We live in a mobile-driven modern era wherein every single business vertical expands its base via mobile apps. To run a business and be competitive, organizations should reach out to as many people as possible. Businesses use mobile apps to expand business prospects, encourage brand awareness, acquire new clients, and retain existing customers. According to Statista, the no. of smartphone network subscriptions globally hit just about 6.4 billion in the year 2022 and is estimated to exceed 7.7 billion by the year 2028. The United States, China, and India are the countries with the top number of smartphone network subscriptions.
In the fast-paced world, where competition is fierce and user expectations are high, ensuring the reliability and quality of apps is paramount. That makes mobile app testing a critical element of the app development procedure to meet these needs. Automation testing is one such metric in mobile app testing that has emerged as a game-changer. The integration of a mobile device lab with test automation stands out as a strategic move in achieving reliable and comprehensive testing results. In this article, we will delve into the world of mobile app testing automation with its advantages and business-friendly tools.
The Evolution of Mobile App Testing
The evolution of mobile application testing is marked by a constant transformation fuelled by the incorporation of automation. It is not just a shift in approach but a paradigmatic shift in how testing aligns with the robust behavior and nature of mobile development. Automation has become the cornerstone for accomplishing excellence in testing, enhancing test coverage, facilitating faster releases, and ensuring the consistency and reliability of mobile apps.
As the mobile arena continues to progress, embracing test automation isn’t just a choice but a requirement for app development teams aiming to deliver user-friendly and superior-quality apps. The speed, consistency, and efficiency brought by automation are the driving forces behind the evolution of mobile application testing, propelling it into a new world of smooth excellence.
What is Mobile App Automation Testing?
As the name suggests, mobile app automation testing is the method of testing mobile apps using one or more automated tools. It is a significant process for ensuring the reliability and quality of mobile apps. By automating the test processes, software testers, and developers can proficiently validate the usability, functionality, and performance of their mobile apps across multiple devices, and platforms, OSs.
Automation tools perform several tests that check the functionalities and features of an app. These tests include performance, efficiency, accessibility, load time, etc. Utilising automated testing tools to test mobile applications assists businesses in reducing time, cost, and the probability of manual error while testing software and apps.
Challenges while Performing Mobile App Automation Testing
Performing mobile app test automation comes with its suite of challenges, ranging from the variety of mobile gadgets to the dynamic nature of mobile app platforms. Let’s check out some of the core challenges faced during mobile app test automation, summarized as pointers:
- Device Fragmentation
- Challenge: The extensive suite of mobile devices with varied screen sizes, resolutions, and OSs (operating systems) makes it tough to ensure stable performance across all gadgets.
- Solution: Prioritize tests on a distinct series of real devices or leverage cloud-centric testing platforms that provide access to a wide suite of devices.
- OS (Operating System) Versions
- Challenge: The presence of manifold versions of mobile OSs (Android and iOS) necessitates testing compatibility across varied versions.
- Solution: Frequently update the test environment to integrate the most recent operating systems versions and use version-centric test cases to cover several scenarios.
- Dynamic Application Interfaces
- Challenge: Mobile applications often have dynamic interfaces that change based on customer interactions, making it tricky to automate testing for growing User Interfaces.
- Solution: Implement perfect strategies such as utilizing visual testing, and unique identifiers, leveraging test automation frameworks that support robust element handling.
- Network Conditions
- Challenge: Real-world network conditions, like distinct internet speeds and connectivity problems, can impact the app’s performance.
- Solution: Simulate distinct network conditions during testing to detect and fix flaws connected to intermittent network connectivity or slower speeds.
- Security Concerns
- Challenge: Testing security parts, such as secure authentication, data encryption, and security against potential vulnerabilities, is essential yet intricate.
- Solution: Incorporate security testing tools into the test automation process and conduct frequent safety audits to detect and fix potential vulnerabilities.
- App Store Guidelines
- Challenge: Confirming compliance with application store guidelines and policies is critical for successful application submissions, however, it adds an extra layer of intricacy.
- Solution: Frequent review and align automation test cases with guidelines of the app store, confirming that the application meets all crucial criteria for approval.
- Integration with Third-Party Services
- Challenge: Mobile applications often incorporate several third-party solutions (payment gateways, APIs, etc.), making E2E testing complex.
- Solution: Utilize mock services or collaborate with 3rd-party service providers to generate test environments that simulate real-world scenarios.
- Continuous Testing in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Pipelines
- Challenge: Incorporating mobile app automation tests flawlessly into CI/CD pipelines can be challenging.
- Solution: Utilize test automation frameworks compatible with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools, and frequently update and maintain automated test scripts to align with the software development pipeline.
- Internationalization and Localization
- Challenge: Confirming that mobile applications function appropriately across distinct regions and languages adds intricacy to the test process.
- Solution: Implement test automation that covers a set of languages, and utilizes emulators or real-world devices with varied locale settings to validate internationalization facets.
- Cross-Platform and Cross-Browser Testing
- Challenge: Cross-platform and cross-browser testing is crucial for mobile applications, particularly those with web-based elements, however, it adds complexity owing to the diversity of platforms.
- Solution: Leverage cloud-centric test platforms that support cross-platform and cross-browser testing, allowing effective testing across several environments.
Navigating these challenges necessitates a combination of strategic testing planning, robust testing tools, and the use of perfect tools and technologies.
