starting from the basics. The topics that are covered in this blog will be elaborated in the forthcoming blogs. I will be updating this page with links for those topics as we publish them in the near future. Keep watching this space for more information related to mobile app testing. Now let’s get started with the basics.
 

What is mobile app testing and why is it needed?

These days mobile phones are not used just for making or receiving calls, but they are essential multipurpose gadgets. The mobile technology is evolving rapidly and the mobile app developers need to deliver the best performing app in quick time. To get the best app delivered in the given time frame, the automation team needs to be on their toes. The testers play a critical role in the quality and delivery of apps. Moreover, the market is very fragmented and this makes testing more complicated. The mobile app must be tested on different combinations of platforms, networks, operating systems.

Types of mobile applications:

There are three types of mobile applications:
Native apps: These apps are developed for a single mobile operating system so it is native for a particular platform or device. For example, Android apps will not work on iOS apps.

Web apps: These are mobile web applications to render/deliver pages on mobile web browsers. These apps work on different operating systems as they launch on web browsers.

Hybrid apps:These apps have cross-platform compatibility but can still access phone hardware.

Challenges in mobile app testing

All the operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows have different UI and functioning. The usage and layout of elements are verified when publishing the app in the market. Noncompliance with the guidelines can delay the publishing process which in turn increases the cost of development. Lack of access to devices is also a big issue. It is possible that two or more testers need the same device at the same time. Wherein one tester is left out waiting for the other to the tester to complete their work. Procuring multiple devices adds up to the cost and takes time. It is a major issue if the testers are placed across different countries.

Types of mobile app testing

To develop a highly efficient mobile app, you need to ensure that the quality, usability, and security of the app is up to the mark. You can improve your app ratings and customer satisfaction with rigorous testing, which will lead to more downloads.
 
The mobile app testing methodologies are mentioned below:
1. Compatibility testing
2. Installation testing
3. Interruption testing

4. Localization testing
5. Performance testing
6. Usability testing
7. Conformance testing

Mobile app testing strategies

mobile app testing strategy that will ensure that your quality assurance activities align with customer expectations, business goals, and industries best practices. Testing teams must consider the following procedures while designing a comprehensive mobile application testing strategy:
 
UI Testing:  A UI friendly application sells more when compared to an app which is best developed but with a nasty UI. If an application has a perfect and a splendid UI on one device but on the other device it is completely twisted just because it has a different size or a different OS, then it will leave a very bad impression. The commercial success of the application will be badly affected.
 
Security Testing: There’s always a big concern about data safety and security. There is a possibility of the personal data being available to hackers, be it your social sites credentials or your bank account credentials. Hence, the security of these apps becomes very vital for the business of any company. This, in turn, generates the need for security testing of all mobile applications and hence is considered as important testing that is carried out by testers foran app.

Manual vs Automated testing: The speed and reliability of automated testing are helpful for regression testing and executing time-consuming test cases. Most automated tests are reusable, but in an agile environment, automated test scripts have to be reworked. As a mobile app evolves, the product flow changes, as well as the user interface requirements and specific features. As a result, every change calls for an update in the automated test script. Maintaining automated test scripts often causes projects to fall behind in sprint cycles unless you keep a tight hold on the reigns. It is scalable and more cost efficient for larger mobile apps. We can run multiple tests simultaneously. But it is not suitable to test user experience factors. Manual testing Replicates real user experiences and it is faster and more cost- effective for small projects. It is easier to identify and deal with app crashes with manual testing. Manual testing Handles more complicated use-case scenarios.
 
Device Selection: New versions of mobile devices emerge every day as mobile technology is evolving rapidly. Each model comes with its distinct features in terms of OS, screen size and other aspects. You have to factor in not only the OS of the device but also the OS version. It is critical that you choose the right number and type of device to test your mobile app. It is important to identify the devices that are popular with your target demographics. You need to identify the combination of devices that can get you the broadest coverage in terms of OS, model, and brand. While selecting a device for testing you need to take into account, its screen size, resolution, PPI & other hardware features that can impact your app’s performance. You also need to consider the effect of network and varying conditions posed by location.
 
Performance Testing:
Test your app under load conditions to ensure high performance while being used by thousands of users. Build real-user flows and test them on real mobile devices. Correlate between different application performance vitals. Simulate the on-the-move scenarios and rapid environmental changes that are unique to mobile users.
 
Cloud vs In-house:
Cloud solutions provide an instant way to build mobile development and testing labs. The greatest benefit of these solutions is that you don’t have to set up any server hardware or connect any physical mobile device in order to use them seamlessly as a part of your development process. The majority of the costs related to cloud-service are included in the license fee (price) of the service. You very rarely even need any other software to be purchased to use these services.
An in-house solution is something more traditional compared to today’s cloud- based software solutions. It is typical that at the beginning when an in-house solution is acquired in use it involves more expenses as you need to buy a license and get the hardware infrastructure (e.g. servers, devices) in place. The operative expense will be there as well and you need to take care of maintenance of the system, software (and sometimes even hardware) updates, fixing and resolving problems with the system and probably many other smaller tasks that eventually makes financial burden to accumulate.

Network Connectivity:
The unpredictability of wireless networks has a huge impact on the functionality, performance, and user experience of an app. This is why we often see certain functional defects, performance defects and sometimes crashes only when the app is running on a certain network or in some specific locations. Besides, mobile apps are expected to function on everything from an excellent Wi-Fi connection to a 3G/4G connection.
 
The apps can be installed on real devices and can be tested on various networks like VoLTE, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, CDMA, etc. But the procedure of using real networks for app testing is slow, cumbersome and mostly provides inaccurate results. Using a simulated lab network, testers can easily test their mobile apps by simply selecting and applying the type of network profile to be used. They can also create and customize different network profiles by simply changing parameters like Uplink Bandwidth, Downlink Bandwidth, Latency, Loss Percentage, Packets Corruption, etc.

Conclusion

In the world of mobile apps, testing challenges emerge with evolving mobile technology. The upsurge of new technologies like 5G and foldable screens will push the developers and testers to find new ways to test their apps. In continuous testing and development, the focus should be on optimizing the app performance
In the next blog, we will talk in detail about Android and iOS.
 
Click on this link to read the next blog.

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Trends in 2019

 
The mobile devices and applications have witnessed a constant progress in the year 2018 making the mobile app industry one of the largest. The burgeoning number of mobile apps can be seen in 3rd quarter statistics of the year 2018 with the numbers rising to 2.1 million for android based and 2 million for iOS based mobile apps. The mobile apps industry is estimated to generate approximately USD 189 Billion by 2020 according to Statista Research. Considering how greatly the mobile app market has grown in the past year, the mobile application testing trends in 2019 seems to bring out even the better version of the former .

With the innovative technologies introduced every year, the users and developers of mobile app ought to get the updated and enhanced versions of mobile apps which can be achieved through steady Mobile App test automation and deployment. Few trends that can be seen in 2019 are as follows:

1. Machine learning and AI in testing:
Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence in Testing has already been the talk of the town in 2018. It is going to bring revolution in the mobile testing world by bringing changes in the processes and workflows of the testing cycle. It is going to be used for test suite optimization to identify the inessential and unique tests. It is also going to be a great contributor in the predictive analysis of the test cases. Machine learning would also be responsible to perform log analytics meaning to identify the test cases that need to be executed automatically.

AI has already made its stand in mobile apps space by manifesting itself in the form of bots and virtual assistants. Artificial Intelligence in testing platform would certainly recognize any changes faster than a human along with the constant updates in the algorithms. Most importantly, it is going to be used to identify risks areas of the mobile application in order to prioritize regression testing. The growing demand for quality at speed is forcing enterprise mobility to test faster than ever. Automation testing alone is just not enough. AI powered bot tests to run deep exploratory tests or crash tests in lesser time with enhanced quality reports can solve the purpose.

pCloudy has launched Certifaya which is the AI-powered app testing bot which automatically tests the mobile apps over multiple devices giving the real-time insights about the app behavior and performance to its users. It also allows screenshots, session videos as well as provides detailed logs and quick fix rectification recommendations. It has analytics-driven testing engine uses machine learning algorithms to navigate through the app and detect issues. It also allows to generate reports on the critical issues like crashes, leaks , slow response time etc.

2. Popularity of IOT:
Just as AI in testing is gaining popularity, IOT is also gaining momentum alongside with more and more devices getting connected to the internet. With the introduction of IOT, IOT testing will make more sense. IOT testing would be applied on the IOT based devices to test the usability, compatibility of the IOT system; for the simulation of the sensors, for data validation integrity; for user authentication and data privacy, and finally test the performance of the connect IOT devices.

