Mobile app production has skyrocketed in recent years due to the increasing reliance on apps for everything. As a result, experts predict that the total revenue for the app market is projected to show an annual growth rate of 8.58% by 2027.
However, not every app that is released into the market is straightaway accepted by the users. Users reject or uninstall some apps when they discover bugs or functionality issues that negatively impact their experience.
The only way to deliver perfect, bug-free products is to make mobile apps undergo rigorous testing procedures at every stage of their development cycle to unearth issues and quickly resolve them. Through continuous testing for mobile apps on real devices, companies can reduce the risk of escaped defects and ensure their products are perfect.
This article focuses primarily on what continuous testing is and why it is so important. Delve deeper into this topic by continuing to read this blog!
What is continuous testing, and why is it needed?
Continuous testing, or CT, is when QA teams test applications continuously throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC). Testers do continuous testing to evaluate software quality across the SDLC and provide critical feedback earlier.
It facilitates quicker resolution of identified issues and delivery of higher-quality software faster to the market. The increasingly fast development environment has shortened software release cycles and is pushing organizations to adjust their practices to keep up.
Continuous testing is significant in this process since it boosts the DevOps pipeline by fostering testing at all stages of the software development life cycle, from development to deployment. Continuous testing ensures that development moves forward without obstacles and software is released timely.
Benefits of continuous testing for mobile apps
Continuous testing is today adopted by most organizations because of these benefits:
- Improves risk management
In continuous testing, risks are identified at the early stages of development. Since all the right teams work together from the start, continuous testing permits all parties involved to reduce risks by exposing potentially dangerous errors before they grow in complexity.
Mobile apps are checked many more times and in many more ways throughout their entire life cycle instead of once during specific phases of the SDLC, enabling more opportunities for testers to discover areas of weakness.
- Testing happens throughout the pipeline
In continuous testing, you do not have to wait for the completion of the first round of development, test afterwards, and then call it a day. Instead, testing happens at every single stage along the entire pipeline. Since problems can arise along all points of the pipeline, continuous testing helps identify problems quickly before they become more serious.
- Saves time and effort
Through continuous testing, developers save time and effort as they do not have to wait for QA teams to complete their testing process before fixing their code. Since testing happens continuously, it facilitates real-time proactive fixes to code quality and security issues.
Why test mobile applications on real devices?
Real device testing is more reliable than testing mobile apps on simulators or emulators since it provides real user conditions for more realistic testing.
Here are the advantages of using real devices for mobile testing:
- Real devices allow better testing
Running tests on real devices is the best way out if you want to validate a mobile application thoroughly. While virtual devices, like simulators or emulators, may help validate functional flows, they may lead to false positives, which means the tests may pass. Still, in reality, there may be unidentified issues with the application.
- Accurate testing environment
When you test on real devices, you get a more accurate testing environment since tests can evaluate the app’s performance on real-world devices with different hardware specifications and network conditions. Because of this, you can identify issues that may go undetected when testing on emulators or simulators.
- Enhanced user experience
Emulators or simulators cannot fully replicate the user experience, which may lead to crucial issues going undetected. Contrarily, testing mobile apps on real devices guarantees that the apps are tested in a real-world context, thus providing a better user experience.
- Improved app reliability
Real device testing ensures the reliability of the mobile app since you can quickly identify issues that may cause the app to malfunction or crash. By testing on real devices, you ensure that the app functions optimally and provides a positive user experience.
Continuous testing of mobile apps on real devices
Ideally, mobile apps should be tested at different stages of development. Below are the instances where mobile testing on real devices is particularly important:
- Initial development stage: Testing should be done as early as possible so that defects are identified early, and you can save time and resources later on.
- Just before the release: Testers need to validate the functionality of the mobile application thoroughly before releasing it to the users. Doing that will ensure the app performs well on multiple devices and provides a good user experience.
- Post updates or changes: Whenever any changes or updates are made to the app, you need to check if these changes or updates have not caused any bugs or issues.
- When apps are targeted for specific devices or platforms: If a mobile app is made specifically for particular platforms or devices, it is crucial to ensure you test it on these devices.
- When new features are added: Whenever any new features are introduced, you need to test your apps on real devices to make sure they work perfectly and do not cause any problems.
Summing Up
Continuous testing has brought about a transformation in software development because of the priceless benefits it offers, like increasing the overall efficiency of testing, wider test coverage, and quicker delivery of error-free software to the market. Hence, continuous testing for mobile apps on real devices is necessary to ensure the apps you deliver are perfect and gain a competitive advantage in the market.
For end-to-end testing of mobile applications, most organizations prefer the TestGrid platform. TestGrid lets you accurately test even highly complex mobile applications, whether Android, iOS, or any other, and quickly identify flaws and bugs. One significant advantage of using TestGrid is that even people with zero programming expertise can easily perform complex automated tests for their mobile apps.
With TestGrid, testers can perform hundreds of tests simultaneously from anywhere and at any time, thus saving significantly on costs and time. The robust scriptless test automation platform lets you run API tests, get performance metrics, and conduct cross-browser testing without installing third-party applications.
