Every business sector today is surrounded by numerous mobile applications that act as major business enablers. With the massive increase in the use of smartphones globally, irrespective of the industry most businesses are trying to expand their operations by enabling mobile applications.
Considering the tough competition today, every company that is into product development should have the step of testing as an essential part of their process to guarantee the quality of their product. Testing increases the overall software development efficiency and promises a robust product. Testing can be both manual and automated which is used to test a mobile app or WAP site.
Mobile automation refers to automated testing done on mobile devices. Though mobile testing is more critical than web testing, it is much faster, accurate, dependable and less expensive. It focuses on Android and iOS versions and the screen resolutions of the mobile phone. Today companies are collaborating with several third parties for attractive options on mobile testing solutions.
Mobile test automation can be done with the help of several tools some of which are paid while some are open source. Some of the commonly used mobile automation tools are Appium, Selenium, Frank, etc.
Why companies should go for automated mobile testing?
Nowadays, software companies have to meet rigid deadlines while developing and releasing any mobile apps. But in order to maintain the quality rigorous testing of the apps is essential for addressing any issues before releasing them in the market. Here are few points justifying why you should opt for automated mobile testing over manual testing:
- Improved accuracy – Manual testing involves a lot of mistakes especially while testing a complex use case. Automation testing helps in detecting bugs early during the development phase that ultimately increases the team’s efficiency. Also, automated tests execute the tests with 100% accuracy and produce the same result every time you run them.
- Reduced expenses – If you implement an automated test environment it will help your company to save money as you will need to engage fewer resources on testing your product. Though you need to make an initial investment in setting up an automated testing environment, at the end of the project you can make out the difference in cost and the amount you could save.
- Time-saving – If you implement an automated test environment your team will ultimately waste less time which helps them invest more time in communicating with other departments like design, marketing, etc. or the product owners. They can check the logs of the automated test results at the end of the day and keep track of what is happening.
- Quicker feedback cycle – Implementing automation test aids in minimizing the time of the feedback cycle in the development phase of a product. If manually tested, the feedback for the products developed will take more time.
- Launch the product faster – Since, automated testing tools can constantly test the newly developed features and validate the results, it speeds up the entire process and aids the companies to launch their products in the market faster.
Tips to select a mobile testing automation tool
Selecting a mobile test automation tool can be critical since it directly impacts the outcome of the test results. It has been observed that normally, there is no single automation tool that can achieve all the testing goals. Hence, most companies rely on a combined solution. But it is important to analyze the performance of each tool you intend to use.
Important factors to consider while selecting the tool:
- Take a proper look at the specifications, features, abilities and ease of use of the tool.
- Check if it will meet present and future testing needs.
- Check if the tool is compatible with the mobile app that requires testing.
- Does it support multiple programming languages.
- Its flexibility and scalability.
- Cost involved.
When automated mobile testing is recommended?
Mobile automation testing is valid for both functional and non-functional tests. There are certain circumstances where automated mobile testing is recommended like in the case of long-term projects, maintenance checks, Smoke tests, Regression tests and continuous integration pipelines.
The costs involved
Like any other tool, mobile test automation also has its own costing. This cost varies depending on the vendor service you avail and the packages they have to offer. Against this cost, you get to enjoy a year of premium features, integrations and APIs, frequent enhancements and comprehensive support.
But this doesn’t give the full picture of the total investment required. Apart from the above cost you also need to be ready to spend on the cost of running the tests. In the case of mobile testing, it is recommended to test an app on ten or more different devices. This can again add up to around several hundred dollars per mobile gadget.
Choose the best
HeadSpin is one of the world’s first-ever digital experience AI platforms you can trust on. It was founded in the year 2015 has it headquarters based in Palo Alto, California. The platform provides a powerful and easy-to-use solution in today’s industry. They believe in an API-driven approach and support most open-source top mobile test automation tools like Appium and Selenium. With their help, you can start testing immediately without modifying any of your existing test scripts.