3. Impact of 5G: 5G will be the 5th generation of the mobile network. Move from 4G to 5G is a great shift in the network ecosystem. It will be responsible for greatest bandwidth for uploads and downloads.

eMBB (Enhanced mobile broadband) The introduction of 5G networks in the mobile devices is going to present the advantages of high speed, security, and reliability than ever. According to statista, there is going to be around 20 to 100 million 5G connections by 2021.Test automation, built in systems and monitoring would be required to test the 5G powered mobile apps by analyzing the performance of the network. Along with 5G, 3GPP identifies three main aspects of 5G technology that co-exist in the same network infrastructure, namely:

-eMBB: provides greater bandwidth for uploads and download speeds , reduced network latency and will enable rich media apps like mobile AR/VR and 360 degree video streaming.

-URLCC(Ultra Reliable Low Latency communications): URLCC provides benefits like , real time virtual reality gaming, robot-enabled remote surgery, autonomous driving, factory lien automation etc. The technologies that enable URLCC are in the process of being standardized and will enable high end latency sensitive tasks.

Massive Machine Type Communication: It is a narrowband access type to sense, meter and monitor the use cases.
Undoubtedly 5G is a paradigm shift towards user and application technology framework and testing the overall communication behavior of the devices would be the key focus in the testing space related to 5G.


4. Performance testing to performance engineering:
There are many factors like usability, performance, security, hardware, software, configuration, etc. that contribute towards the performance of a mobile app. Now , the performance testing will not be about running the test scripts, rather it will be focused on prioritizing the factors and analyzing the highest value amongst them in order to deliver the high quality product.

5. Manual and Automation merger :
This practice has been followed in the previous times and it will be carried forward even in 2019 due to the combined benefits of both the types of testing. Although manual testing dominates the market specifically in the areas of usability and design, but it will still go hand in hand with the efficiency of mobile automation. We have already initiated that with our breakthrough feature Follow Me where we have tried to automate the use cases of manual app testing on multiple devices.

6. Shorter Delivery Cycle:
Up gradations in the technologies and the devices makes the software developers think a bit more about the development process i.e to shorten the delivery cycle. The choice of right mobile app testing tools and test management is going to play a major role in these decisions.

7. Cloud Apps:
Cloud apps have always been a part of the successful quality assurance decisions. Focus will be more on building the cloud apps that require minimum operational costs and high productivity. In 2019, it is estimated that the number of cloud based apps will increase from $30 Billion in 2014 to $66 Billion in 2019 and so would be the need for the cloud based testing for the cloud mobile apps.

The above stated trends would help testing team to acquire right skills and tools for investing time and effort to the right focus area. Smartphones being the future also allows the mobile apps to be a part of the process. Hence, making it noteworthy for the upcoming generations. To stay ahead of the challenging environment, one must be aware of the above trends in Mobile App Testing in 2019.

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Successful 5 Tips

There are millions of mobile apps available in the market today. The statistics shows that since 2016, on an average around 6000 apps on Google play store and 1400 on the Apple store have been released every day. In order to be hassle free and to be on top of the competitors, an app needs to be stable and be properly tested.

Testing on mobile devices could be very challenging as it has to constantly be in touch with the new updates, new features and a myriad of DevOps tools that get introduced every time to ensure better performance and reliability of the mobile app.

Hence, there are many factors that have to be considered while framing the testing strategy in order to avoid all kinds of uncertainties in the app performance, just needs a right planning.

Below are five strategies every mobile testing team should keep in mind in order to reap the most benefits from their QA efforts.

1. Real Environment Testing is a must
2. Testing Automation
3. Functionality Testing
4. Performance and Load Testing
5. Choice of Mobile App Testing Tools

1. Real environment testing is a must

Emulators are the best option only at the early stage of testing, and they have a vital place in the overall QA process. But testing on emulators is not successful for all types of testing. All the tests should not run on emulators as those will not be reliable for an app to run immaculately in the real world scenario. Testing on the real devices is certainly more accurate as it can test many device functionalities like camera operations, battery life, GPS, Bluetooth, networks and more. Each device is designed differently and emulators do not solve issues specific to a particular type of device.

