App Testing For Mobiles – Follow These Tips!

By | December 20, 2013
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Wondering about how you should go about testing new mobile apps, before releasing them for users? Go through the following discourse, and follow the pointers mentioned therein!

A smartphone app with a gamut of seemingly useful features and cool design styles can turn out to be a flop amongst users, if it ranks low on the reliability count. The presence of errors and bugs in an application (which might slow it down and/or crash frequently) is likely to show up your app development agency in pretty unfavorable light as well. Before the full launch of any new app, you need to get it thoroughly tested. You will find the following tips helpful for the purpose:

  1. Decide upon the things to test – Make a list of the app features that actually need to be tested (installation, speed, display options, presence of bugs/virus, etc.) at first. During the actual testing phase, do not try to check out whether all these factors are working fine all at once. Instead, divide the application tests into different modules – and test a single feature during each of them.

  2. Choose the device on which testing is to be done – A leading mobile application development company will be into creating apps for multiple platforms – and the testing processes have to be customized accordingly too. Test every app on the device, and with the same system settings – for which it has been created. Certain applications have to be checked for cross-platform functionality as well. This will also help you to specify the ideal system requirements for the applications to buyers.

  3. Test the internal memory and bandwidth usage – Over time, professionals have started to come up with mobile apps that have ample memory space, and do not take up much of the available bandwidth on the handsets of end-users. If your app does not have these properties, it would be likely to adversely affect the performance of the mobile phones on which they have been installed. Ensure that the app loads quickly, and offers glitch-free user-experience.

  4. Monitor performance via cloud computing – If your iphone application development company in India is coming out with a dynamic, multi-functional new app – testing it on the cloud environment would be advisable. Assess the scalability features of the app, and make sure that the correct network architecture is being used for testing the application. Problems (if any) should be identified on a real-time basis, so that they can be rectified without delays.

  5. Check the graphics and layout – Customized app development graphics, keeping under consideration the general preferences and demographics of targeted users, have to be implemented in each smartphone app. To cite an instance, an educational app for toddlers needs to have simple, visually appealing, child-friendly features. Create a small focus group, ask the members to use the app on their handsets for a certain period, and find out whether they feel it is user-friendly enough.

  6. Prepare a prototype and seek feedback from potential buyers – If you do this at multiple stages during the app development stage, chances of the final software coming out to be unsatisfactory would be reduced manifold. Highlight the chief features of the app that is being created to prospective clients, and pay attention to the opinions/recommendations they share. You can even present two or more alternative prototypes, to find out which one would find greater acceptance among users.

  7. Select the right network connectivity options for testing – Depending on the type of Android or iphone app development in India you are involved in, you will have to simulate internet network settings to test the applications. Find out how your apps perform in low-strength networks, and under weak signals. If you wish the app to remain functional offline as well, you will need to perform additional tests.

  8. Use open-source coding in your apps – An app can do very well during the testing stage, and yet get stuck after being downloaded on the users’ smartphones. That’s precisely why you should use open-source code sets in the applications, so that probable future problems can be fixed by people – as and when they crop up. The overall mobile application development framework should be such that, all developers can easily understand it.

  9. Monitor the analytics features of the app – If the in-built analytics tools in your app are not functioning properly, you won’t be able to gauge its performance in the market, and determine the type of upgrades/improvements required. Hence, you need to keep aside a testing module for finding out whether these features are working in the desired manner. Make sure that the download counter and the other fields are getting updated automatically.

  10. Have automated testing plans as well – This is vital for determining whether mobile apps are functioning properly, when being used in reiterative loops. For bulk testing too, you need to have such automated arrangements. Regression testing (generally required before releasing an upgrade) is a classic example of automated app testing procedures that have to be used.

While not a part of the technical performance features of the app, setting the correct price also has to be done during the testing phase. Provide a virtual instruction manual with the applications, to ensure that new users do not face any difficulties while using it. Remember, the more thoroughly you check your smartphone applications before release – the less time you would have to spend handling customer queries and complaints!

Hussain Fakhruddin
Follow me

Hussain Fakhruddin

Hussain Fakhruddin is the founder/CEO of Teknowledge mobile apps company. He heads a large team of app developers, and has overseen the creation of nearly 600 applications. Apart from app development, his interests include reading, traveling and online blogging.
Hussain Fakhruddin
Follow me

Latest posts by Hussain Fakhruddin (see all)

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *