A Checklist of Testing Tips for Developing a Mobile App

To claim permanent real estate on the home screens of mobile users, apps must meet consumer expectations for speed, ease of use, responsiveness and more.

It may be obvious to start your app testing by identifying the major operating system platforms that your app supports, but it is also important to test an app on each platform using physical devices. A rushed testing process could potentially be done with emulators simulating the different operating systems. However, emulators do not always accurately match the features that different devices have, and more times than not, the missing features are where the problems in the app occur.

Designing apps to perform consistently on various screen sizes is a big challenge. To minimize the chances of users deleting your app because of a user interface mistake, developers should map all of the models that the app will support and test the UI in each screen size on each device.

Slow Internet speeds can have a major impact on the user’s app experience. It is imperative that your app testing includes slow and fast connections to ensure the experience is acceptable at any speed.

Sometimes users get disconnected from the Internet, but their app experience should not suffer because of it. Testing should ensure that problems are minimized when this happens, especially when it comes to completing forms or transactions. The app must be robust enough to finish the transaction or inform the user that their transaction could not be completed.

It is easier than ever for users to see how much battery power each of their apps is using, so it is important your app testing includes a look at battery consumption. The last thing you want is for your app to be the battery hog.

A smartphone is still a phone after all, so it is imperative that when your app is open, any phone that it is being tested on can continue to accept and receive phone calls and other system notifications.

iOS, Android and Windows each have several platform guidelines that exemplify how to support various features and user experience standards. If an app does not follow these guidelines, there is greater potential for the app to fail.

Often app testing is done in an environment that does not include the full data load they will experience in a production environment. If an app is pulling limited amounts of data during testing, it might miss essential features when more data is needed. Additionally, less data in a test environment might lead you to believe that the performance is better than it would be in an actual production environment.

One of a developer’s biggest challenges is localizing an app. From language translation to text directions and dates, it is important to account for any regional differences in your app testing.

Companies are always excited to get their apps into the hands of their users, but 80 percent of apps are used only once, so it is important that your app makes a great first impression. If your app doesn’t function properly, you are likely to get a negative review—after all, 96 percent of users are willing to write a bad review after using a subpar app. Early negative reviews will make it difficult to develop a loyal user base.