Tag: mobile app testing cloud

Suyash Dubey | Posted on | 2 min Read

UST Global invests in pCloudy

We feel elated to inform you all that UST Global, a digital transformation solutions company, has announced a strategic investment in Smart software testing solutions (SSTS) Inc. The UST Global team sees great potential in our SaaS platforms – pCloudy and OpKey. This investment will give a boost to our efforts in helping Fortune 1000 enterprises adopt continuous digital validation through these platforms. As part of the investment, Vijay Padmanabhan, Chief Corporate Officer of UST Global, will join the SSTS board.

A comprehensive testing platform

 
Increasing adoption of mobile technologies, DevOps, and digital transformation are just some of the key factors driving the automation testing market, which is expected to reach approximately $19.27 billion by 2023. To lead the way in automation testing, pCloudy is providing a comprehensive app testing platform powered by AI and predictive analytics which enabled users to test their app from anywhere, anytime. Another product from SSTS is OpKey, a cloud testing platform providing scriptless automation testing of web, mobile, Salesforce, Oracle EBS, and many more applications on a single cloud platform. It can execute cross-browser tests for over 500 OS-browser combinations. OpKey supports test automation across multiple technologies with its core automation engine.

Delivering quality at speed

 
Both pCloudy and OpKey are signature cloud-based technology products of SSTS, focussing on making software development life-cycle more efficient. pCloudy targets the accelerated mobile application software space while OpKey focusses on traditional PC-based software. Sunil Kanchi, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Information Officer, UST Global, said that continuous digital validation across mobile, cloud and web applications has become a necessity for enterprises undertaking digital transformation initiatives. “This is creating a tidal wave of new opportunity as evidenced by SSTS’ impressive growth and strong customer base. By combining OpKey and pCloudy with our quality engineering practice, we hope to accelerate digital transformation for our customers.”

Disrupting digital validation

 
pCloudy has had a successful partnership with UST Global since 2018. Investment from a technology giant during these testing times is a testament to the product capability and huge market potential. pCloudy and OpKey already help 250+ enterprise customers to adopt continuous web and mobile testing and continuous ERP testing with zero overhead and accelerated go-to-market. The investment and partnership with UST Global will help bring more innovative features and disrupt the digital testing space.

Avinash Tiwari | Posted on | 2 min Read

Five key iOS 10 Features Every App Developer Must Know

Five key iOS 10 Features

 

The upcoming iOS 10 has sparked great interest among app developers owing to it’s rich, better-than-ever features. The beta version of iOS 10 SDK includes new APIs and services that will power a whole new generation of apps. You can now extend your app capabilities to Phone Messages, Siri, VoIP, Maps, Apple Pay and much more to provide enhanced functionalities and enjoyable experience to your users.

Here are a few great features you can add to your apps:
 

Notifications

 
With iOS 10 you can create rich, interactive, and powerful notification experiences for your apps. The users can not just view photos, and listen to audio, but they’ll also be able to watch videos from inside a notification, view live information such as map updates in real time. As demonstrated at the Worldwide Developers Conference, you can even use 3D Touch to open a notification and respond to it directly from the lock screen.
 

Siri

 
You can create apps with extensions that work with Siri. Users will be able to access content and services using just their voice. The extensions developed using the new SiriKit will support new services such as booking a ride, managing workouts and sending or receiving payments, along with existing features like audio or video calling, messaging, and searching photos.
Maps: Apps that offer ride booking, restaurant reservations, and other location-related services are accessible from within Maps, allowing users to book, track, and pay. The Maps even suggest relevant apps for services in a user’s current location.
 

VoIP

 
The CallKit framework lets VoIP apps integrate with the iPhone UI. The framework lets users view and answer incoming VoIP calls on the lock screen and manage contacts from VoIP calls. CallKit also introduces app extensions that enable call blocking and caller identification. You can create an app extension that can associate a phone number with a name or tell the system when a number should be blocked.
 

Apple Pay Enhancements

 
In iOS 10, users can make easy and secure payments using Apple Pay from websites and through interaction with Siri and Maps. For developers, iOS 10 introduces new APIs you can use in code that runs on both iOS and watchOS, the ability to support dynamic payment networks, and a new sandbox testing environment. The new APIs will help you incorporate Apple Pay directly into your website. When you support Apple Pay in your website, users browsing with Safari in iOS or OS X can make payments using their cards in Apple Pay on their iPhone or Apple Watch. iOS 10 also introduces a new testing environment that lets you provision test cards directly on the device. The test environment returns encrypted test payment data.
 

Speech Recognition

 
iOS 10 introduces a new API that supports continuous speech recognition. The Speech Recognition API allows you to build apps that recognise speech and transcribe it into text. Using the APIs in the Speech framework (Speech.framework), you can perform speech transcription of both real-time and recorded audio.

