Compatibility Testing in Mobile Applications Using Quality Assurance Service
Tue Nov 07 2023
Introduction
Compatibility Testing is an indispensable process followed in the development of mobile applications. It is an integral part of quality assurance services, where mobile applications are rigorously and methodically tested across versatile mobile devices, browsers, and platforms to validate applications’ behavior and functionality based on users’ expectations. The success of mobile app testing services is defined by the apps’ capability to provide a consistent, rich, and user-friendly experience across diverse operating systems, devices, networks, and hardware. Compatibility testing enables mobile app development companies to deliver a high-quality and seamlessly navigable application.
Main Actors
Quality Assurance Specialist/ Team
The professional team responsible for conducting compatibility testing and executing different test cases to ensure the app’s proper functionality. They collaborate with developers to report test results and issues, verifying the fixes.
Mobile App Development Team
Mobile app developers build and maintain mobile applications on different platforms. They resolve the compatibility issues promptly, making the necessary code changes and sending the application to the quality assurance team to verify the fixes.
Project Manager
They oversee the entire testing process to ensure its smooth running and address issues quickly. They act as a bridge between the testing and development teams for improved project coordination.
Test Environment Manager
They are responsible for establishing and managing the testing environment that involves test emulators, physical device configuration, and stimulators, replicating the diversity of the target user base's devices and operating systems. They ensure the environment is well-prepared for compatibility testing.
Stakeholders
They include end-users and clients who use the mobile application and review or rate the app based on its performance. They download the application from the concerned app store and install it for navigation. Their feedback is crucial to influencing the testing criteria.
Pre-Conditions
The Mobile App is Ready to be Tested
The mobile app is ready for service quality assurance after completing the development phase.
Setting up Multiple Devices and Operating System Versions
Quality assurance specialists must configure the testing environment with multiple physical devices, emulators, and stimulators representing the target audience. These include smartphones, tablets, iPads, and operating systems like Android and iOS.
Defining the Test Cases and Compatibility Criteria
Quality assurance services involve defining and documenting test cases comprehensively with details related to test data, test scenarios, and expected results. Compatibility criteria outline specific devices, platform editions, and configurations to be tested.
Providing Access to Physical Devices and Emulators
The testing team must have access to the physical devices, emulators, or simulators necessary for compatibility testing.
Documenting the App’s Features and Functionalities
Detailed documentation of the apps’ functionalities and features is integral for custom mobile app development. It helps to design unique test cases and validate compatibility.
Isolating the Test Environment
Mobile app testers must isolate test environments to prevent external interference from processes, networks, and factors impacting the test results.
Familiarity With App’s Intended User Base and Usage Scenarios
Quality assurance testers must have a comprehensive understanding of their target audience and usage scenarios to ensure the test’s relevancy.
Preparation of Test Data and Test Accounts
Test data, such as sample user accounts or data sets, should be available for conducting the test cases.
Post-Conditions
All Compatibility Issues Are Identified, Categorized, and Documented
All compatibility issues, such as inconsistency in user interfaces, functionality errors, and performance bottlenecks, have been identified, recorded meticulously, and categorized based on severity levels to fix them on priority.
Compatibility Report Gets Generated
The compatibility report is generated, summarizing the test results and critical issues found. It includes details about platforms and devices tested, problems encountered, and intricacies solved.
Developers Address and Fix the Issues
Once the challenges are identified and reported, developers quickly fix the core issues, and the application is re-tested to check whether the reported issues have been resolved successfully or not.
The App is Verified to Be Compatible
After completing all thorough mobile app testing services, the application is verified to be compatible with the defined set of devices and operating system versions.
The App Gets Ready For Production Release
Once compatibility testing and service quality assurance are completed, and the app is verified to work on the intended devices and OS versions, it can proceed toward production release.
End-Users and Stakeholders Get Informed About Test Results
All stakeholders, including end-users and clients, get familiar with the outcome of compatibility testing. This increases transparency in quality assurance services, enhancing informed decision-making about the application launching.
Main Flow
Quality Assurance Team Reviews the Test Cases
The quality assurance team meticulously reviews the test cases and plans, considering all the essential features and usage scenarios of the mobile app. The aim is to ensure the test cases are relevant and align with the applications’ features and intended usage.
Ensuring the Setup of Test Environments
It is crucial to provide a test environment correctly set up in a custom mobile app development service alongside necessary hardware, emulators, and configurations. It includes preparing physical devices and configuring emulators or simulators. The test environment manager also ensures the environment is closely stimulated with diverse operating systems and different sets of devices.
Quality Assurance Team Installs the Mobile App on Various Platforms
Taking the mobile app testing services forward, the quality assurance team installs the mobile application on different operating systems, such as Android and iOS, and various devices, ensuring that each device represents a specific target configuration mentioned in the compatibility criteria. They execute the test cases following the order defined in the test plan to cover different usage scenarios and functionalities.
Quality Assurance Team Executes Test Cases
Service quality assurance deals with executing the test cases to verify compatibility issues, functionality errors, and performance bottlenecks. The quality assurance specialist must interact with the app to identify compatibility issues, such as user interface inconsistencies or non-functioning of a feature. All such problems are noted and well-documented to resolve them quickly.
The Issues are Logged in a Defect Tracking System
If the quality assurance team identifies the core issues, they can log them in a defect tracking system. This system includes vital information about the severity of the defect, steps to retrieve, screenshots, and other relevant details. It is also a crucial step that bridges and improves communication between the development team and the QA team for faster resolution.
Development Team Receives Notifications About Reported Defects
The custom mobile app development team receives real-time notifications about the issues in the app and prioritizes their tasks based on the severity and potential impact of the app’s functionality. Serious problems require instant action, while the less severe ones can be resolved later in the upcoming development cycles.
The Identified Issues are Resolved and Reverted to the Testing Team
Developers work on identifying and fixing the core issues, making relevant code changes, and improving the app’s features and functionalities. Once all rectifications are completed, the app reverts to the quality assurance services team for verification.
Quality Assurance Team Restarts the App on the Devices
After receiving the application from developers, quality assurance testers re-execute the test cases on the devices where compatibility issues were previously detected, ensuring developers have fixed all the problems successfully.
Generating the Results and Reports of Compatibility Tests
The quality assurance services team generates compatibility reports summarizing the test results. It further contains detailed lists of all resolved issues and a clear indication of compatibility across devices and operating system versions.
Alternative Flow
- Arranging All Types of Devices and Platform Versions - The quality assurance team may face the challenge of arranging all types of mobile devices and specified available operating system versions. It becomes a time-consuming process, and they have to conduct service quality assurance testing on their devices.
- The App Size is Big - Compatibility testing may come under the scanner if the application’s layout and content size are big and do not fit well into all mobile screens. The custom mobile app development team has to make coding changes to fit the mobile screen size.
- Navigation Issues - Quality assurance specialists find navigation issues in the mobile application due to small screen size. The developers and user interface designers fix the problem by changing the app screen size and designing a responsive layout.
- Features Not Working Properly - It is found that a few app features need to be fixed for all types of devices and configurations. The quality assurance specialists may have to perform an additional functional test to rectify the problem.
Conclusion
Compatibility testing across mobile devices and operating systems is an integral aspect of quality assurance services that focus on crafting user-centric, high-end, and intuitive mobile applications. Optimal mobile app testing emphasizes guaranteeing consistent and improved user experience by complying with the latest test plans, implementing the best testing practices, and establishing suitable collaboration testers with developers. In the mobile app compatibility testing, the results are thoroughly verified and validated with the intended devices and platforms to release a successful, user-friendly, and robust mobile application.
Suggested TechStack
Appium is a widely used open-source mobile app testing framework that supports Android and iOS platforms. It allows you to write test scripts in various programming languages and is known for its versatility and ease of use.
Espresso and XCUITest are native testing frameworks for Android and iOS, respectively. They offer a reliable and efficient way to write UI tests tailored to each platform, making them the preferred choice for native app testing.
BrowserStack is a leading cloud-based mobile app testing platform that provides access to many real devices and emulators, allowing comprehensive testing across Android and iOS versions. Its extensive device coverage and user-friendly interface make it a popular choice.
Sauce Labs is a widely recognized cloud-based platform for mobile app testing, offering real device and simulator testing for Android and iOS. Its robust testing capabilities and advanced reporting tools make it a top enterprise choice.
LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that also offers mobile app testing capabilities on Android and iOS. It provides a wide range of devices and browser versions, making it a versatile choice for compatibility testing, and supports both automated and manual testing.
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