Crucial Benefits of Mobile App Testing Automation
- Comprehensive Test Coverage
Automated tests can be performed on a myriad of devices concurrently, guaranteeing comprehensive test coverage. This is principally crucial in today’s varied mobile landscape with several devices, operating systems, and screen resolutions.
- Regression Testing Made Efficient
Automation is extremely effective in regression testing, wherein earlier tested features are retested to certify new changes don’t introduce issues. Test automation can accurately and rapidly check the entire mobile app, freeing up valued time for testers.
- Faster Time-to-Market
Automated Testing enables the rapid implementation of test cases, considerably reducing the time required for testing. This acceleration straight contributes to speedy time-to-market for mobile apps.
- Consistent Test Implementation
Test automation executes the same predefined phases regularly, eliminating the variability introduced by manual tests. This confirms that testing is conducted under identical situations, giving reliable and reproducible outcomes.
- Ensures app security
Mobile app security loopholes can result in customer credentials/detection loss and bring monetary and reputational loss to companies. By automating the security test of mobile applications, security flaws in an application can be easily detected and removed.
- Boosts Application Performance
During automated mobile application testing, various performance testing is conducted to confirm no performance flaws exist in an app and that the application runs well under all user loads.
- Increases Application Scalability
Automated load testing is also performed on mobile apps to handle user load fluctuations efficiently and accommodate higher user load without showing any performance glitches.
- Improves Application Usability
Automated mobile application testing confirms proper application navigation, proper placement of active links, multimedia files, high-quality images, correct color contrast, etc., which makes the application user-friendly and enhances its usability.
- Validates Application Compatibility
Mobile applications should be compatible with all browsers, Operating Systems, and devices to deliver a great UX. Mobile compatibility tests confirm application compatibility across multiple device-OS combinations.
- Saves Costs
Automated testing of mobile applications saves businesses from sudden application failures or application crashes, which saves a lot of the expenses for businesses and protects the business’s reputation.
- Saves Time
Test automation saves QA testers from recurring mundane tasks and confirms faster test implementation.QA testers can utilize this time for solving top priority and other intricate tasks.
LambdaTest: Elevating Mobile App Testing Efficiency
LambdaTest, an AI-powered test orchestration and test execution platform, plays a crucial role in the success of mobile app test automation. Big corporations like Capgemini, Suncorp, Cisco, Microsoft, and many more trust it. With a focus on empowering testing and development teams, LambdaTest flawlessly integrates with automated testing frameworks. It is a highly efficient platform that enables you to perform live and interactive testing of your mobile app. Its iOS simulators and Android emulators eliminate the requirement for an explicit device library.
Cloud testing tools like LambdaTest allow testing of your hybrid and native mobile applications on the cloud by offering online APK emulators and simulators. It integrates all the touch screen gestures such as scroll, pinch, tap, long-press, etc. It also enables mobile app performance testing of mobile applications via Espresso, Appium, and XCUITest on the real-world device cloud. (Including iOS, Android, and Windows).
To run mobile app test automation on LambdaTest, you can refer to our following guides.
- Getting started with the XCUI test
- Getting started with the Espresso test
- Getting started with the Appium test
What makes LambdaTest one of the perfect mobile app automation test tools?
Mobile app test automation with LambdaTest’s cloud-based testing platform accelerates your business deliveries. With all the simulators, emulators, real-time cloud devices, and an online device farm of 3000+ actual devices and Operating System combinations, LambdaTest emerges as an all-in-one mobile test automation tool that companies like yours can depend on.
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Some benefits of using LambdaTest:
- Gives a user-friendly and interactive selection of emulators and simulators for testing. You can perform tests for a pool of 3000+ real devices.
- LambdaTest does not necessitate any setup or installation. Its web-centric platform enables you to begin testing as soon as you sign in.
- Provides seamless and smooth integration with descriptive test logs and insights.
- LambdaTest offers affordable and free trial license plans.
- Supports incorporation with other testing tools such as XCUITest for iOS automation testing, Espresso, and Appium for Android automation testing, and increasing its competence manifolds.
Conclusion
In this mobile-centric world full of impatient customers, it is significant for a business to deliver a product (mobile app) that is free from flaws and meets customer’s expectations. Hence, every mobile application should undergo a comprehensive testing series to ensure high performance and quality. Mobile app test automation, coupled with the power of a mobile device lab, is reforming the way apps are tested and confirming that they meet the high standards of quality. This dynamic combination not just accelerates the QA test process but also improves the effectiveness and accuracy of the testing results.
Embrace the future of mobile app testing, streamline your testing processes, and ensure the success of your applications by leveraging the power of automation and LambdaTest.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Why is mobile app testing automation significant?
Mobile app automated testing is essential for accelerating the testing process, ensuring faster releases, and managing the quality of mobile apps across distinct platforms and devices. It allows for effective regression testing, broad test coverage, and quick feedback in the dynamic landscape of mobile app development.
- How does test automation handle the diversity of mobile platforms and devices?
Automation handles platforms and device diversity by leveraging frameworks and tools that support testing on an extensive suite of real devices or using cloud-centric testing platforms. Such solutions give access to diverse gadgets, screen sizes, and OSs (operating systems) for complete test coverage.
- Can mobile app test automation be incorporated into CI/CD pipelines?
Yes, mobile app testing automation can be easily and smoothly integrated into CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipelines. Test automation frameworks compatible with CI/CD tools allow the effective implementation of tests as part of the app development and release workflow.
