Need For Cross-platform Testing For Mobile Applications

By Author: James Danel
Total Articles: 7
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The penetration of smartphones across demographics and geographies has been phenomenal. It has helped the spread of internet-based services and allowed enterprises, organizations, governments, or even individuals to reach out to their target customers, easily, safely, and quickly. Even statistics suggest their growth with the numbers expected to exceed 3.8 billion in 2021. And according to eMarketer, about 90% of internet time on mobile is spent on apps that have grown to an astonishing figure of 2.9 million. However, notwithstanding their growing numbers on app stores, most of them are not utilized by the customers and do not add to the bottom line or competitiveness of the enterprises developing and marketing them.

Mobile applications have brought a host of benefits to the customers. They can buy groceries and food, book tickets, call a cab, communicate and share information on social media platforms, take online classes, play a multitude of games, and many more. Since so much is riding on these applications, it is important that they are lapped up by their target customers. The very fact that they present a convenient, ...
... quick, safe, and user-friendly medium to access information, products, or services on the internet, they should possess certain attributes. These include quick loading, capable of serving a large number of concurrent users, extremely safe when conducting financial transactions, and adhere to the privacy concerns of their customers. However, these can be easier said than done given the plethora of devices, browsers, operating systems, and networks available in the market. This calls for rigorous mobile testing to check if the applications perform well across platforms. And no points for guessing that mobile app testing can present a number of challenges or obstacles as mentioned below:

Inconsistency in the user interface: The mobile application generally runs on multiple devices, browsers, and operating systems and their versions. Ideally, the application should be such that users are able to pick-up from where they had left irrespective of the device platform being used. To address this requirement, the mobile application should be compatible (to a certain extent) with various screen resolutions and sizes. Besides, there should be consistency in controlling the style sheets and fonts. Thus, it is better to opt for a responsive design and curate an effective mobile application testing strategy.

Interaction and input issues: Inputting data into the device entails the use of various methods – physical buttons, touchscreens, voice, keyboards, or even handwriting recognition software. To perform cross-platform mobile app testing comprehensively, each method of input needs to be reviewed. This is of utmost importance, because if the user has a problem interacting with the app, he or she may abandon it altogether. Further, users in different countries follow different UI conventions making the testing of input methods all the more complicated.

Data storage: The apps having a large volume of transactions or storage of data/images face issues with their cache memory thereby impacting their performance. The testers should ensure the app handles data properly in terms of access, storage, and retrieval.

Security compliance: Security has emerged as the biggest challenge for digital services given its dimensions and consequences. A mobile app can have integrations with third-party apps or platforms making it vulnerable to data breach. Besides, the mobile app needs to comply with various industry and government security protocols and policies, failing which the app making company can face stringent fines or censure. Thus, mobile testing across platforms should include checking key components such as system data tracking, user confidentiality, and data transmission, among others.

Why is cross-platform testing for mobile applications needed?

It is an important phase of quality assurance wherein certain issues are identified related to platforms or configurations. These include consistency, user interface, usability, or performance issues. Besides, the other reasons that make cross-platform mobile app testing critical for the successful adoption of a mobile app by the end customers are:

Saves money on rework by identifying bugs at an early stage of development

Ensures customer satisfaction by delivering a high-quality app that works across all platforms, seamlessly

Validates the mobile app for its scalability, security, reliability, and robustness across platforms

Since mobile applications operate on various devices, browsers, operating systems (and their versions), and networks, they need to be tested thoroughly across platforms.

Conclusion

Testing mobile applications across platforms can be a tricky business unless a proper mobile application testing strategy is put in place. It is an important cog in the wheel for enterprises to achieve customer trust, improve brand equity, and enhance profitability and competitiveness.

Article Source:

James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.
https://www.cigniti.com/services/mobile-testing