The growth of mobile technologies is unprecedented, and the rate keeps going up every year. This also brings new opportunities and challenges in the mobile app development sector. However, we generally overlook something else that’s just as important – testing. Mobile applications are meant to keep users engaged while providing an immersive experience that’d make them come back to use the app again. This is why you should make sure there are no mistakes when testing mobile applications.

Here are a few common mistakes mobile testers generally tend to make.

1) Focusing too much on the looks

Mobile apps should certainly provide a great user experience. So there should be focus on the UI/UX. However, testers tend to focus more on this aspect while not giving much thought to the actual purpose of the app. If the app fails in performing the actions it was designed for, even if it’s good looking, it will deter users. This applies to standard software testing as well.

2) Networking issues

The app’s offline and online functionalities are normally tested. However, testers may overlook a critical issue. The app should be able to function properly across various bandwidths. Testing this may uncover networking issues as well. Not all users will have good network capabilities.

3) Opting not to prepare a complete report

Inadequate knowledge, miscommunication, impending launch deadlines etc. may force a tester to prepare an incomplete report on bugs. Consequently, the developers won’t be able to rectify all the bugs in time resulting in an app with glitches that may even impede its performance. Though this issue is not a big concern in an Agile ecosystem, it’s still something testers need to work around.

4) A single tester may not be enough

Employing just one tester to test the mobile application is something even a development company with sufficient resources may do, though it’s commonly practiced by companies with limited resources. The mobile application development company should make it a policy to hire experienced testers on different environments on the team. Their varying capabilities essentially help detect more potential flaws in the app, and at a shorter time.

5) Wrong notion that web and mobile testing are similar

A tester familiar with both will know that website testing and mobile app testing are fundamentally different. First off, a mobile application requires more frequent updates than a web application. The mobile tester should be able to figure out an approach where the app functionality can be validated in sync along with scheduled updates.

6) Not utilizing crash logs

Of the various factors that contributes to a poor rating of an application, frequent crashes is at the top. The tester should maintain a report of every occurrence of an app crash, which will subsequently make it easier for them to prioritize major bugs across the various sections of the app. This reduces the likelihood of crashes post launch.

7) Taking customer feedback into account

The mobile tester’s job isn’t over once the app is launched. In many cases, despite great effort from the testers, the app may still have some bugs that they may have missed. Regular users may come across that particular issue more often. Most of those users report the bugs through reviews or other feedback options. So the tester must be going through user reviews post launch to see if any bugs they missed have been spotted by users, and report them to get them rectified with the next update.