7 Important Quality Assurance (QA) Strategies In Mobile App Development

Coming up with an application idea, and then validating, designing, and developing it probably took a lot of effort and dedication. So certainly, you would want your audience to enjoy the app as much as you do. This means using a fully functional code and delivering a seamless user experience. Once your app hits the market, you should’ve eliminated nearly all potential bugs and mistakes.

According to a study conducted by Tweak Your Biz, nearly 62% of app deletions happen either due to crashes or installation errors. Conducting Quality Assurance (QA) during the app development process can save you from contributing to this statistic. Yes, the app marketplace is replete with opportunity and has helped a lot of new applications thrive. But it’s also extremely competitive. If you want your app to stand out and survive the competition, there is no room for errors that could have easily been addressed during the early stages of your development process. It will save you time, money, and your brand’s reputation.

Quality Assurance (QA) is quite simply the proactive effort that an organization makes to ensure that the end-user is provided with an exceptional product/service and an optimal experience. This is different from Quality Control (QC), which is more of a reactive measure taken to ensure that your product meets a detailed list of customer requirements.

QA becomes especially important when it comes to mobile app development. This is because as opposed to a computer, mobile devices often have limited resources and lower power. They also come in various sizes and color profiles, requiring building and testing across multiple devices.

Of course, consulting top app development companies in Kuwait and having qualified QA engineers, analysts and testers as part of your development team will be imperative to the success of your app. But let’s get back to the basics and dive into some of the most common QA testing strategies for mobile applications.

1. Functionality Tests

Generally the first part of the QA process, during functionality tests app developers in Kuwait go through each function and feature in different scenarios to ensure that they work as intended. This is where all the project requirements and specifications are met. The application is tested for any abnormality in flow and navigation and everything from sensors, cameras, and installation time is fixed to work as planned.

2. Cross-platform Tests

If you’re releasing your app on both iPhone and Android, you will be able to test both versions of the app with a cross-platform test. This is to ensure that they both deliver the same performance. Tweaks will need to be made in accordance with each individual device’s requirements since each platform can have slightly different features. Today, there are several cross-platform testing programs available which you can use to your advantage.

3. Usability Tests

To judge whether or not the app is actually easy for users to navigate, a user interface test is conducted. In this process, users are asked to test the app and provide any improvement suggestions. A great thing about UI testing is that it can be conducted at any point of the mobile app development process to test individual features, even if it's just a prototype. In fact, app prototypes and mock-ups are an excellent way to incorporate user opinions into your code.

4. Performance Tests

This is when you test the app on an actual device that has several other applications running at once; a real-world scenario. If the app takes up too much battery or memory on the phone, is unbearably slow, unresponsive, or interferes with the device’s functionality, now’s the time to fix it. Some apps suffer if the user load reaches the maximum limit, so a QA team needs to ensure that the app works seamlessly even in such situations.

5. Regression Tests

At some point in the future, as your business scales, you will plan on optimizing or refactoring your app and giving it a few code changes. In order to guarantee that the app doesn’t crash in the process and all existing functions work fine, a regression test can help. It will determine the new code’s impact on the app’s previous version. This is an ongoing test that you will carry out as and when you make changes to the app based on user feedback. A subset of regression tests, sanity tests, are performed randomly to test the system’s critical functionalities before any major tests are performed, and last about 2-3 days.

6. Automated Tests

All the manual QA tests that you conduct can be supplemented and conjoined with automated tests. These tests will run through all possible complex executions and flows of your app and identify any potential issues. Utilizing this type of testing is a smart way for mobile app development companies to compensate for human errors and save time.

7. Security Tests

This test is crucial for identifying any app weaknesses and security threats. In this part of the QA process, you will need to eliminate hacking loopholes, promote end-to-end encryption, and verify that the app does not grant unauthorized access. If your app routinely handles user passwords and other personal information, you will need to be extra careful and warrant a safe connection and a secure storage. And if your app belongs to the financial or healthcare industry, you may need to go a step ahead to ensure industry regulation compliance and non-accessibility by any IP addresses that aren’t whitelisted. Sometimes, security flaws can be non-obvious and hard to recognize, which is why it’s important to employ expert QA engineers who know their stuff.

Some useful and popular QA tools that can help you streamline the process are Firebase Crashlytics, TestRail, Kobiton, and Appium.

At Design Master, one of the best app development companies in Kuwait, we believe that Testing and Quality Assurance is an integral part of development. We have skilled professionals and the perfect methodology to conduct different types of testing and QA on web and mobile applications.

Our process of manual testing includes: