DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports
Events Video Library
Refcards
Trend Reports

Events

View Events Video Library

Zones

Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks

Last call! Secure your stack and shape the future! Help dev teams across the globe navigate their software supply chain security challenges.

Modernize your data layer. Learn how to design cloud-native database architectures to meet the evolving demands of AI and GenAI workloads.

Releasing software shouldn't be stressful or risky. Learn how to leverage progressive delivery techniques to ensure safer deployments.

Avoid machine learning mistakes and boost model performance! Discover key ML patterns, anti-patterns, data strategies, and more.

Related

  • Top Strategies for Effective Mobile App Testing and Quality Assurance
  • Interrupt Testing: Bulletproof Your App for the Real World
  • Overcoming MFA Test Automation Challenges
  • 5 Ways Docker Can Improve Security in Mobile App Development

Trending

  • Google Cloud Document AI Basics
  • Emerging Data Architectures: The Future of Data Management
  • *You* Can Shape Trend Reports: Join DZone's Software Supply Chain Security Research
  • GDPR Compliance With .NET: Securing Data the Right Way
  1. DZone
  2. Software Design and Architecture
  3. Security
  4. Mythbusters: Mobile Testing Edition

Mythbusters: Mobile Testing Edition

Let's bust some myths around mobile testing, like required skills, security, device labs, and PWAs to help you embrace mobile testing.

By 
Akshita DP user avatar
Akshita DP
·
Apr. 19, 18 · Opinion
Likes (1)
Comment
Save
Tweet
Share
6.4K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

We have been doing a recent Mythbusters series at SmartBear to test and unravel key elements of popular topics for software teams. During this month's webinar on Mastering the Art of Mobile Testing, we received a lot of comments over a spectrum of topics, but also confusion around certain areas. So, I decided to investigate some of these questions around talent, testing approaches and tools to highlight the common misconceptions in mobile testing today.

Myth #1: Software Testers Require the Same Knowledge to Test Mobile Applications

Mobile devices are small, which might tempt one to think that testing for small screens is simple and cheap. But testing mobile applications is no easier than testing any other type of software. In fact, mobile testing comes with its own unique challenges.

Each mobile platform has their own way of developing a UI on their platform, requiring teams to build and test applications in completely different ways and then adapt their mobile tests to specific device specifications. For example, a mobile application has layout differences. An application will reposition its controls depending on the device orientation, screen size, and density of a smartphone and tablet. In addition, many advanced mobile testers are familiar with specific Android, iOS, or Windows frameworks; however, many QA teams - especially desktop testers - are more experienced in .NET.

Myth #2: Only Popular Mobile Apps Are a Target for Hackers

Security is a top concern for many companies and privacy is a growing priority for end users. If you are asking a user to conduct a transaction whether it is financial or not, mobile security is essential in today's digital age to prevent phishing attacks, data leaks, and unwanted access.

Simple measures can help improve your application's security on the back and front-end. On the back-end, proper security protocols and security scans should take place to ensure only the right people can access the application and on the front-end, mobile applications should only collect the most critical end-user information.

Myth #3: Device Labs Are Required to Run Tests Across Multiple Devices in Parallel

Device labs are environments where physical devices such as smartphones and tablets are held or accessed remotely allow for a single test script to run across a variety of configurations. Device labs can alleviate some of the testing issues that QA teams face to test across disparate versions, resolutions, and configurations, but they are not always required.

If you are only testing your test scripts off of a small selection of devices or versions, then that can be accomplished with your test automation tool with a capability called device loop. Setting up a device loop will allow your test to automatically select the mobile device one after another and execute all of the child operations as well. Depending on the tool you choose, you could also leverage multi-device playback capabilities to record a test on one platform and play it back across multiple other devices with the same operating system.

Myth #4: Testing for Progressive Web Apps Is the Future

Consumers are increasingly experiencing mobile app fatigue - becoming more overwhelmed and tired of downloading applications and even more frustrated from mobile apps eating up their data storage. Due to this reason, Progressive Web Applications are growing in popularity. At their core, Progressive Web Applications are web applications, built on a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With browser support, Progressive Web Applications can behave like a native application. It loads instantly, works offline, and can be installed as an application on your phone.

Nevertheless, the type of mobile application you build highly depends on your businesses' and customers' needs and desires that you want to address. For example, native mobile applications are best for mobile games that are trying to build out their presence on the app store or handling secure transactions because they can leverage built-in security functionality within the platform. Touch ID, a fingerprint recognition feature on the Apple iPhone is a good example of a built-in security feature that only a native mobile application can leverage.

Fact: Mobile Testing Is Growing

Smartphones have become a critical part of our day-to-day lives, business operations, and global economy-regardless of demographics, industry, or geography. The sheer size and potential of the mobile application market are forcing companies across the globe to build and develop mobile software. As the demands for mobile development rise, so does the need for mobile testing.

Finding a test automation solution that makes testing mobile devices and multiple platforms easy for customers is challenging for many software teams. However, robust tools exist that address the key features every mobile testing solution should have for a successful end-to-end mobile strategy.

This article was first published on the SmartBear blog.

mobile app Testing security

Published at DZone with permission of Akshita DP, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Related

  • Top Strategies for Effective Mobile App Testing and Quality Assurance
  • Interrupt Testing: Bulletproof Your App for the Real World
  • Overcoming MFA Test Automation Challenges
  • 5 Ways Docker Can Improve Security in Mobile App Development

Partner Resources

×

Comments

The likes didn't load as expected. Please refresh the page and try again.

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Support and feedback
  • Community research
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Core Program
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 3343 Perimeter Hill Drive
  • Suite 100
  • Nashville, TN 37211
  • support@dzone.com

Let's be friends: