In Australia, where mobile app usage has skyrocketed with a projected steady annual growth rate of 7.37% from 2022 to 2027, delivering a seamless and bug-free digital experience is paramount. 

Mobile applications are the most popular means of entertainment, organiser and shopping tool. This is the reason why most of the industries like healthcare, fintech, fitness, eCommerce and retail are observing huge profitability from their company’s mobile apps alone. 

However, a slithery, sluggish and slow application can ruin the user experience to an extent that they may decide not to return to that particular app forever. 

Hence, to ensure that your users do not have to face any inconvenience, mobile testing is the most critical step that is being followed during the creation and after the formation of your business mobile application.  

Mobile testing helps in checking the performance and functionality of your app to ensure that it is robust, reliable, and meets the expectations of your audience. Thus, we have come up with this blog where we’ll give you a comprehensive picture of the importance of mobile app testing.

Here, we’ll learn about the methodology and tools used to test the application and expert agencies can streamline this critical phase, saving you time, money, and reputational damage from potential app failures.

What is Mobile App Testing?

Mobile app testing is the process of evaluating a mobile application to ensure it functions as intended, delivers an optimal user experience, and meets quality standards across various devices, operating systems, and network conditions. 

This comprehensive evaluation involves testing for functionality, performance, compatibility, usability, security, and compliance with regulations. 

Components of Mobile App testing

By identifying and fixing issues before an app’s launch, mobile app testing ensures that the application performs seamlessly, maintains data security, and satisfies user expectations, ultimately contributing to its success in a competitive market.

Mobile Application Testing Techniques

Effective mobile app testing requires a blend of manual and automation testing techniques to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the application. Each method serves specific purposes and offers unique advantages depending on the testing requirements and project goals. 

Manual Testing

Manual testing involves human testers interacting directly with the app to identify bugs, assess usability, and evaluate user experiences. This method is essential for scenarios that require subjective evaluation, creativity, and human intuition. 

Thus, manual testing:

  • Involves human testers interacting directly with the app.
  • Focuses on usability, user experience, and exploratory testing.
  • Ideal for subjective aspects like user interface design and overall feel.
  • Can be time-consuming and prone to human error.
Automation Testing

Automation testing uses scripts and tools to execute test cases, making it efficient for repetitive tasks, large datasets, and regression testing. It is particularly useful for ensuring consistent performance across multiple devices and platforms. 

Thus, automation testing:

  • Utilises scripts and tools to execute tests repeatedly.
  • Suitable for repetitive tasks like functional testing, performance testing, and regression testing.
  • Faster and more efficient than manual testing for large-scale projects.
  • Requires initial setup and maintenance of test scripts.

Why Mobile App Testing is Crucial for Businesses?

Mobile app testing is vital for businesses to ensure the success and longevity of their applications in a competitive digital marketplace. 

With users expecting flawless performance and intuitive interfaces, even minor glitches or bugs can lead to uninstalls, negative reviews, and brand reputation damage. Testing helps you identify and resolve issues early, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable user experience.

Hence, mobile app testing is crucial for your business because it directly impacts the success and reputation of your mobile applications. The major reasons why it is crucial are:

  • Enhanced User Experience: Thorough testing ensures a smooth and enjoyable user experience, leading to higher user satisfaction and retention.
  • Improved App Performance: Identifying and fixing performance bottlenecks, such as slow loading times and crashes, is critical for a positive user experience.
  • Brand Reputation: A buggy or unstable app can severely damage your brand reputation and erode user trust.
  • Increased Revenue: A well-tested app can lead to higher user engagement, increased app store ratings, and ultimately, a boost in revenue.
  • Reduced Development Costs: Identifying and fixing bugs early in the development cycle is significantly more cost-effective than addressing them later.

Therefore, mobile app testing saves businesses time, money, and resources by reducing the risk of post-launch failures, while improving customer satisfaction and trust. 

A well-tested app not only boosts user retention but also strengthens a brand's position in the market, driving long-term growth and success.

Types of Mobile App Testing: What Features to Analyse?

Effective mobile app testing involves a variety of techniques, each designed to analyse specific features and functionalities of the application. 

By thoroughly analysing these features through appropriate testing methods, you can ensure that your mobile app is high-quality, user-friendly, and successful in the market. Let us now see the breakdown of the key types of mobile app testing and the features they focus on:

7 types of mobile app testing
Functional Testing

Functional testing focuses on verifying whether the application’s features and functionalities work as intended. It involves evaluating each feature against defined requirements to ensure proper operation and user interaction. 

Features to Analyse:

  • Core Functionality: Does each feature (e.g., login, payment gateways) perform its primary function correctly?   
  • User Interactions: Testing buttons, menus, forms, and other interactive elements.   
  • Data Handling: How the app handles data entry, storage, retrieval, and deletion.
  • Business Logic: Testing the app's adherence to specific business rules and regulations.

