If you are developing a mobile app, you want to make sure it works well on different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes. However, testing cross-platform compatibility can be expensive and time-consuming if you don't follow some best practices. In this article, you will learn how to test your app on a budget without compromising quality.
One way to reduce the cost and complexity of testing your app is to use a cross-platform framework that allows you to write one codebase and deploy it to multiple platforms. Some popular examples are React Native, Flutter, Ionic, and Xamarin. These frameworks provide tools and libraries to create native-like user interfaces, access device features, and manage data. They also support testing tools and automation frameworks that can help you run tests across different platforms and devices.
Prioritize Platforms: Identify the most important platforms for your application based on your target audience. Use Emulators: Emulators can simulate different devices and operating systems on your development machine. They are a cost-effective way to test your application on different platforms Leverage Browser Developer Tools: For web applications, browser developer tools can simulate different screen sizes and resolutions. Beta Testing: Release your application to a small group of beta testers. Automated Testing: Implement automated testing to ensure that your application behaves as expected across different platforms.
1. Focus on using open-source testing tools, especially ones with active communities. 2. Prioritize testing. If you know iOS is your major user base, test that first. 3. Engage with beta users to get real-world insights and feedback.
Know what you really want. Make sure to define your goals upfront. Gather data about your target audience, to learn what devices are they using and what platforms. Talk to product people about the potential features. Some hardware specific features might not be possible to implement with cross-platform tools. With this knowledge start to invest time to check if a cross-platform tool is the right tool for you. It's really important to check all the needed information before you pick a framework. Changing this later in the project, might delay the release and will increase the overall costs.
Another way to save money and time on testing your app is to use emulators and simulators that mimic the behavior and appearance of real devices. Emulators and simulators are software applications that run on your computer and allow you to test your app without having to buy or rent physical devices. They can also help you test different scenarios, such as network conditions, battery levels, and location settings. However, emulators and simulators are not perfect substitutes for real devices, as they may not reproduce some hardware-specific issues, such as performance, memory, or camera quality. Therefore, you should also test your app on a few real devices before launching it.
Emulators and simulators should only be used for checking code changes quickly. In the best case, it's the first test environment a mobile developer is using, to quickly check a code change. Never ever, rely completely on emulators or simulators for your project. Your customers will also not use the product on an emulator or simulator. They use the product on real devices. Therefore, you have to test on real devices, too. Make sure to get your hands-on a view of real devices for developing and testing. Use cloud providers for real device test automation.
Testing your app on every possible device and platform combination is not feasible, especially on a budget. Therefore, you must select a representative sample of devices that cover the most common and important variations in your target market. When making your selection, consider the platforms, screen sizes, hardware specifications, and popularity among your target audience. For example, look for devices that run on different versions of iOS and Android, as well as other platforms such as Windows or Blackberry. Additionally, choose devices with different screen sizes and resolutions from small phones to large tablets. Furthermore, select devices with various hardware specifications like CPU, RAM, storage, battery, camera, sensors, etc. Finally, use market research or analytics data to choose devices that are popular among your target audience.
I usually create mobile device groups, based on the target audience. Gather information about the most used devices in this group. Then see how many different devices are used. Try to prioritize the devices your customers are using. Maybe you are able to great so-called device groups. For example, group A with priority High, group B with priority middle and group C with priority low. Then add devices to each group. In a test cycle, choose 2–3 devices from each group and test new products or app releases. With this you will downsize the testing effort.
Automating your tests can help you save time and resources, as well as improve the consistency and reliability of your results. Automated tests are scripts that run your app and check its functionality, performance, usability, and security without human intervention. You can use automation frameworks, such as Appium, Espresso, or XCUITest, to write and execute your tests across different platforms and devices. You can also use cloud-based testing services, such as Firebase Test Lab, AWS Device Farm, or BrowserStack, to access a large pool of real and virtual devices and run your tests remotely.
Yes, do test automation as an addition to all your mobile testing efforts. Use mobile automation to free up the time for the real mobile testing challenges like testing on the go, or test against different hardware sensors. Combine mobile testing automation tools. Don't blindly rely on UI testing frameworks. First, make a plan! Learn about your tech stack and ask yourself the question: Can I test this feature on a different level of the tech stack? I bet you can test many things on the backend with Unit tests. Then you can write a set of API tests and last but not least you can define user journeys in your app, that you automate with a UI testing framework.
Finally, you should follow some testing standards and best practices to ensure the quality and compatibility of your app. To start, test your app throughout the development process, from the design stage to the deployment stage. Furthermore, test your app in various network conditions, such as Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, or offline. Additionally, test it with different types of inputs, such as touch, voice, keyboard or gestures, and different data formats. Lastly, test it with different types of users and preferences. By following these best practices, you can test your app's cross-platform compatibility on a budget and deliver a great user experience to your customers.