These are the key developer-related features introduced in iOS 10. There are some more like interesting ones like Interactive Messages App, App Search Enhancements, Widget Enhancements, found in What’s new in iOS 10.

Need devices with the new iOS 10 beta to test new features in your app?
Try pCloudy’s Mobile App Testing Cloud. We provide real mobile devices with all versions of Android and iOS for app testing.

Here’s a quick video:
 

Avinash Tiwari | Posted on | 2 min Read

“Representative Mobile App Functional Test Automation Vendors (Commercial)” in Gartner’s Market Guide for Mobile App Test Automation Tools

Gartner’s Market Guide

 

Delhi, June 23, 2016 – Smart Software Testing Solutions (SSTS), a leading provider of Mobile App Test Automation Tools, today announced that it has been identified as one of the Representative Mobile App Functional Test Automation vendors in the Gartner’s Market Guide for Mobile App Test Automation Tools(1).SSTS was named in the category of commercial vendors with functional test automation and device cloud capabilities.

 

According to Gartner, ‘’the need for automation in mobile app testing is driven by business time-to- market demands and digitalization initiatives. These push mobile app development teams to adopt agile development approaches to deliver high-quality mobile apps faster. This rapid pace, combined with a broad and changing device ecosystem, creates a challenging environment in which to maintain a high level of quality. Without automation, it will end up crushing all but the most trivial app efforts.’’

 

“We believe our inclusion as a representative vendor in the Gartner Market Guide validates why the world’s best-known brands rely on SSTS, to drive their Mobile Test Automation,’’ said Avinash Tiwari, Director, Smart Software Testing Solutions, explaining the unique position of the company in the Indian market.

 

pCloudy is the flagship product company of SSTS (Smart Software Testing Solutions). Avinash Tiwari opines that the market in India is becoming more and more receptive of automated testing solutions and cloud based testing platforms. More and more organizations are feeling pressure to make releases more frequently. Moreover, creating right test infrastructure for mobile Apps is a key concern for organizations. pCloudy is in a unique position to serve both the challenges.

 

If you have a Gartner Account, you can download the report by clicking on this link.

 

Gartner Disclaimer

 

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties,expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

 

(1) Gartner, Inc. ‘’Market Guide for Mobile App Test Automation Tools’’ by MaritessSobejana, Adrian Leow, 25 April 2016

Avinash Tiwari | Posted on | 2 min Read

App Testing Made Seamless with pBot

pBot

 

The future of app testing in IoT lies in integrating app interaction with external hardware triggers. While devices such as phones, tablets and wearables may already seem ubiquitous, a networked array of entrenched systems and sensors commonly called the Internet of Things, could eventually race past all of them in its worldwide reach and number of applications and services.

Connectivity through the IoT is reliant on many different wireless standards. For example, to do anything at all, an IoT-enabled device might have to interface with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, amongst others channels. For software makers, these potential issues with connectivity and infrastructure will inevitably shape the design of their applications.

Speaking of wireless connectivity technologies, NFC applications can now be tested with pCloudy’s new testing solution- pBot. Before explaining pBot, let’s talk about what Near Field Communication is all about.

NFC is a set of short-range wireless connectivity technologies that are perfect for transmitting small amounts of data with minimal setup time and power consumption. NFC applications include contactless transactions, data exchange and simplified setup of more complex technologies. NFC-enabled devices typically support three operating modes which are Reader/Writer, Peer to Peer and Card Emulation. This fuels contactless payments, exchange of business cards or digital pictures.

As the number of available NFC-enabled mobile phones and tablets increases, the market will see a growth in applications such as mobile payments, ticketing, smart posters, as well as access control, data sharing and additional services.

 

 

pCloudy’s pBot has made NFC testing flawless with its advanced functionalities. For instance, NFC tagged visiting card. The card data i.e., the contact information is being read by an app on mobile device. Here, pCloudy mobile app interface integrates robotic actions which triggers the robot to perform NFC action.
 

Smart Payment Terminal Testing with pCloudy pBot 

With pBot, smart payments are now made realistic through testing payment terminal for EMV certification. For instance, when a credit card swipe device needs to be tested with real credit cards, the pCloudy mobile app interface integrates robotic actions which triggers the robot to action on payment terminal.

Thus, app testing with pCloudy’s pBot is now made futuristic with distinctive robotic functions. App testing should include IoT specific test strategies, support SDLC under context, and have access to on-demand test teams with requisite specializations. Success depends on the ability to influence a dedicated infrastructure, cloud capabilities and a wide array of test tools.

As enterprises leverage smart systems that ‘sense’ the environment and execute programmed actions, IoT driven testing is crucial to strengthen IT initiatives with security, intelligence and flexibility.