Testers check for both expected results and edge cases to uncover potential issues. Functional testing is typically performed manually or using automation tools, depending on the complexity and scope of the app.

Usability Testing

Usability testing evaluates how user-friendly and intuitive an application is for its intended audience. This testing focuses on the app’s design, navigation, and overall user experience to ensure it meets user expectations and delivers seamless interactions.

Features to Analyse:

  • User Interface (UI) Design: Is the UI visually appealing, easy to understand, and consistent?
  • User Experience (UX) Flow: Is the app's navigation logical and easy to follow?   
  • Ease of Use: Can users easily accomplish their goals within the app?
  • User Feedback: Gathering feedback from real users on their experience.

Testers observe real users as they perform specific tasks, assessing factors like ease of navigation, clarity of instructions, and efficiency in completing tasks.

Performance Testing

Performance testing assesses how an application behaves under various conditions, ensuring it delivers consistent and reliable performance. 

Features to Analyse:

  • Load Testing: How the app performs under expected user loads.   
  • Stress Testing: How the app handles extreme loads and unexpected conditions.   
  • Endurance Testing: How the app performs over an extended period of time.   
  • Battery Consumption: How much battery power the app consumes.

This includes assessing how the app handles expected user loads (load testing), extreme conditions (stress testing), and prolonged usage (endurance testing). It also measures battery consumption to ensure the app doesn't drain device power excessively.

Compatibility Testing

Compatibility testing ensures that a mobile app functions seamlessly across different devices, operating systems, and network conditions. This involves testing the app on various devices with different screen sizes, on various OS versions and network strengths. 

Features to Analyse:

  • Device Compatibility: Testing on various devices (phones, tablets) with different screen sizes and resolutions.   
  • OS Compatibility: Testing on different versions of Android and iOS.   
  • Network Compatibility: Testing on different network conditions (Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G)

The goal is to identify and address any compatibility issues that may prevent the app from running smoothly on different platforms and environments, ensuring a consistent user experience for all users.

Security Testing

Security testing focuses on identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities to ensure the app protects sensitive user data and withstands potential threats. 

Features to Analyse:

  • Data Encryption: How user data is protected during transmission and storage.   
  • Authentication and Authorisation: Testing login mechanisms and user access controls.  
  • Vulnerability Scanning: Identifying and addressing potential security loopholes.   

This testing evaluates the app’s defenses against unauthorised access, data breaches, malware attacks, and other security risks. It also ensures compliance with relevant privacy laws and industry standards, such as the GDPR or Australia’s Privacy Act.

Localisation Testing

Localisation testing ensures that a mobile application is tailored to meet the cultural, linguistic, and regional preferences of its target audience in specific locales. 

Features to Analyse:

  • Language Translation: Accuracy and clarity of translations.   
  • Cultural Sensitivity: Ensuring the app is culturally appropriate for different regions.   
  • Currency and Date Formats: Correct display and handling of local formats.   

This testing verifies the accuracy of translated content, alignment of text, proper display of date, time, and currency formats, and adherence to local regulations or standards. It also assesses whether cultural nuances, such as symbols, colours, and images, are appropriately adapted to avoid misunderstandings or offense.

Accessibility Testing

Accessibility testing ensures the application is usable by individuals with disabilities, such as visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. This type of testing evaluates features like screen reader compatibility, alternative text for images, keyboard and gesture navigation, etc.

Features to Analyse:

  • Screen Reader Compatibility: How well the app works with screen readers.
  • Colour Contrast: Ensuring sufficient colour contrast for users with visual impairments.   
  • Keyboard Navigation: Testing the app's usability with only a keyboard.   

The goal is to verify that the app complies with accessibility standards, such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) or regional regulations like the Disability Discrimination Act in Australia.

How Mobile App Testing is Different from Web App Testing?

Mobile app and web app are often taken as a single term, however there is a difference between the two. Likewise, there is a difference between their respective testing methodologies. 

Let us now understand the point of distinction between mobile app and web app testing methods through the table below: 

Mobile App Testing v/s Web App Testing

Elements

Mobile App Testing

Web App Testing

Platform

Mobile Devices (smartphones, tablets)

Web Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.)

Focus

Device compatibility, performance under varying network conditions, battery consumption, user interface (UI) for touchscreens

Browser compatibility, cross-browser compatibility, responsiveness across different screen sizes

Testing Environments

Wide range of devices, emulators/simulators, real devices

Different browsers, operating systems, screen resolutions

User Interactions

Touchscreen gestures (tap, swipe, pinch), GPS, camera, accelerometer

Mouse clicks, keyboard input, scrolling

Key Considerations

Device fragmentation, network connectivity, battery life, storage space

Browser compatibility, cross-browser compatibility, server-side performance

How to Test Mobile Application: The Process

Now that we know that mobile testing is as critical as creating your app, it is time to understand the processes involved in this. 

However, testing a mobile application involves a structured and iterative process to ensure the app’s quality, functionality, and user experience, hence, it is better to hire an expert service if you have limited command or know-how over the processes involved.

But, if you are sure to go ahead, let us give you a quick understanding of the step-by-step testing process of mobile application below: 

Step 1: Define Objective and Requirements

This is the initial and crucial step that sets the foundation for the entire testing effort of your mobile application. 

Objectives outline the desired outcomes of testing, such as identifying bugs, ensuring user satisfaction, or verifying performance. Requirements analysis involves a thorough examination of all functionalities, features, and user interactions specified for the app. 

This deep understanding of the app's intended behavior guides the development of comprehensive test cases and ensures that all aspects of the application are thoroughly tested.

Step 2: Develop a Testing Strategy

In this step, you will work on outlining the overall approach to testing the mobile app. 

This includes selecting the appropriate testing methodologies (manual, automated, or a combination), identifying the necessary resources (testers, tools, devices), defining the testing environment, and establishing clear entry and exit criteria for each testing phase. 

A well-defined testing strategy ensures that the testing process is efficient, effective, and aligned with the project's goals and timelines.

Step 3: Set up the Testing Environment

It is time now to set up the environment for testing your mobile app. 

Here, you must carefully plan the approach, select appropriate testing methodologies (manual, automated, or a combination), identify the necessary resources (testers, tools, devices), defining the testing environment, and establish clear entry and exit criteria for each testing phase.

A well-defined testing strategy ensures that the testing process is efficient, effective, and aligned with the project's goals and timelines.

Step 4: Perform Testing

And here comes the stage when you will be performing the testing of your business mobile application. This involves executing the planned tests according to the defined strategy by conducting both manual and automated tests.

Testers  test to explore the app’s features, simulating real user interactions to identify bugs or inconsistencies. Various conditions, such as different devices, operating systems, and network environments, are replicated to assess the app’s behavior, efficiency and accuracy comprehensively. 

The results are meticulously documented, highlighting any issues for resolution. This step ensures that the app meets quality standards, functions reliably, and delivers an optimal user experience.

Step 5: Bug Fixing and Final Testing

This is another critical phase in the mobile app testing process, where identified issues are addressed and the application is prepared for release. During this step, developers prioritise and resolve reported bugs, ensuring that fixes align with your app’s functionality and performance requirements. 

Once the issues have been fixed, the final testing will be performed which includes a comprehensive end-to-end evaluation of the app to confirm its functionality, usability, performance, security, and compatibility across all targeted devices and environments. 

This phase also involves validating installation, updates, and uninstallation processes to ensure a smooth user experience. By rigorously testing the app one last time, this step guarantees the app is polished, stable, and ready for launch.

Step 6: Launch and Monitor 

Now, that you’re done with every critical test and satisfied with the results, it is the time for the final stage where you will be launching it amongst your audiences. Here, you shall focus on deploying the app to the market and ensure its continued performance and reliability.

Do you know about MVP?

With MVP (Minimum Viable Product) you can collect the real-users’ feedback before launching your actual app. It is the prototype of your mobile app, that lets you get your audience experience, which you can use in modifying your actual application, ensuring desired results while saving thousands of dollars. 

During this step, the app is released to app stores or distribution platforms after thorough testing and approval. However, the launching itself won’t end the task. Post-launch is also required to ensure its serene performance and efficiency.

Thus, the post-launch monitoring tools are implemented to track the app's performance, user behavior, crash reports, and feedback in real-time. 

Key performance metrics, such as load times, user engagement, and error rates, are analysed to identify areas for improvement. Updates and patches are developed as necessary to address any post-launch issues.

Popular tools for mobile application testing

Mobile App Testing Best Practices

Apart from the above defined mobile app testing steps, there are a few more points that you must consider to ensure the expected and desired outcomes. Thus, below we have compiled a list of best practices that you should keep in mind while the entire testing process. Let’s take a quick look at them:

[Also read: Best Practices for Designing Mobile Apps]

  • Test Early and Often: Begin testing during the development phase to identify and address issues early, reducing costs and time required for fixes later.
  • Use Real Devices: Test on actual devices rather than relying solely on emulators to account for hardware-specific behaviours and real-world scenarios.
  • Leverage Automation: Automate repetitive and time-consuming test cases to improve efficiency and consistency, especially for regression and performance testing.
  • Simulate Real-World Conditions: Test the app under various network speeds, battery levels, and interruptions like calls or notifications to mimic real usage.
  • Focus on Security: Conduct thorough security testing to identify vulnerabilities, protect user data, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.
  • Involve Real Users: Perform beta testing with actual users to gather valuable feedback and uncover usability or functionality issues not identified in controlled environments.
  • Document Thoroughly: Keep detailed records of test cases, scenarios, results, and bugs to streamline future updates and testing cycles.

