What are the most common mobile CI testing mistakes to avoid?

1 Not choosing the right tools

One of the first steps in mobile CI testing is to select the tools that suit your needs and preferences. There are many options available, such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Firebase Test Lab, and Appium. However, not all tools are compatible with each other, or with your mobile platform, language, framework, or testing approach. For example, some tools may not support parallel testing, cross-platform testing, or real device testing. Therefore, you should research and compare the features, costs, and limitations of different tools before deciding on your mobile CI testing stack.

2 Not testing on multiple devices and environments

Another common mistake in mobile CI testing is to rely on a single device or emulator to run your tests. This can lead to false positives or negatives, as your app may behave differently on different devices, screen sizes, resolutions, operating systems, versions, or network conditions. To ensure your app works well on a variety of devices and environments, you should use a device cloud service that provides access to real or virtual devices with different configurations and capabilities. You should also test your app on different network speeds, locations, and orientations to simulate real user scenarios.

3 Not writing clear and maintainable tests

Writing tests for mobile CI testing is not a one-time task. You need to update and refactor your tests regularly to keep them relevant, reliable, and readable. However, some developers neglect to write clear and maintainable tests, which can result in flaky, brittle, or redundant tests that waste time and resources. To avoid this mistake, you should follow some best practices, such as using descriptive names, comments, and assertions for your tests, organizing your tests into logical suites and categories, applying the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle, and using page object models to separate the test logic from the UI elements.

4 Not prioritizing and optimizing your tests

Mobile CI testing can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you have a large number of tests or devices to test on. Therefore, you should not run all your tests every time you make a change to your code. Instead, you should prioritize and optimize your tests based on their importance, frequency, and impact. For example, you can use a test pyramid strategy to run more unit tests and fewer UI tests, as unit tests are faster, cheaper, and more stable. You can also use parallel testing to run multiple tests simultaneously on different devices, which can reduce the overall testing time and increase the test coverage.

5 Not monitoring and reporting your results

The last but not least mistake in mobile CI testing is to ignore or overlook the results of your tests. You should not only check whether your tests pass or fail, but also analyze the root causes, patterns, and trends of your test failures. You should also communicate and share your results with your team and stakeholders, using clear and concise reports and dashboards that show the key metrics, such as test duration, coverage, quality, and performance. By monitoring and reporting your results, you can identify and fix issues faster, improve your test quality and efficiency, and gain insights into your app's usability and functionality.