Mastering Android App Testing: Essential Techniques for Success

Why is Mobile Testing important?

Mobile phones have become a basic necessity these days, and lots of people operate websites or applications via Mobile devices. According to a recent study, Android OS has around 76.5% of the share of the total mobile users. Keeping this in mind, the majority of organizations has incorporated the idea of providing information, selling and promoting their products through this platform.

Keeping up with the demand the mobile industry is also evolving rapidly. New versions of OS are now released quickly resulting in new applications being launched to keep up with the pace and requirement of the end users.

As new devices and operating systems are launching, mobile app testing becomes more challenging and complex.

Any defects in quality will be found by the end user and can result in a huge loss to the success of the product.

How to proceed with Mobile Application Testing?

In order to ensure that an Android Application will work without any flaw, extensive “testing” before releasing the app should be done. Below listed are some scenarios you need to check:

Verify that when a new app is installed over a previous one then the new app should retain all the previous DB and Login session (User shouldn’t have to re-sync the app again and again whenever he/she installs a new version of the app).
Verify if the splash screen is displayed for long enough to read the text or not.
For a multi-lingual app, verify whether the text content and button labels are properly translated or not.
Verify that the application behaves as intended if the mobile device is locked and app resumes from the lock screen.
Verify that application is designed to work on multiple devices. It must be able to display correctly on differing screen sizes. The application should work perfectly on all sizes of devices and without obvious errors.
Verify that application should not crash when there is no internet connectivity and a message like "No Internet Connectivity" should be displayed.
Verify that user can accept/reject voice call at the time when the application is running and can resume back in application from the same point.
The application should give a meaningful error message to indicate that the device is in Airplane mode when connecting to the internet.
Verify that when the device is turned ON all missed notifications which were sent when it was OFF should be received.
Verify if the application uses sensors, the application is correctly driven by these sensors.
Verify that designs of each screen should not be distorted in any of the display modes, i.e. Portrait or Landscape.
Verify that for more secure applications like banking, etc. copy/paste functionality is not allowed.
Verify that application is maintaining a session for specific banking and online transactions related apps.
Verify that prolong and continuous use of app does not overheat the device.
Verify that while uploading image/video specific type, format and size should be specified. A proper validation message should be displayed if the specifications are not followed.
Verify that if the application is connected to the Play Store then the currency for any subscriptions or in-app purchases should be according to the location of the user.
Verify if the application supports speech recognition feature, the application can recognize the voice in the language of the application.
Verify if the application communicates with a web server, and the network coverage fails, does the application automatically reinitiate the communication once the coverage is re-established or not.
Verify that if the device suddenly shuts down unexpectedly, the application does not corrupt data. Last saved data should be saved properly.
Verify that for an app with background music, connecting/disconnecting of headphones should not interrupt the music playback.
Verify the response time and integration of map with the application.
Verify the pins dropped on the map. Lock and unlock the phone. Count of pins should remain the same. Test the same by putting the map screen in the background.
Verify that highlight and press down effect should be there on buttons and links. The focus should be clearly visible and should be according to both Shape and size of the buttons, links, tabs, fields etc.
Verify for the memory issues (like crashes) for the app by leaving application ideal for a long time and then resuming it for testing.

By executing the above-mentioned scenarios you can ensure stability and quality in your Android applications.

At BugRaptors, we have professionals who perform mobile testing services and are constantly helping our clients with their mobile applications. The team works on different tools to proceed with the testing process depending on the size and budget of the application.

Sandeep Vashisht

Sandeep Vashisht is the Manager – Quality Assurance at BugRaptors. With experience of more than 15 years, Sandeep specializes in delivering mobile, web, content management, and eCommerce solutions. He holds a strategic QA vision and has the ability to inspire and mentor quality assurance. He is an expert with a grip on project plan development, test strategy development, test plan development, test case & test data review.