Procuring multiple devices and testing the app on each Operating System can be quite a daunting task and it may seem next to impossible to test the app on every OS combination. The best way would be to test apps on a cloud based platform with a hub of real devices. This way your testing results would be more precise and the procurement cost could be controlled. pCloudy has a wide variety of mobile devices available on cloud that can be considered as the preferred option.

2. Testing Automation

Automation testing is the key and the most vital when it comes to mobile apps. It can ease the execution of tests to run simultaneously across real devices which speeds up the entire testing process allowing the apps to float in the market quite earlier and faster. In the cases where the tests require a lot of set up and aren’t the routine tests, manual testing should be preferred over automation. Mobile Automation testing necessitates the use of right automation tools. The choicest one is Appium which is open source and supports both iOS and Android and also allows to write the tests that can run on both the platforms.

3. Functionality testing

The core functionality is the main draw for any app and it has to be rock solid. People seek out apps to perform specific functions. Incomplete or inadequate functionality will result in abandonment, so make sure that the main functions are fully implemented and tested before you move on. User experience really matters and is also a key factor in an app’s success. For example, if the elements of the app are placed incorrectly on the mobile screen, the user will not use the app and uninstall it straightaway. So, the mobile app needs to be tested on each functionality in order to give the best results.

4. Performance and Load Testing

Usual tests are performed at earlier stages to identify the bugs even before they are pushed for production but the performance and load tests are performed later in the SDLC process to assess the maximum operating capacity and behavior of a mobile app in real life load scenarios. Tools like JMeter and Android’s Monkey tool are often used for performance and load testing. Also, the app performance on real devices is done in order to check the issues like network interruptions, memory leaks. Whatever the choice of tool may be, the goal is to ensure the smooth functioning of the app before and after the final release.

The Internet speed can also have a major impact on the experience of using an app. A user connected to a slow cellular network might have a hard time with apps that have rich media content. Make sure your app testing includes slow connections — and fast ones — to make sure the experience is OK at any speed.

5. Choice of Mobile app testing tools

It is very important to choose the right tool for mobile app testing. There are many favored mobile app testing tools to do the right testing.

Out of the meagre tools available in the market, Appium tops the list of the most preferred open source mobile testing tool in the market. Other than this, the tools like Robotium and Espresso which are used widely to test the Android apps by empowering the testers to write UI tests for Android Apps, easily. Google’s EarlGrey performs the similar function as Robotium for iOS framework.

Conclusion

To conclude, we must acknowledge that the decisions related to successful mobile app testing is the key role of the testing team. Testing landscapes keep changing and the testing strategies have to be aligned with the vulnerabilities of the market. It can be deduced from the above discussion that both emulators and the real devices are needed as per the testing situation. Performance and load testing are the saviors and must be performed sincerely in the production to understand the reaction of the mobile apps at different load conditions. There should be a right combination of the testing tools as per the type of operating system where the app has to be installed. To make the Mobile app testing a success, the right decision-matrix regarding the above mentioned points would prove to be the strongest pillar of the QA team of an organization. To know more about the mobile app testing success, visit www.pcloudy.com.

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5 App Testing Trends

So, the most awaited 2 days long Software testing conference STARWEST 2018 came to an end on 4th October, with the most insightful and pragmatic gathering and discussions to tackle the fast growing ‘software testing’ head-on. When the venue selected is supposed to be the “Happiest place on Earth – Disneyland”, how could you not be rejuvenated to take software testing to a next level.

With the top minds in software testing coming together to share the latest trends, tips on stage and through conference networking opportunities, STARWEST this year too has succeeded in bringing forth excellent insights about future of testing in rapidly changing times. More than 40 top companies participated in this one-of its kind Expo where we have witnessed some of the monumental key developments that would shape testing landscape in the coming years.

Over 1000 software testers gathered and more than 70 empanelled speakers graced the expo for 2 days. Attendees heard from experts like: John Bach from eBay, Adam Auerbach talking about how continuous testing in DevOps will help business achieve business success, Rob Somourin from Amibug.com, Max Saperstone from Coveros to name a few.

In between sessions, the pCloudy booth was flooded with people. Our team of three did their best to answer questions and get feedback from those who are already using pCloudy as well as folks who were new to pCloudy.

Here are the biggest lessons that we learnt at the STARWEST event this year:

1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are coming to help testing; not replace it
2. Testing can’t survive without Data analytics
3. Flight plan for Agile and DevOps success
4. Exploratory testing rediscovered
5. Mobile app a part of test strategy for enterprises for next 2 years

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Problems in Mobile App Testing

 
Mobile market has shown a phenomenal growth over the years and guess who is responsible for such tremendous success- undoubtedly, it is the mobile application market and evidently its progress appears to be indomitable even in coming years. As per the research, mobile applications are expected to generate around 189 Billion USD revenue figure by 2020 merely by means of app stores and in-app advertising.. As this stream of Mobile application gets strengthened, the competition to make each app unique and effective grows even stronger. The real challenge is to maintain the competitiveness by keeping up with this fast changing industry. With so many variations in the mobile devices, it becomes a challenge in the mobile app testing to succeed in ‘All-Device’ scenario.

Here are the most common challenges faced in the mobile application testing:

1. Multiple Devices
2. Networks
3. Choice of tools
4. Screen Sizes
5. Types of Mobile Apps
6. AI Test Automation

Things to consider before tool evaluation:

• Type of apps: Apps can be native, hybrid or web. While the trend is inclined towards hybrid apps but the tool of choice should be competent enough to support other kinds of apps.
• Cloud Testing: Implementing a test automation cloud empowers teams to perform testing on any automation external testing framework .Moreover, the test results can be accessed from any location worldwide.
• OS Support: Most of the apps are developed for IOS and Android but the scope can expand to Windows, Firefox OS, etc., anytime as the customer base increases. So, the automation tool should be able to support all platforms.

A good mobile app testing strategy would include a right mix of testing on real devices, user testing and bot testing all at a single platform.

pCloudy provides a biggest cloud platform for automated and manual testing of mobile apps on real devices. It has its own cluster of real devices hosted on cloud to test IOS and Android Apps. Visit pCloudy to choose your plan for availing the best MAT services.

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App Testing Companies Must Follow

Today, the world is earnestly dependent on mobility devices and so is their dependency on the mobile applications. The number of smartphone users are expected to reach 3 billion by 2019 out of which India alone covers half a million. So, it becomes impertinent to have an extremely practical mobile application strategy to make the usage of it more effective. Unless the mobile application is acceptable and extremely compelling to the users, it becomes inconsequential to even trade in it. So, there is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Mobile application companies to assure the accessibility, security, purpose and usability of the mobile application to make it noticeable and engaging enough in long term.

pCloudy is fully equipped cloud based platform with a strong principled approach to tackle and heed the performance of today’s robust mobile applications. Following are the 5 best practices to count on for successful mobile app testing:

1. Master Plan
2. Device Testing
3. An early stage testing move
4. Crowd Sourced App Testing
5. Automation

1. Master Plan: A common plan is what will drive the team towards the ultimate business goal. Defining the testing approach, the effort, the timeline and the expected results would solve a lot of anticipated problems in different testing phases.

2. Device Testing: Some important points in context to devices are:

• Testing on every possible device is what looks promising but is impossible. So, testers have to be smart and cover the largest market with largest sample size.
• Testing on real devices is what is going to be the reality check and is going to give a better idea of the challenges and the convenience of the general usability of the app.
• Test on more than one OS version to check interface compatibility and consistency.

3. An early stage testing move: Testing early ensures quality and makes the application more favorable in the market as per the new approaches in mobile application development. To minimize the defects at later stages, testing efforts should start at the early stages of mobile app development life cycle.

4. Crowd Sourced App Testing: The best platform to employ the benefits of cloud which allows global pool of experts from all over the world to be utilized for incomparable testing practices and performance saving both time and money.Not to be considered as a replacement of traditional testing but it has some obvious benefits of testing in real world conditions and without investing in full-time testers. With more participation,feedback and reporting actions, crowd testing has become a reliable and most sought practice today. With the help of pCloudy’s global crowd, testing has become an easy ballgame ensuring app testing in different environments with different network bandwidth, on different devices and on time delivery.

5. Automation: Test Automation is what a machine does much faster and with less error than humans. This approach would save a lot of time, cost and would provide great return on investment but for reaping all these benefits, this has to be properly planned as it involves good investment, training and cost of trained resources and tools.If the objectives are undefined, it can lead to wastage of time and resources.

Mobile app testing is facing challenges in terms of changes in networks, operating systems and of course devices. So, the functioning and performance of the mobile applications becomes the prime focus. Selecting the best tool and the reason of doing so is very important. A strategy with clear objectives would be an informed move and a savior in this decision making process.

