Mobile Application Quality Assurance: complete Guide

Mobile apps are powerful tools for businesses and organizations, allowing them to engage customers, streamline operations, and unlock new income streams.

Consequently, a lot of focus is placed on mobile app quality assurance (QA).

Poor-quality apps will likely be left by users and can harm the business’s standing and bottom line. A mobile app development company will test the app it creates for you. If you’re creating it yourself, however, you may see QA as a place where you can save period and resources.

This article explores the significance of testing and quality assurance in the mobile app development lifecycle. We cover the best procedures to follow, helpful tools to operate, and the explanations why mobile app QA testing is not where you should cut corners.

Role of Testing in the software development

The role of testing in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) is huge and undeniable. Throughout the testing phase, designers run through all the codes written and features integrated into the software and application. and they don’t just do it once; they constantly run through the entire procedure to make sure the application or software is absolutely free of any bugs or errors and functions correctly every time. Thus, ensuring that the user will get a fantastic and optimized user experience.

What is Quality Assurance (QA)

Each industry has its standards that all products should be designed to meet and work by. This includes design procedures, detailed security measures, etc. Quality assurance testing is the procedure of measuring the degree to which your application or software matches these criteria and guidelines.

Unlike many other testing methods that focus on a detailed part of the application or software, such as codes, QA testing concentrates on all the app’s processes. This includes all the phases in the software development method, such as design and implementation. People may think that QA is the same as testing. Although QA technically is a part of testing, both can vary in some aspects, such as focus or purpose. While testing’s main purpose is to find bugs and errors and resolve them, QA focuses on enhancing the overall user experience and performance of the application.

A group known as the QA team generally oversees mobile application quality assurance. This team’s objective is to ensure that all the application’s components are of good quality and compiled according to industry standards. For instance, both Google and Apple have a set of standards for application design, with exact measurements, shades, and ratios. The QA team’s role is to compare these guidelines with the ones located in the application and make sure that the application or software tracks them.

The QA process

Now that we’ve had an outline of QA, it is time to know about the QA that developers and the QA team go through. There are usually 5 steps:

Analyze Requirements

The first step in the QA procedure is analyzing requirements. Throughout this step, the QA team should study and comprehend all the software development conditions that they will use later on in comparing and testing. These needs are the ones set by developers during the planning and growth phases as to how the app should look and function exactly. There are two kinds of requirements: functional needs and non-functional needs. The functional requirements focus on the mobile application or software features that the users would operate. Non-functional requirements concentrate on the overall performance of the app and how it should function.

Test Planning and Preparing

After examining the requirements of the application or software and collecting all the information needed, the QA team should perform on planning the tests. Planning the test indicates that they will get to set everything, such as what approaches or testing procedures they will use. Such things are later prepared and organized in something called test cases.

Design Test Cases

Designing the test case is one of the essential steps of the QA procedure. During this step, the QA team starts designing the test case. The test case is a document that includes a clear vision of everything concerning the test. This includes the testing environment, techniques, procedures, and anticipated results that would be compared later with the actual ones. Formulating and structuring such components for practical testing is the primary principle of test case design.

Report and Measure Errors

In this step, the QA team begins running all the test they founded in the designed test case. These tests are run at all classes across the mobile application or software. All the errors and bugs counted and found are then reported in a tracking and reporting system to be considered effectively. All these errors are usually shared across the complete team to be discussed and fixed later on.

Re-run Tests and Regression Tests

Throughout this step, the QA team reports any difficulties to the development team. The developers assess the problem and begin working to correct the problems. In order to guarantee that all of the fixes have been implemented perfectly, the QA team will rerun all of the tests once they have hooked up. In addition, a test known as a regression test is performed to ensure that all features are functioning perfectly and that no feature is involved or influenced by any other feature.

Helpful Tools for Mobile App Testing and Quality Assurance

Selecting the right tools can make a considerable difference in the effectiveness and efficiency of mobile app testing and QA. Here are some famous tools:

Calabash

Calabash is an open-source tool for automated approval testing of Android and iOS apps. It authorizes writing and executing tests in a natural language format, making it more comfortable for non-technical stakeholders to comprehend and contribute.

Espresso

Espresso is a testing framework delivered by Google for Android apps. It’s widely utilized for its advanced synchronization capabilities, which automatically control the speed of test execution to provide reliable results.

Appium

Appium is an open-source tool for automating mobile app testing. It helps native, mobile web, and hybrid apps on both iOS and Android platforms. Appium permits writing tests in numerous programming languages, making it a flexible choice for various teams.

XCTest

XCTest is a testing framework delivered by Apple for iOS apps. It combines seamlessly with Xcode, Apple’s IDE, making it more straightforward to write and run tests. XCTest sustains both unit testing and UI testing.

JIRA

JIRA is a famous project management tool for tracking bugs, problems, and tasks throughout the development lifecycle. It delivers complete planning, tracking, and reporting features, making it easier to handle and coordinate testing efforts.

TestRail

TestRail is a complete test case management tool that helps manage and track software testing efforts. It delivers powerful features for developing test cases, managing test runs, and reporting results.

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs is a cloud-based platform for testing web and mobile applications. It delivers access to many virtual and real devices and operating systems, allowing extensive compatibility testing without requiring a physical device lab.

Jenkins

Jenkins is an open-source tool utilized for continuous integration and continuous delivery. It automates the method of building, testing, and deploying applications, making it more comfortable to continuously test and deliver high-quality apps.

Conclusion

A well-tested app, validated through strict QA processes, provides a high-quality product that wins consumer trust and improves the brand’s reputation.

Integrating powerful mobile app testing and QA strategies within the development method can set the stage for delivering high-quality, successful apps that resonate with users and stand the trial of time.