If you want to be a mobile app tester, the best way to learn is to learn from your own mistakes as a mobile app tester. This way you will remember what went wrong and do better next time. But there are few things that you should avoid from the very beginning with mobile testing. Learn what they are and be a better mobile app tester!
1. UI is more important than the app features
Testing the UI is important because it is the first impression users have of an app, but you should not focus only on testing what makes an app look good. Apps have also features users need and those need to be tested, too. As an app tester, if you don’t deliver what users expect, the UI won’t make much difference. The app you were working on will still be uninstalled and good luck with winning users back.
2. Having an in-house mobile testing infrastructure and managing devices is easy
Why are there companies then, that do just that? If it were that easy wouldn’t anyone have a nice and pretty infrastructure in their offices?
Well, creating an own in-house reliable infrastructure is complicated and managing devices is not easy. You may end spending a lot of money to create something that is not really useful or it does not work how you want it to. Device management takes a lot of time and money because devices break and the newest devices are usually expensive. If you are thinking of Android or iOS emulators/simulators it’s not easier at all. If they are not set up correctly, they won’t be much use to you. Cloud solutions for both real device and iOS and Android emulators/simulators are better options, even if they seem expensive at first.
3. Mobile testing on emulators/simulators is always better and cheaper than on real devices
Testing on iOS simulators and Android emulators is in fact the best choice in early development stages, but real devices are more reliable and more effective for testing before releases. Even if you decide to use mainly emulators for your testing purposes, you should definitely have, or have access to, a few real devices – that is the only way you can test an app and experience what your users will.
4. Testing everything is how you become a good mobile app tester
It is better to really test the important things first and think about everything else later on. The truth is, even if you want to, you cannot test everything, and every good mobile app tester knows this, starting from the number of devices and mobile networks there are nowadays. You should have collected data about your target market and you should focus on that. If your target market is Europe, it doesn’t make any sense to test your app on mobile devices that can only be bought in China or on mobile networks that are only available in India. If you do need to test on some of these devices occasionally, you can use Android or iOS emulators/simulators, which suite this purpose just fine.
5. Testing an app randomly is how you find the good bugs
Strategy is the key. You could find bugs by testing randomly but you might not reproduce a bug or do regression testing once a new build is ready. How can a developer fix something if you cannot show him what’s not working? You should find a method that works for you and always stick to that, keeping track of every test case, which should be planned and described in detail beforehand. Following a clear plan is more effective and can save you time while testing.
6. Testing a mobile app has nothing to do with actually knowing what the app is about
But it does. Testing is all about knowing the app you are testing: how can you write test cases if you don’t know what the app is supposed to do? How are your users supposed to interact with it? A deep knowledge of the app you are testing is indeed very important to test an app comprehensively and to deliver a product that users enjoy using.
