Mobile Application Testing tutorial

• 12 March 2025
• Software Testing

Mobile Application Testing tutorial

In today's time, mobile phones are expanding from simple communication to gadgets that can do everything. Mobiles phones are uses to order the food, to avail the cab so that we can know the direction. All these facilities are possible only by using mobile applications.

Introduction

Every developed mobile application has to go through the mobile testing process. This process assures us to maintain the level of the quality of the application before it is released into the market (app store/ play store). The development life cycle of the mobile application is shorter than the other, so the mobile application's success depends only on the testing of the mobile application. Applications are tested based on usability, security, functionality. This increases the general efficiency of the application and increases the reliability factor among the users as well.

The need for a Mobile App

The need for a mobile application is arising to do our daily work. In today's busy and hectic lifestyle, we want to do meaningful work in daily routine.

Here are few examples of the daily routine work:

Like:

1. We want to pay an electricity bill.
2. There is a need to communicate with the manager and submit the report.
3. Want to look for the nearby store
4. Want to know the cab status

There is one solution for all these works: we need the below things to do our daily work in a second.

• Need for Smartphone
• Internet Connectivity
• A mobile application to do the work

We can smartly do our daily work by using our smartphones.

To use the mobile phones, we need the properly tested mobile apps so that the more and more users like the application. It is the user experience that makes the mobile application successful.

Prerequisite

The people who are interested in software testing should have basic knowledge about the concepts of software testing. Those who are going to make a career in software testing should know the test planning concepts, tricks of the black-box testing, etc. The advanced knowledge of the scripting language like JavaScript gives the extra benefit to working on software testing.

Audience

Our Mobile Application Tutorial is designed for beginners and professionals.

Problems

We assure you that you will not find any problem with the Mobile Application Testing Tutorial. But if there is any mistake, please post the problem in the contact form.

What is Mobile Application Testing

As we know, explosive growth in the use of mobile devices and the development of mobile devices makes testing an essential requirement for the successful and rapid delivery of high-quality mobile applications.

Why is mobile testing Important?

As we know in the current time, the use of mobile phones is increasing day by day. People install new applications based on ratings and reviews daily. The ratings and reviews of the applications depend on the working of the application. So, this thing makes the testing of the mobile application important. Different mobile phones run on different operating systems and contain different screen sizes; so, this thing makes the mobile phone's testing is a mandatory process in the software development process. The updating in the app entertain the users. New bug fixes in the app makes sure that nobody uninstalls the app. Testing is essential for apps to stay in the market.

As we know in today's time, mobile phones are popular in the market. We do not want to switch ON our PCs and Laptops. Instead, we want those devices which can be easily handled and can perform the task quickly.

That is why mobile phones should be adequately tested before releasing them to the market.

Approaches to Test the mobile application

We will follow two different approaches for the testing of mobile applications. Here we will follow two approaches to test the mobile application, and those are manual testing and automated testing.

Manual Testing

Manual testing is a human process. The primary focus of manual testing is on the experience of the user. The Analysis and evaluation of the application's functionality can be done through the medium of the user in an explorative process. Manual Testing ensures that the application work on the standard of user-friendliness. Manual testing is generally the time-consuming process because the process is to find out the bugs will take time. Therefore, according to the thumb rule, 20% of applications at the time of releases should be tested with the alpha and beta testing. In the rest part of the application, automated testing should be performed.

Automation Testing

Automated testing is the second approach to test the mobile application. In this process, an array of test cases is set up. Automated Testing covers 80% of the testing process. The percentage is not set up, but this is the general guideline followed by the software industry. We will perform automation testing in the below scenarios-

• When manual test cases are slow, then we will use Automate test cases.
• The test cases which can be easily automated then we will use Automation Testing.
• Automation testing is used for test cases, which is written for the frequently used functionality.
• Automation testing is used for the automated test cases, which we cannot perform manually.
• Automation testing is used to automate the test cases, which gives us predictable results.

Advantages of Mobile Testing Automation

The Automation testing of the mobile application is very useful. The advantages of the Automation testing are just like as below:

• Automation Testing increases the efficiency of testing.
• Automation testing enhances the regression test case execution.
• The use of the automation testing for the testing of the mobile application saves the bunch of time, and also can execute more test cases.
• In the automation testing, we can perform the same test scripts again and again
• Multiple devices can run the test script parallelly.

Types of Mobile Testing

Mobile testing has two types that we can perform on mobile devices.