In the end, all we have to keep in mind is the user is happy using the app and is able to fulfil the purpose. All of this cannot be achieved by an individual but by the effort and strength of the team of both Developers and testers. There can always be brainstorming and learning from failures but the real game can be played by having a strong unified strategy.

pCloudy is a market leader in mobile app testing providing a wide range of MAT services. It has the most powerful mobile app testing platform which gives you a chance to access to real Android and IOS devices in a single click. Connect with our expert team to build a customized MAT strategy for your mobile application.

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Future Trends

Living in a technological era has forced entrepreneurs to adapt to current market and technology trends. Mobile is one such driving force that is propelling enterprises to another level.

E-commerce industry is so vast that it needs a proper channel or platform to reach a wider spread of audience. Android and iPhones both have turned to be largely used platforms used by people across the globe.

Consumers of ecommerce industry today use their mobile devices in numerous contexts like – making a purchase anytime, anywhere, browse and get details about a product while shopping in store. A mobile app serves as a bridge connecting all channels and touch points between a retailer and a customer which they together leverage to get a great and seamless shopping experience. Let us have a look at the trends that tend to set the future of mobile apps in e-commerce industry.

A Rising Influx of Mobile Shoppers

Just as smartphone usage and sales continue to tick upward, mobile shopping is likewise expected to rise. Mobile devices currently account for 19% of all ecommerce sales in the United States; however, the figure is projected to rise to 27% by the end of 2018, according to an Invesp report. This influx of mobile shoppers also presents new challenges to merchants, though. Though desktop driven ecommerce sales may be plateauing, but data from Comscore shows that online sales are booming as a whole. Sales from mobile devices are now leading the charge with an annual growth rate of 59% that eclipses desktop 17%.

More Prevalent Storefront Apps

In a response to the aforementioned challenge of appealing to mobile buyers, expect to see a new wave of mobile “storefront apps” to reach buyers on-the-go. This trend goes hand in hand with the need for merchants to have omni-channel presence, as well. Given that mobile users spend 86% of their time within apps versus mobile sites, perhaps branded native smartphone shopping apps are the key to converting those once-fickle customers.

After all, if a customer is willing to go through the effort of downloading a mobile app, chances are they’re loyal and trusting enough to make ongoing purchases. “App commerce” platform Poq recently found that storefront apps outperform mobile web conversion rates by 40%, support longer browsing sessions than even desktop web browsers and are twice as likely to drive repeat visits. This all makes sense given the game-changing functionalities that storefront apps offer, which include superior content personalization opportunities, push notifications and geo location-integrated brick-and-mortar shopping recommendations.

Poq’s compelling solution, for one, offers a centralized content management system that merchants and marketers can use as a unified data hub that uses an API to automatically sync with analytics platforms, payment gateways, customer review platforms and more.

Boom of app adoption in Indian market

Over 80% of buyers surveyed in India now prefer using apps over mobile browsers to shop on phones, compared to the global average of around 70%, according to a report published by payments technology firm Worldpay. At an average download of 10 mobile apps per day, India has been far ahead and is a thriving market beating its rival U.S and U.K. where the average downloads are 7, the report added. Indians downloaded 12.1 billion apps last year, dethroning the US’s app economy (11.3 billion).

Getting the app experience right can yield handsome rewards for e-tailers. After all, according to the Worldpay report, one in three Indians spent more than Rs4,000 ($62) on their last purchase. Tapping the right market will be the key to their success for e-tailers.

Conclusion

Nobody can truly predict the future in regard to ecommerce. However, these current trends will continue to heavily influence the space for the time being. One thing that is inevitable for the evolving e-commerce industry is that they should maintain the highest quality apps with fastest time to market. The best strategy would be to test the apps on multiple real devices with different OS versions and on different parameters on a cloud based platform that can deliver better quality apps faster. pCloudy is the ideal full lifecycle digital testing cloud based platform to test all the mobile and IOT apps.

Manual, automated and crowd testing can be done on both iOS and Android devices. These tests can be run on a public cloud, on premise or a dedicated private cloud as per the need. Both Selenium and Appium tests can be run on pCloudy. One of the biggest advantage of it is that it can be integrated with Continuous Integration systems.

Sign up on pCloudy and test your apps to believe what we say.

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