Mobile App Testing Services: Importance, Benefits & Best Practices

With billons of users relying on mobile applications for communication to shopping – they have become an integral part of our daily lives. Testing is an evident part of the mobile app development procedure and it aims to give a seamless experience to all its customers. However, mobile app testing can be error-prone, time-consuming, and even expensive, if not done appropriately.

Today, it’s effortless to find a plethora of tips to optimize the mobile app testing process available on Google; however, not every tip is practical. We’ll discuss some common testing difficulties and come up with the following best practices to test your mobile strategy.

Importance of Mobile App Testing

As of 2024, an estimated 4.88 billion people own a smartphone. That’s an increase of 635 million new smartphone users over the past year alone (between 2023 and 2024). With around 4.32 billion active internet users in the world, 93.2% of them have access to the internet using mobile devices. 61.95% of worldwide online visits come alone from Mobile devices. The increased mobile device usage looks like it will gradually continue over the coming years.

In the not-too-distant, companies were concentrating on making their websites mobile-friendly, but today organizations focus on making their mobile applications device-friendly because the benefits are substantial. However, there are risks involved with applications that aren’t as impactful as those for a website.

Mobile app testing is an essential step as part of the development process. It ensures a high-quality mobile experience for users to help detect issues that would go unnoticed.

Improved functionality: Helps to identify and fix technical glitches so the app functions smoothly.
Better user experience: Improves user experience by detecting usability issues and enables the developers to make the essential changes.
Cost-saving: Issues detected early can help reduce development costs.
Increased user engagement: Developers aims for the app to meet user expectations, grow engagement and make the app success by proper testing.
Competitive edge: A great user experience gives an app a competitive edge in the market, leading to business growth.

Benefits of Mobile App Testing Services

Investing in mobile app testing services provides various benefits that are essential to provide a profound impact on the app’s success. Some key advantages are:

Customer communication: To deliver promotions and discounts directly to the customer, push notifications can be used which encourages them to convert. Geolocation technologies help to notify customers of special offers and they can also be used to inform customers that you have a store nearby.
Customer loyalty programs: It increase the chances of having a repeat customer base. Giving app-only offers, tracking regular logins, free items when several purchases are complete, and one-day offers all encourage customers to return to your app. Push notifications and proximity to completing or losing an offer – all play into customer loyalty.
Always with Customer: If your customer loves your app, it will likely be saved on the home screen page of their phone. Every time they access their phone it’s a constant reminder and your brand is at the forefront of your customer’s phone usage journey. Mobile app usage hit 3 hours 28 minutes in 2023 vs. 51 minutes spent on web browsers. That is a lot of time for your brand to be visible to your end customer via your app.
App is mobile friendly: As an app is developed to be used on mobile from its inception, it will likely be more mobile friendly than a website that has been optimized for mobile usage. Therefore, the app will be focused on mobile user journeys and provide a better user experience.
Trust: An app is a standalone installation that must pass through multiple quality gates and checks before it is available via Google or Apple Stores.

Best Practices for Mobile App Testing

To maximize the effectiveness of your mobile app testing, you must follow the best practices from the industry. Here are some key guidelines to keep in mind:

Comprehensive Test Planning: The mobile app testing process should begin right from the start of the development process. Testing is no different from coding and should be carried out at every level of the development. It is better to identify the flaws and correct them at an earlier stage.
Test Across Multiple Devices and Platforms: The scope of mobile app testing should be clearly defined as it is important to reduce the scope of the testing to a level that can be supported internally. It is also crucial to keep in mind that it is not always possible to test the app for every OS, device model, manufacturer, carrier, etc., and therefore work needs to be prioritized accordingly.
Automate Testing Where Possible: While it is valuable, manual app testing is time-consuming and tricky for testing large data sets. To save time, consider automated testing for repetitive tasks and large data sets. Automated app testing delivers more accurate results and immediate feedback, which can help speed up development.
Prioritize Security Testing: Running mobile app testing as early as possible in the development process is essential to ensure quality and reduce costs. The sooner you discover issues with your app’s functionality, the sooner you can fix them. This is especially important for UI/UX testing, as it is users’ first impression of your app.
Automate Testing – Automation of mobile app testing is important to increase the productivity of the testing process. IDEs, in-house scripts, and cloud testing frameworks need to be created to detect the various flaws and design faults. Automation of testing procedures reduces time to primarily market and increases overall ROI.

Conclusion

In today’s highly competitive mobile app market, ensuring the quality, performance, and security of your app is more crucial than ever. Mobile app testing services, a key component of comprehensive software testing services, play a vital role in achieving these goals, offering several benefits that contribute to the success of your app. By following best practices and investing in comprehensive testing, you can deliver a reliable, user-friendly app that stands out in the crowded app marketplace.