1. Hardware Testing: Hardware testing is done on the internal processors, resolution, internal hardware, size of the screen, radio, space, camera, Bluetooth or WIFI, etc. This testing is known as simple "mobile testing."

2. Software Testing or the Application Testing: The functionality of those applications should be tested, which works on mobile devices. We call this testing as the "Mobile Application Testing".

Types of the Mobile Application

There are three types of applications. These are as shown below:

1. Native Apps: Native application is used on different platforms like mobile and tablets.
2. Mobile Web Apps: Mobile apps are the server-side apps. We can access the mobile web apps on mobile by using the different browsers like Chrome, Firefox, after connecting the mobile to the mobile network or wireless network like WIFI.
3. Hybrid Apps: Hybrid applications are a combination of both types of applications like native and web applications. Hybrid apps run offline on the devices. Hybrid apps are written by using the web technologies like HTML5 and CSS.

The differences between these applications are:

1. Native applications are dependent on a single platform; on the other hand, mobile applications are the cross-platform applications.
2. Native apps are performed on the SDKs platform, and the Mobile web apps used web technologies like HTML, CSS, asp.net, Java, and PHP.
3. Native applications need the installation while the mobile web apps do not
require any installation.
4. The updation in the mobile native apps can be done from the play store or app store. On the other hand, mobile web apps updations are centralized.
5. There is no requirement for the internet connection for native apps, but mobile web apps need an internet connection.
6. Native apps work faster than mobile web apps.
7. Native application can installed from app stores like Google play store or app store where mobile web are websites and are only accessible through the Internet.

Significance of Mobile Testing

Testing the applications on mobile devices is a more difficult task than testing web applications. This is just because of the below reasons:

• Mobile device's different range: This is one reason why the application testing is challenging to do on mobile devices. There are different range of devices available in the market that have different screen sizes and hardware configurations like a hard keypad, virtual keypad (touch screen) and trackball, etc.
• Huge varieties of mobile devices: There are many mobile devices available in the market like HTC, Samsung, Apple, and Nokia. That is why the testing of mobile devices is challenging.
• Different mobile operating systems: Different mobile devices use different operating systems like Android, Symbian, Windows, Blackberry, and IOS. This is also the main reason why mobile testing is difficult.
• Different versions of operation system: In the market, there are lots of different versions of the operating system available like iOS 5.x, iOS 6.x, BB5.x, BB6.x etc.
• Different mobile network operators: Mobile contains different network operators like GSM and CDMA.
• Frequent updates - The frequent update in the mobile phones (like Android- 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, iOS-5.x, 6.x) make sure that the new testing cycle should not affect the functionality of the application.

Mobile application testing is essential because the millions of users can use one specific product. If there is a bug in the product, that product will not be accepted by the client. The bug in the product can be the loss of memory, legal issue, and the irreplaceable damage in the image.

Differences between the Mobile and the Desktop application testing

• The desktop uses the central processing unit to test the applications. And the mobile device tests the application on handsets like Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and HTC.
• The screen size of the mobile application is smaller than the desktop application.
• The memory of the mobile device is less than the desktop.
• Network connections used for mobile applications are like 2G, 3G, 4G, or WIFI, whereas the desktop application use broadband or dial-up connections.
• There can be the chances that the tool used for the testing of the desktop application will not work to test the mobile application.

Types of the Mobile Application Testing

The following are the types of testing that can be performed on mobile:

• Usability Testing: Usability testing ensures the user that the mobile app is easy to use and gives a satisfactory experience to the user.
• Compatibility Testing: Compatibility testing is done on different mobile devices, on different browsers, screen sizes, and the versions of the Operating system according to the requirement.
• Interface Testing: Interface testing is done on the menu options, bookmarks, buttons, history, settings, and the navigation flow of the application.
• Service Testing: Service Testing is done to test the services of the application online or offline.
• Low-Level resource Testing: This type of testing is done on the memory usage, auto-detection of the temporary file, growing issue of the local database. The testing of all the resources is known as Low-Level Resource Testing.
• Performance Testing: Performance testing is done on the application after changing the connection from 2G,3G to WiFi. We will test the performance of the application by sharing the documents, battery consumption, etc.
• Operational Testing: Operational Testing will perform to test the backup and recovery plan when the battery goes down or the loss of the data when we upgrade the application from the store.
• Installation Testing: Installation Testing will be performed to validate the application by installing and uninstalling the app on the device.
• Security Testing: Security testing is done to test the application to validate the information to protect it.

