We love our mobile phones. We take pictures, text friends, and sometimes even use them to make a phone call. For many of us, a mobile phone is about the apps. Apps help us stay connected, inform us, and make our work easier.
Yet according to one study, users uninstall 49% of apps within the first 30 days of installation. Why? There are many reasons, including the app being too spammy, taking up too much storage space, or the user just didn’t need it anymore. In another study, 62% of responders said they would uninstall an app if it freezes, crashes, or has other errors. If your mobile app is the interface to your company, adequate testing can mean the difference between retaining or losing a customer.
Mobile app testing challenges
Compared to browser-based tests, mobile UI testing poses additional challenges. Unlike browsers, phones and tablets and their operating systems can vary significantly in size, performance, operating system versions, and more. To test mobile apps adequately, Agile development teams must verify that the features perform as expected across the most popular configurations.
Mobile devices are also expensive. To safeguard them, many QA teams have asset control systems requiring check-out/in. Testing from remote locations can require shipping the physical device to testers, which incurs costs and delays. For efficient testing, quality-focused teams need ready access to physical and virtual devices.
And finally, authoring a mobile test on a physical device has historically required scripted or coded tests and specialized skills. QA teams need easier ways of composing and maintaining tests that don’t depend on scarce coding resources.
Introducing Testim Mobile
Tricentis Testim historically focused on UI testing for applications accessed through a browser, whether on a laptop or mobile device. We are delighted to announce support for testing native iOS and Android applications from the same platform Agile organizations use to test their web applications. Here are some of the notable features we’ve released, and it’s only the beginning!
- Codeless authoring: Author mobile tests with real physical devices or emulators/simulators. There’s no need to write and maintain Appium, Espresso, or XCUITest scripts that take hours and delay releases.
- Simple device management: Testim Mobile is better together with Tricentis Device Cloud, which gives you access to real iOS and Android devices on our grid with our support. Get insights into your mobile app usability and performance, too, with analytics powered by machine learning.
- Test iOS devices from windows: iOS devices can be connected and uploaded to the Tricentis Mobile Agent even when running on Windows laptops, eliminating the need to use Mac laptops.
- Mobile apps in the cloud: Mobile apps can be uploaded into the cloud and then accessed by other team members for authoring on virtual devices (emulators/simulators).
- Flexible execution options: Run your tests on real or virtual devices, or run your tests in parallel on third-party device clouds like HeadSpin (separate license required).
- Testim web and mobile features: We treat mobile testing as a first-class citizen, providing access to the awesome Testim features you have grown to know and love. Mobile testers work in the same intuitive UI, leveraging built-in validations, parameterization, and shareable groups and steps. Users can customize tests with JavaScript, branch tests, run tests from a scheduler or CI build, and see insightful reporting and TestOps dashboards. And this is just a partial list.
Ready to simplify mobile testing?
It is super easy to get started on Testim Mobile. And if you are new to Tricentis Testim, request a free trial here.
This post was updated in August 2023 to reflect the integration of Tricentis Device Cloud.