 

Avinash Tiwari | Posted on | 2 min Read

Traditional Mobile App Testing Vs New Way of Mobile App Testing with pCloudy

Mobile App Testing Comparison

 
Mobile App Testing Comparison

Apps are the ‘new thing’. We are living in an era, where, you click on your mobile screen for your evening cup of ‘cuppa’. With the advent of technology and internet, mobile phones and services are getting personalized like never before! And to compliance these services, numerous number of apps are appearing every day to suit different platforms. Among the apps, the demand for consumer apps is the highest, but various enterprise applications are also evolving to support various businesses. Due to the ever-growing demand for mobile apps, app makers and developers are shifting their focus towards creating strategies and roadmap before launching their applications. It is easier to launch an app with features and functionality required by a particular service, but it is pretty critical to have a rigorous and a flawless mobile testing plan before the deployment.

70% of Apps

Testing is a crucial step, where developers can ensure the quality of the app they are going to release. No one wants to release an app full of bugs, or which allows a lot of pop-ups. A faulty GUI, or a confusing UX, can be the reasons for the sad demise of your app before it creates its own space in the app market. That’s why mastering the art of mobile app testing has become the primary objective for any developer to sustain in the market.

Mobile App testing throws many new kinds of challenges

  • There are numbers of real devices available in the market and for which developers have to go through large numbers of tests

Device Fragmentation

  • There are frequent changes in mobile apps. It has become difficult to keep pace with the changes.
  • Availability of the right Mobile App Infrastructure, the right device matrix and the right tool set is a very selective process!
  • Simulating or reproducing bugs reported by users are extremely difficult as they are mostly related to a specific device.. Bugs are always progressive in nature. And that’s why the cost of development increases significantly.

40% of bugs

Current Approach

The typical testing approach involves use of simulators or emulators with a combination of internal mobile lab (selected set of devices). These approaches don’t provide full testing coverage. Bugs are found when an app is launched in the market. It leads to overall high cost of quality. Organizations have started to look at Automation to reduce cycle time and increase test coverage. But, without a proper Mobile lab infrastructure, it doesn’t yield good result.

Solution: Future is cloud

Blog site e-testing notes, “Cloud-based testing makes it possible to collaborate more effectively, to test across multiple platforms with less hardware, and to spend less on testing efforts, both long and short term.”

Why is cloud based Mobile App Testing the way to go?

  • Produces better quality apps by testing on the widest possible variety of devices available, while reducing capital budgets.
  • Cloud offers a ready infrastructure for Automation runs, which results an Increase in test coverage.
  • Quickly reproduce bugs reported from the market.
  • It allows easy collaboration between various teams.
  • Boosts the Agile development process by allowing easy integration within a continuous process.
  • It saves cost as the same lab can be accessed by geographically distributed teams.
  • Cloud lets you access devices which have been stopped in the market. For example, there are still many users in India use the old Android versions like 2.3 on phone, like Samsung Galaxy Star Duos.

20% of devices

Conclusion:

Effective use of cloud can shorten cycle times, improve app quality, and reduce capital budgets by bringing order to the chaos of mobile app development and testing.

Nilesh Tarale | Posted on | 2 min Read

Internet of Things – Connecting Physical World to the Internet?

Internet of Things

 

Have you heard the term “Internet of Things” or “IOT” lately? The answer might be yes for most of you. Have you wondered what’s the buzz all about? What do we call “things” here? And, what is it to do with Internet? We will try to understand the phenomenon in this article.

 

Firstly we need to understand what are “things” here?

We are talking about physical things. It could be anything objects, appliances, vehicles, buildings, Animals, people, anything on planet.

 

Secondly, these things have to be transformed into smartThing. So, what are SmartThings?

 

As you can see in the depiction below, physical objects become smart objects when they get associated with sensors and an IP.

 

iot-1

 

Lastly, how these smart objects communicate over Internet?

 

Once physical objects have sensors and an associated IP, these objects get the ability to send and receive data. This data can be transferred using internet and can also be stored on cloud. Moreover, this data can be consumed by various Applications, mostly Mobile Applications.

 

iot_2

 

This means Your App on Mobile device can communicate to a physical object like your freeze or your keys or your light switch in your house. It can receive information and send commands to perform actions.

 

This whole ecosystem is termed as Internet of Things.

 

So, how does it impact our life? In fact, this can impact our lives beyond our imagination.

 

In future, Google will not only remain a search engines for web content but you will also be able to perform operations like this.

iot-3

 

Or

 

Your fridge will send you an alert on your Mobile phone to bring milk packets as soon as you reach a super market.

iot-4

 

By now, you would have observed that IOT is about connecting our physical world to Internet. It’s predicted that by 2020 there will be 50 Billion smart Objects. And, every human being will be surrounded by 3000 to 5000 smart Objects.

 

iot-5

 

Does it trigger any thought, how are you going to test applications built for Internet of Things? We will soon be discussing that in our upcoming post.