What is Mobile Testing?
Mobile testing refers to validating the functionality and usability of websites, apps and responsive designs on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Rather than testing only on desktop browsers, mobile testing looks at real-world issues like varying screen sizes, device performance, mobile gestures, and use of native hardware like GPS and cameras.
With over 58% of traffic now happening on mobile devices, effective testing enables delivering the flawless mobile experiences users demand. Neglecting mobile testing risks frustrations like crashes, formatting issues and performance problems that erode brand loyalty.
The Mobile Usage Explosion
Mobile devices now dominate digital lives:
Hours Spent on Mobile Per Day
- Millennials: 5.7 hours
- Gen X: 5.2 hours
- Baby Boomers: 4.9 hours
And users spend vastly more time in apps vs mobile sites:
- Average Time in Apps: 90%
- Average Time on Mobile Web: 10%
As 5G networks rollout globally over the next five years, total mobile internet usage may eclipse 4G usage by 10 times. Testing for mobile has never been more critical.
The Critical Need for Mobile Testing
Creating a seamless mobile experience presents unique device fragmentation challenges:
- Over 24,000 distinct Android devices globally
- 20+ iOS versions still in the market
On top of hardware and OS variance, real world mobile conditions differ vastly from desktop environments:
With so many variables at play, poor mobile testing has tangible consequences, including:
- Over 60% of users deleting apps that crash frequently
- Every 1-star review decreasing downloads by 5%
By fully validating the mobile experience before launch, companies meet rising user expectations.
Types of Mobile Testing
A range of testing types help evaluate the mobile experience:
Usability Testing: Validating how easily end users can navigate apps and sites via mobile devices. Typically based on direct user feedback.
Compatibility Testing: Ensuring correct visual rendering and functionality across different device models, OS versions (Android 12 vs Android 10 for example), screen densities and more.
UI Testing: Verifying application UI elements like buttons, menu options and inputs behave as expected when tapped or swiped.
Performance Testing: Measuring mobile app/site responsiveness metrics like load times, latency and crash rates in simulated real-world network environments.
Security Testing: Testing resilience of mobile apps vs SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other potential mobile attack vectors and threats.
Installation Testing: Validating that mobile apps correctly install, upgrade and open on devices.
While emulators have benefits, real devices offer the fidelity for comprehensive testing.
Key Mobile Testing Tools
Emulators/Simulators
Benefits:
- Quick preliminary testing without devices
- Support early UI/usability feedback
Limitations:
- Miss >40% of functionality issues
- No real use conditions like network/GPS
Real Device Clouds
Benefits:
- Test on thousands of real device models
- Supports different OS, screen sizes
- Confirm UX from actual users‘ perspective
Services like BrowserStack provide mobile app and web testing on over 2000 real iOS and Android devices. This includes popular phones and tablets spanning capability ranges to confirm consistent UX.
Best Practices for Mobile Testing
What techniques enable smooth mobile testing?
- Begin testing early on real devices
- Focus manual testing on key user journeys
- Map test devices to mobile market share
- Phase in more device models over time
- Balance manual verification with automation
These practices incrementally build confidence in mobile readiness.
Real World Success Stories
Top companies leverage comprehensive mobile testing to drive results:
Company X
- Reduced releases from 9 months to 3 months
- Cut reported mobile issues by 92% YoY
Company Y
- Drove app store rating from 2.5 to 4.8 stars
- Increased mobile conversion rate 129% YoY
Conclusion
As consumers and employees turn to mobile for virtually everything, validating the mobile experience through comprehensive testing techniques separates successful brands from struggling laggards. While simulators and emulators provide important preliminary feedback, real-world device usage uncovers the subtle gaps that erode trust and loyalty. Thankfully real device cloud solutions continue to evolve, making this level of testing far more accessible for organizations of any size and budget. Companies that continually optimize mobile testing reap outsized rewards in their app quality and real-world usage metrics that translate directly to revenue growth and customer satisfaction in the critical mobile arena.
