Mobile App Performance Testing: All You Need to Know

Mobile app testing is the process of analyzing an app’s performance in a simulated environment. But why does one undertake mobile app testing in the first place? Well, to get better insights about the target audience’s expected to experience once the app becomes available in the market. App testing has gained immense importance over the years for a variety of reasons, especially because it allows companies to make sure that they do not end up offering a substandard app to their users. Performance testing is a key element of the mobile app testing pipeline that enables tracking and predicting performance changes for spikes in connection quality (3G, 4G, LTE) while changing users’ location, increased traffic loads, and so on. Further, when it comes to mobile apps, you also need to test the product across different devices to assess if the performance is affected by the change in screen dimensions. To help you ace this process as well, we have put together a handy little guide. Let us start with a few tips and best practices for ensuring you have a top-notch mobile app testing strategy:

1. Ensure sync between testing and business goals: When establishing testing goals, ensure they are in sync with the company’s overall goals and motivation for developing the app in the first place.
2. Establish test KPIs: Establishing KPIs makes it simpler to determine the success or failure of the testing process.
3. Replicate real-time testing environment: It is important to simulate the real-time testing environment since it allows testers to understand precisely how users engage with the app.
4. Factor in network latency and bandwidth: Since devices use third-party networks to connect to the internet, do not forget to factor in the differences in latency and bandwidth.

It is also important to be aware of the challenges you are likely to face while testing your mobile app:

1. UI variations: A given app’s font, page layout, etc. varies from device to device and the failure to comply with these unique requirements can impede the process of the app being published in app stores.
2. Variety of device-specific features: The market is brimming with different devices, with each of them using a multitude of features such as mic, GPS, camera, etc. Since this is quite challenging to replicate online, testers need hardware, thus increasing the budget.

Time to take a quick look at some of the different types of mobile app testing:

1. Spike testing: Spike testing, which is done when the app experiences short-term surges in traffic, helps verify the app’s performance when the app experiences parameters beyond its limits.
2. Capacity testing: This type of testing is used to determine the number of features and users a given app can maintain with ease. Capacity tests also empower the development team with insights into the workflow and the app’s limits.
3. Load testing: Load testing involves the tester increasing both concurrent transactions and the number of users to identify the app’s load-bearing capacity. The point of this test is to gauge the app’s response time and performance while experiencing heavy traffic.

Now, let us also take a look at some of the tools you can use for mobile app testing.

1. Gatling: It is an open-source tool for app performance testing.
2. Robotium: This automated testing tool offers support for testing native and hybrid apps.
3. Testdroid: This one can be used for manual as well as automated testing.

There you have it, folks: an extensive guide to mobile application performance testing. Keep in mind the pointers discussed above to ace the development strategy and ensure that you have a top-notch product at your hands by the end of the process.