Mobile Application Testing Strategies

While deciding the testing strategy, we should have to ensure that the quality and the performance guidelines met. Points are as shown below:

1. Selection of the device: During the selection of the device in the first analyses the market and choose those devices which are widely used these days. The selection of the device depends on the client.
2. Emulators: The use of the emulator is useful in the initial stage of the development; the emulator allows us to test the application quickly. An emulator is a system used to run the software from one environment to another environment without any change in the software system. The emulator works on the real system.

Type of the Mobile Emulator

• Device Emulator: The manufacturer of the device provides this emulator.
• Browser Emulator: This emulator simulates the environment of the mobile browser.
• Operating Systems Emulator: The operating system Apple provides us the emulator for the iPhones, Google provides the emulator for the Android Phone, and the Microsoft provides the emulator for Windows Phone.

Mobile Testing Process

The usage of mobile application is increasing in all business areas like Schools, Publishers, Retailers, HealthCare providers, etc. This evolves the use of the mobile application that increases the businesses focus to develop a robust mobile application and the testing of the mobile application before it is launched in the market. Only the development of the mobile application is not enough; it also needs testing before introducing the app into the market. The testing is essential so that the application can run smoothly without any difficulties.

The steps which involve in the process of Mobile Testing are as shown below:

Step 1) Planning and Preparation: When the development stage is complete, we should have to identify the app's objective and the limitation of the app.

Planning and Preparation involve the below steps:

1. First, find out the functional Requirement.

Now we will find out the following requirements as shown below:

1. In the first, we should know whether the application is working together with the other apps.
2. Now we will check about the apps, whether it is Native, Hybrid, or Mobile-web.
3. Does the app require the front-end or the back-end testing?
4. Do all the features of the apps working correctly?
5. How the app controls the load.
6. The changed status of the phone has any effect on the application?
7. We have to be sure that the testing team is ready to execute the process.

Step 2) Classify the types of testing.

In this step, we will identify the types of testing which we want to apply to mobile applications. We will do the usability, compatibility, performance, and security testing on the target devices. And we will also define which functionality should be tested.

Step 3) Preparation of the test case and the script design.

Here we will create the test case for every function of the application.

Prepare the document of the test case for every feature and functionality.

In addition to functional test cases, some exceptional cases should also be covered:

It is essential to know which testing we will use, either it is manual or automation.

Prepare separate suite for manual test cases and automated test scripts as per the requirement. Identify the reusable automation scripts and modify them as per the requirement of the project.

Step 4) Environment Set up for Testing

For environment setup, we will follow the below steps:

Step 1. Identify the types of testing: We know that the ILL application is applicable for browsers, so we have to test the application on all the supported browsers by using different mobile devices. Different testing like usability, functional, and compatibility testing will do on the different browsers by using manual and automation test cases.

Step 2. Manual and Automated testing: The method we used here to test the mobile application is the Agile testing. The developers will release the new product for the testing team, and the testing team runs their test cases in the environment of Quality Assurance. The team of the automation creates scripts for the set of the basic functionalities and runs the scripts, which help us to determine that the new build is stable enough to test?the team of Manual Testing tests the new functionality.

JIRA is used to write about the acceptance criteria, maintenance of test cases, and logging /re-verification of defects. When the iteration is complete, a meeting will be held for the iteration planning between the developers, team, product owner, business analyst, and QA team. They will discuss what went well and what needs to improve.

Step 3. Beta Testing: After the completion of the regression testing, now the team of the Quality Assurance will do the User Acceptance Testing. The client does user Acceptance Testing. They re-verify all the bugs to ensure that bug was fixed, and the application is working as expected on every approved browser.

Step 4. Performance test: The performance of the Web Application can be tested by using the JMeter, and also by increasing the loads on the web applications can also test the performance of the applications.

Step 5. Browser testing: Browser testing can be done using simulation tools and using real mobile devices to test web applications over multiple browsers.

Step 6. Launch plan: In the last phase, testing moves into staging; at the end of the 4^th-week testing team will test the application, which is the final round of testing where the testing is done to be sure that the product is ready for the production. After the completion of this testing, now the software goes Live!

