Basic Aspects of Mobile Application Testing

There are three main directions in testing: web, mobile and desktop.

The main principles of testing are applied in all directions, however, certain regularities and differences arise, and other project factors are taken into account, such as the industry (e-commerce, finance, gaming, healthcare, logistics, Ad tech/Ads ware, ERP software, E-government, Security and others) needs of potential users, policies, and rules of work at the Swan company where the application is developed.

A mobile application is software that is designed to be used on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. For its operation, it is necessary to have sufficient device resources, the presence of the program itself and a set of functionality for interaction with the user.

Let’s consider the key aspects that need to be focused on when testing mobile applications and examine them more closely.

Key Aspects

1.  Adaptation to screen sizes and graphical interface:

• Ensuring that all elements of the graphical interface are displayed correctly on different screen sizes.
• Functionality testing of all active elements such as buttons and links.
• Ensuring sufficient reaction speed of active elements.

2.  Touch interface:

• Checking the ability of the user to use all active elements using the touch screen.
• Confidence that repeated quick clicks on the button will not cause the application to crash.
• Support for multi-touch, which allows simultaneous pressing of several buttons or gestures.

3. Screen Orientation:

• Support for both horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait) screen positions.

4. Using special gestures:

• Checking the use of special gestures in the application, such as double-click (double tap), sweep (swipe), zoom (pinch in/out) and others.

5.  Memory management:

• Check for possible memory leaks, especially in content-rich or data-intensive applications.
• Detection of possible problems with memory leaks during long-term operation of the application.

6. Handling limited resources:

• Testing the handling of limited memory situations for the operating system, both during the active and background operation of the application.
• Verifying that the application works properly when there is insufficient space to install or run.

7.  Using an SD card:

• Evaluation of the possibility of installing and operating the application on an SD card.

8.  Energy efficiency:

• Checking the impact of the application on the battery resources of the device, both during active operation and in the background.
• Determining the impact of the application on the battery when using Wi-Fi, 3G Internet, no network connection and other scenarios.

9. Adaptation to screen resolutions:

• Testing the application on devices with different screen resolutions.
• Ensuring that UI elements and text on high-resolution screens (such as retina displays) display properly without excessive scaling.
• Making sure UI elements don’t get too big on devices with low-resolution screens.

10. Check compatibility with supported devices:

• Ensuring application testing on all declared supported devices.
• Ensure that the application cannot be installed on unsupported devices and display an appropriate incompatibility message.

11. Program response to external events and interruptions:

• Processing of incoming and outgoing SMS and MMS messages.
• Answering incoming and outgoing calls.
• Work with reminders, alarms and other notifications.
• Response to changes in Wi-Fi connection. For example, ensuring the correct message and processing when turning on airplane mode with Wi-Fi turned off, or displaying the appropriate message about the absence of an Internet connection when the signal is lost and operations are performed simultaneously.
• Resolving problems with transition to online mode after offline mode.
• Interaction with connecting and disconnecting the SD card.
• Responding to connecting and disconnecting the mobile device to the charger.
• Support for working with a physical keyboard (if supported by device models).
• Correct operation in the background mode. Run the application in the background after pressing the Home button and avoid errors, incorrect display of the last window, and unexpected terminations on the next launch.
• Resuming from sleep mode.
• Ensuring compatibility with and interaction with other applications.

Mobile users expect applications to be simple, intuitive, and seamless anytime, anywhere. Ensuring that the applications we develop function correctly is important to our team at Swan Software Solutions. To find out more about our quality assurance services or discover how a custom solution might help your business, contact us to schedule a free assessment.