Test Automation for mobile devices is often targeted to achieve a reduced complexity of tests and a quick time to value. Mobile phone users unlock their devices for many other applications besides communication, and the device has become a holistic gadget for its users.
As mobile penetration surpassed 80 percent in the USA alone, companies are in a frenzy to leverage this trend to improve their market reach and enhance their sales. With mobile test automation, companies are able to roll out applications for various mobile operating systems and platforms quickly, ensuring their presence across operating systems and handsets is consistent and coherent.
For effective mobile test automation, it is important to realize that a number of factors play a vital role in rolling out a perfect test automation strategy.
Here are a few components of the same:
Test Automation Tool: Selection of the right tool is crucial for mobile test automation as a single tool picked up randomly may not help achieve cross-platform automation that companies desire today. Thus, it is advisable, to begin with, a Proof of Concept on a platform instead of randomly choosing and moving ahead with a particular tool. The right tool should be able to support multiple programming languages and should exhibit flexibility in helping you meet your automation requirements seamlessly. Detailed test failure statistics are also crucial as they provide a chance to know the resolution of test failure for the future testing operations and helps speed up the test process
There is a broad selection of mobile testing tools for automation. Some of them are free, and some of them are expensive. And some of the automation tools were produced earlier and some of them are latest. Each automation tool is unique and holds special features.
Here I like to give you overview on some of the Test Automation Tools through a Video by Joe Colantonio:
- Test Device Management: A number of mobile devices are rolled out by different manufacturers and it has become increasingly difficult for mobile app testers to maintain an inventory of devices for their testing purposes. Thus, more and more organizations are shifting towards cloud service providers who provide emulation environments of various operating systems and charge according to the ones used. Companies can create a strategy to figure out the devices they’d need to perform holistic testing of their mobile application and can then turn to these service providers, saving themselves from a huge investment in buying and frequently updating test devices.
- Outsourcing strategy: Some companies prefer to completely outsource their mobile testing needs, and it works well for them. The companies, to whom the projects are outsourced, typically understand the nuances of mobile application testing and their mobile specialists help tackle emulators and management aspects of mobile test automation. Some other firms also offer development of the testing matrix so that optimum test coverage can be assured with lowest costs.
Watch a video on what is Outsourcing and why outsource by BigOutsource?
- Usability Checks: For a great mobile experience, usability should be considered an important parameter. A mobile testing strategy that checks the mobile app for its usability will do justice to the process of testing. Usability aspects can include a customized mobile UI that is way different from what the desktop looks like, optimization of forms that need to be filled on a mobile device, checking popup and other interruptions to make sure they don’t interrupt the mobile experience. A test automation strategy that includes usability testing will result in thorough testing of the mobile application.
When usability testing is performed correctly, the developed app is a desire to communicate with, and the user love to look ahead to opening it up again and again.
- Testing Facets: There are a lot many testing facets that need to be considered in mobile testing automation. The right strategy for you would consist of any of the following aspects of mobile app testing- unit testing, functional testing, UX testing, performance testing, load testing, regression testing, Stress Testing, Volume Testing, Security Testing, Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Testing, Recovery Testing, Data & Database Integrity Testing etc. Ideally, the aspects to be covered should depend on the application’s strategy- what the application has at its focal, and then the strategy should be carved for the testing of the app.
In the fast-paced Software Testing Services Company, mobile automation testing has become essential. The actual cost of mobile automation testing is recognized when the development experts can grow at a fast speed, without thinking of cutting available characteristics. The right mobile test automation strategy will be a clearly laid out plan including the most crucial components of testing and QA. A robust and mature testing strategy can prove to be the key to an application’s success.
