With over 60% of Internet traffic coming from mobile devices, mobile devices are one of the most essential platforms for application development and business reach. However, the diversity of mobile platforms poses one of the severe obstacles to executing advanced testing processes like automation testing on mobile devices.
For reference, more than 1,000 new devices are released only in the Android segment annually. These devices are unique in terms of screen size, display resolution, and other configurations. Therefore, developers have to use advanced mobile testing frameworks with native features to counter these variations.
This article will explore the best mobile app testing tools available in 2024 and explain some of the best practices that developers and testers must implement while executing automated mobile app testing.
Exploring the Scope of Mobile App Testing
Mobile application testing consists of a broad spectrum of activities to ensure that mobile apps meet modern quality standards, perform as expected, and provide an excellent user experience across multiple platforms for devices and environments. With the growth of the current mobile app market, the scope of app testing also continues to expand, covering various factors and considerations.
Let us briefly understand some of the significant components of modern mobile application testing:
● Automation Testing
Using automation testing, the developers can automate the test execution process and efficiently handle multiple scripts and scenarios. This approach helps accelerate the testing process, improve test coverage, and identify defects at the earliest development life cycle stages. The testers can integrate automation testing with other methods like functional, regression, and performance testing.
● Functional Testing
Using functional testing, the testers can verify that the mobile app’s features and functionalities are working as expected. This approach involves testing individual features, user interactions, data input/output, error handling, and navigation flows. Using this approach, the testers can guarantee that users can perform tasks efficiently without encountering critical issues on the mobile app.
● Regression Testing
With modern mobile apps constantly evolving, new features are being added to improve the user experience. However, these features can harm the functioning of existing ones. So, by integrating regression testing on mobile apps, the testers can ensure the smooth collaboration between all the elements and also the stability of the application architecture.
● Compatibility Testing
Compatibility testing on mobile apps ensures the app functions correctly across different operating systems, devices, screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations. Moreover, performing comparative testing on iOS and Android apps is crucial to providing a consistent user experience across various platforms.
● Device and Network Testing
Considering the massive market for mobile applications, developers must remember that all users will not have access to stable device and network configurations. So, it is crucial to verify the functioning of the mobile app on unstable bandwidth and high latency. This is yet another step towards expanding the company’s audience reach.
● Accessibility Testing
By executing accessibility testing on mobile apps, the testers can ensure the app’s compliance with accessibility standards and guidelines. Some of the most critical standards include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
These compliances state that the app companies must provide adequate features and functionalities to provide assistive technologies and accommodate diverse user needs.
● Localization Testing
This form of testing guarantees that the app is culturally and linguistically adapted to the target audience’s language, region, and culture. This approach involves testing language translations, currency symbols, cultural conventions, date/time formats, and regional preferences.
● Security Testing
Since modern mobile applications store a lot of sensitive user information, it is crucial to guarantee the security of this data within the application infrastructure. Some of the most essential components of security testing include penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, code review, authentication testing, and encryption testing.
● Performance Testing
Finally, by executing performance testing, the application developers and testers can ensure that the app retains its smooth functioning irrespective of unexpected scenarios or use cases. Some of the most important considerations include overloading, user interaction errors, and exponentially high traffic.
Top Mobile App Testing Tools for 2024
Considering that there are thousands of mobile app testing tools available in the present market, we have mentioned some of the most popular options that will be useful based on the 2024 market standards:
1. Appium
Appium is one of the top choices for executing mobile app testing across multiple apps like native, hybrid, and web apps. Appium’s cross-platform architecture runs the test cases on Android and iOS platforms with the same API. While using this tool, the developer can create test cases with multiple programming languages like JavaScript, Python, And Java.
The developers can also integrate Appium with continuous integration and deployment to run the development and testing phases simultaneously.
2. XCTest
XCTest is Apple’s native testing framework for iOS apps and provides seamless integration with Xcode and Swift. Using this tool, the developers can write and execute unit tests, performance tests, and UI tests directly within the Xcode project to simplify the testing workflow. Some of its unique features include robust assertions, asynchronous testing capabilities, and support for XCTest UI.
3. Espresso
Espresso is Google’s native testing framework for verifying the performance of Android apps using UI testing and automation testing. It provides fluent API and synchronization capabilities to write concise and reliable UI tests. The native integration with Android Studio and Griddle streamlines the testing process to run the tests locally or on cloud platforms.
4. TestComplete Mobile
TestComplete Mobile provides a comprehensive testing solution for mobile apps, including native and hybrid apps across iOS and Android platforms. The record and replay feature and script-based testing capabilities empower developers to create and execute tests efficiently. It also provides object recognition technology and integration with multiple ALMs for better test stability and reliability.
5. Robot Framework
Robot Framework is a versatile and extensible testing framework that supports mobile app testing through specialized libraries and plugins. It adopts a keyword-driven approach to simplify test creation and maintenance, allowing non-technical members and other stakeholders to contribute to the application development process.
This tool provides dedicated libraries for mobile testing, including SeleniumLibrary and AppiumLibrary.
6. AWS Device Farm
Finally, the AWS device farm is a component of Amazon Web Services, which offers a scalable and cost-effective solution for modern mobile application testing. Using the device farm, testers can upload their app binaries and test scripts to run automation testing on a fleet of real devices hosted within the Amazon cloud servers.
It also provides compatibility with popular testing frameworks like Appium and XCTest to ensure seamless integration with existing test workflows. This tool also has a management console for providing detailed test reports and analysis to quickly identify and address issues within the application infrastructure.
Best Practices for Mobile App Testing
To further improve the scope of mobile application test cases, we have mentioned some of the best practices that the developers can incorporate within their testing environment:
● Choosing the Right Target Devices
Since thousands of devices are available in the market, the developers must choose their target devices based on their audience preferences before beginning the execution process. Determining their target operating systems and platforms in this phase is also essential.
The developers should strongly consider including older browser versions and outdated devices for improved compatibility, as a vast audience base does not regularly update their hardware and software configurations.
● Using Cloud Testing
Since it is expensive to set up and maintain a physical device testing laboratory with thousands of different devices, the developers can integrate cloud platforms that provide a similar testing environment through remote servers.
These servers are geographically barrier-independent and have access to legacy browsers and devices. LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations. It also uses advanced features like parallel test execution, artificial intelligence, and comprehensive test reports for better test execution.
● Integrating Parallel Testing
Since modern mobile apps consist of thousands of different elements, completing the testing phase individually would take several months. Instead, app developers can use parallel testing to run the test instances on thousands of devices and configurations at the same time. The proper implementation of automated parallel testing can complete the entire testing phase within just a few days.
● Using Descriptive Test Names
As mentioned earlier, modern mobile apps contain thousands of different elements. So, to improve the test tracking and reporting process, developers must use descriptive test names based on the target elements and testing requirements. This will also help the non-technical team members keep track of the testing phase.
● Comprehensive Test Analysis and Reporting
After executing the test cases, the developers must analyze the test reports to find the faulty elements, navigate to them, and implement proper resolution processes. Platforms like LambdaTest also integrate screenshots and videos with the test reports to improve the debugging and troubleshooting process.
● Maintaining Test Documentation and Feedback
Finally, developers and testers must keep track of all the bugs and errors detected in the application infrastructure. This reference will help prevent previously known errors in future app iterations. Moreover, this documentation will also help execute smooth app updates.
The Bottom Line
With the evolution of mobile technology, the demand for high-quality mobile apps remains constant. So, in 2024, testers can ensure their mobile apps meet the highest standards of reliability, performance, and usability by using the best mobile app testing tools. We also advise testers to experiment with various mobile testing tools to understand the best one that suits their requirements.
Finally, testers must remember that investing in the right tool is essential for delivering an exceptional mobile experience in today’s competitive app market. It is also essential to monitor the evolving audience market and understand their requirements. By analyzing this data, developers can customize the applications to better suit their audience and create a positive reputation for their brand.