By practicing the above points and ensuring the regular checks and monitoring after the app launch, you can expect the best results and higher traffic on your app.

What Challenges May Occur While Running Mobile App Tests?

Apart from providing the comfort of flawless app functioning and ensuring app performance, mobile app testing offers a plethora of advantages as we have discussed above. However, with every benefit, there comes a list of challenges that you must encounter to get the desired results. 

Let us now take a look at 5 most critical challenges of mobile app testing that you must know before you proceed with the actual scenario: 

  1. Device Fragmentation

Mobile devices come in a wide range of models, operating systems, screen sizes, and hardware configurations. Testing an app to ensure consistent performance across this fragmented landscape can be daunting. 

For example, an app that works seamlessly on a high-end Android device may encounter issues on a budget model with limited resources. This challenge requires extensive testing on real devices and emulators, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

  1. Network Variability

Mobile apps need to function reliably under diverse network conditions, such as high-speed Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, 5G, or even offline scenarios. Simulating network interruptions, fluctuations, and latency during testing can be complex. 

Additionally, features like real-time syncing or content loading may behave unpredictably under poor network conditions, potentially degrading the user experience.

  1. Rapid OS and Device Updates

Operating system updates (e.g., Android or iOS) and the release of new devices happen frequently, often introducing changes that can impact app functionality. Developers and testers must quickly adapt to these updates to ensure compatibility. 

Testing becomes a continuous process, requiring updates to test scripts, tools, and environments to align with the latest OS and device specifications.

  1. Security Concerns

Mobile apps often handle sensitive user data, making security a top priority. Identifying vulnerabilities like data leaks, weak encryption, or insecure authentication mechanisms can be challenging. 

Furthermore, compliance with privacy regulations such as GDPR or Australia’s Privacy Act adds an extra layer of complexity, necessitating specialised expertise and tools to perform rigorous security testing.

  1. Time and Resource Constraints

Mobile app projects often operate under tight deadlines and limited budgets, which can restrict the scope of testing. Ensuring thorough coverage across all testing types (e.g., functional, usability, performance) within these constraints is a significant challenge. 

Inadequate resources can lead to skipped tests or reliance on emulators, increasing the risk of undetected bugs or compatibility issues.

Future Trends in Mobile App Testing

The process of mobile app testing is advancing with the futuristic emerging trends and introduction of IoT, 5G and AI and ML in mobile app development techniques. 

AI and ML will play a crucial role in automating test case generation, executing tests more intelligently, and analysing test results with greater accuracy. 

The rise of IoT will necessitate testing the seamless integration of mobile apps with a vast array of connected devices. 5G connectivity will demand rigorous performance testing to ensure optimal app performance under high-speed, low-latency conditions. 

future trends in mobile app testing

Furthermore, the increasing reliance on cloud-based infrastructure and the emergence of technologies like AR/VR will present new challenges and opportunities for mobile app testing.

Elevate Your App’s Success with Expert Mobile App Testing

Choosing the right mobile app development agency in Australia is crucial for the success of your project. With numerous agencies vying for your business, selecting the best partner can be a daunting task. Nevertheless, you can consider the following points to ensure the best partner:

  • Expertise and Experience
  • Portfolio and Client Testimonials
  • Team and Skills
  • Project Management and Communication
  • Testing and Quality Assurance

Why is Enterprise Monkey Your Ideal Mobile App Testing Partner?

At Enterprise Monkey we consistently demonstrated our expertise in delivering exceptional mobile app development and testing services in Australia. 

[Also read: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Mobile App in Australia]

With a strong focus on innovation and a commitment to client satisfaction, we have earned a reputation as a leading player in the industry.   Thus, we can ensure you with our:

  • Proven Track Record
  • Experienced Team
  • Client-Centric Approach
  • Comprehensive Testing Services
  • Focus on Innovation

Hence, at Enterprise Monkey we stand out as your excellent choice, offering a combination of expertise, innovation, and a client-centric approach that can drive the success of your mobile app project.

Conclusion

Mobile app testing isn’t just a phase; it’s a vital investment in your app’s long-term success. In Australia’s competitive landscape, where user expectations are high, a robust testing process can differentiate your app from the rest.

Partnering with us at Enterprise Monkey as your trusted mobile app development expert agency can make all the difference. From advanced testing methodologies to compliance with local regulations, we ensure your app is primed for success. 

Ready to take the next step? Contact us today to transform your app vision into a flawless reality.