Mobile Testing Challenges and Solutions

In today's time, smartphones are used to interact with consumers and businesses worldwide. In the market every day, thousands of apps are generated. The testing of mobile phones is a complicated thing, whether it is the testing of the desktop application or testing the websites. It is essential to pay attention to mobile application testing because the number of mobile users is increasing day by day. The user wants to use mobile apps on the go and wants quick information for their daily needs. In the whole world, approximately 2.7 billion people are using mobile phones. Just because of the large number of users, mobile apps must be tested thoroughly before releasing them into the market.

Today's mobile applications provide complex functionality on those platforms which have limited resources for their computing.

Real-Time challenges for the mobile testing

1. Multitude Mobile device: Over 500m Android devices shipped since Android 1.0, about 220m iOS devices have been shipped since 2007. The availability of the enormous number of mobile devices from handsets to smartphones, tabs, pads, and wearable tech, the presence of the multiple devices will affect the functionality of the mobile application. And the quality team does not guarantee that the tested application works well on the given device and will work 100% on another device even if it's from the same product family. The screen resolution, CPU, Memory, OS optimization, and hardware could be different.
2. Operating System Fragmentation: Different mobile phones have different operating systems. Fragmentation is a big issue for the Android application because the Android has 11 different operating systems. The percentage of the iOS devices is 93% who are using version 9 or 10, so the fragmentation issue of Apple's Operating system for the iOS devices is less than the Android.
3. Types of mobile apps: There are the different types of the mobile apps, these can be the native app, a web app, or a hybrid and all the apps containing the same contents. The testing of these applications is different from the other, so the implementation is also different from one another.
4. Numerous Test Interfaces: To test the general functionality of the applications, we will use the vital testing tool emulators and simulators and also perform regular Regression Testing. The means of the emulators and simulators is an environment that is not used for testing. The advantages of these tools are limited, and we cannot use these tools as a substitute for the real world.
5. Variety of Testing tools: In the market, we can find the automation tools in the wide variety, but here the challenging factor is to decide which tool is best for the mobile application testing.
6. Battery: Mobile apps demands lots of batteries. Mobile apps consume more power. The use of multiple apps will drain the life of the battery. The mobile application testing company should have to be focussed on the consumption of the power by mobile apps when designing the process of the testing.
7. Change in users Requirement: When the requirement of the user's change, then there is a need for frequent updates in the mobile application. The features of the mobile are also going to change. Every new change detects the new bug which should be fixed. The challenge in the testing is increasing because the development environment is changing rapidly.
8. Mobile Networks: People move from place to place as the change in the place it occurs. The network coverage is also changing. In the underground places, the signals are weak. At the time of the boarding of flight and take-offs, in that case, signals are also disrupted. Some apps need to work on the offline mode as well as ticket access etc. In that case, the tester has the challenges to test the application under different networks.
9. Usability: The success of mobile apps depends on the usability of mobile apps. The well-designed apps have an attractive interface. We can access the content easily. Navigation is also smooth. The image adjusts according to the size of the screen. Users can interact with the apps by the touch of the finger and also by the tapping. The company of mobile app testing should be sure that the interface elements work efficiently according to user comfort.

If mobile testing companies tackle all these challenges, they can deliver a high-quality product.

Significance of Mobile Testing

Testing the applications on mobile devices is a more difficult task than testing web applications. This is just because of the below reasons:

• Mobile device's different range: This is one reason why the application testing is challenging to do on mobile devices. In the market, we can get the devices in a different range, different screen sizes and hardware configurations like a hard keypad, virtual keypad (touch screen) and trackball, etc.
• Wide varieties of mobile devices: There are many mobile devices in the market like HTC, Samsung, Apple, and Nokia. That is why the testing of mobile devices is challenging.
• Different mobile operating systems: The market has different mobile devices, and all the different mobile devices use different operating systems like Android, Symbian, Windows, Blackberry, and IOS. This one is also the main reason why mobile testing is difficult.
• Different versions of operation system: In the market, different versions of the operating system are available like iOS 5.x, iOS 6.x, BB5.x, BB6.x etc.
• Different mobile network operators: Mobile contains different network operators like GSM and CDMA.
• Frequent updates - With the every new updation in the Android (like 4.2,4.3,4.4,iOS-5.x) during the testing we have to be sure that the functionality of the application should not be affected.

Mobile application testing is essential because the millions of users can use a specific product. If there is a bug in the product, that product will not be accepted by the client. The bug in the product can be the loss of memory, legal issue, and the irreplaceable damage in the image.

• Share :