As a testing expert with over a decade of experience evaluating services across 3500+ devices, I often get asked – "How do I pick the right testing partner for my mobile app?"
The key is to match your mobile app goals, test requirements, budgets and processes to an provider that best fits across ten evaluation criteria.
This comprehensive guide will walk you through these step-by-step to ensure you find the right fit.
Guide Overview
Here‘s a quick overview of the 10 steps we‘ll cover:
Prepare
- Evaluate in-house testing capabilities
- Prioritize app test goals
- Research mobile device fragmentation
Evaluate Provider Capabilities
4. Assess device lab breadth and depth
5. Review types of testing offered
6. Check automation & manual testing support
7. Analyze debugging features
Validate Operational Fit
8. Confirm CI/CD platform integrations
9. Compare customer support levels
10. Analyze budget and flexibility
Let‘s get started!
Step 1: Evaluate In-House Testing
With over 5 million apps across Android and iOS, testing requires significant expertise. As an initial step, take stock of what your internal QA team can handle without help:
- Can they procure and manage 100+ devices for testing?
- Do they have breadth of knowledge on types of testing required?
- What components would overstretch their staffing or skill sets?
This analysis will identify gaps that your chosen provider should fill, whether it‘s device access, specific types of testing or engineering bandwidth. I recommend a hybrid model for most mid-size product teams – leverage in-house talent supplemented by outsourced experts.
Step 2: Prioritize App Test Goals
All apps have business goals tying back to their core value proposition. Identify key success metrics for your app and rank test goals accordingly.
Here are some sample goals and corresponding tests to focus on:
| Goal | Key Tests |
|---|---|
| Maximize compatibility across fragments | Functional testing across devices, OS |
| Deliver 5-star user experience | Manual usability testing |
| Reduce app crashes | Performance, security testing |
| Growth in daily active users | Beta testing with target groups |
This alignment will optimize testing time and budget.
Step 3: Research Device Fragmentation Landscape
Fragmentation poses one of the biggest app testing challenges with exponentially growing combinations of mobile brands, models, OS versions and configurations. Stay updated on the trends through latest research:
- Global device shipments to surpass 1.85 billion units in 2025
- Top device makers – Samsung (23%), Xiaomi (16%), Apple (14%)
- Android (73%) leads OS market share vs. iOS (26%)
- India and China have highest concentration of Android 6, 7, 8
This data should guide your decisions on which devices, geographies and OS versions to cover.
Step 4: Evaluate Device Lab Breadth and Depth
The easiest way to access thousands of real mobile devices is renting time from a cloud-based device lab through a subscription model rather than procuring in-house. Using your fragmentation research and app‘s target markets, create your optimal wishlist across these factors:
Breadth
- Device types – phones, tablets, wearables
- OS platforms – Android, iOS/iPadOS, FireOS etc.
- Manufacturers – Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola etc.
Depth
- OS versions – Android 11 vs. 12 vs. 13
- Models priority – Galaxy S, Note vs. A Series
Thoroughly evaluate device lab providers against this list on:
- Total devices available
- Access and availability of priority devices
- Ease of reserving devices on demand
- Custom configs support for factors like location, SMS etc
I recommend having at least 100 devices available matching your fragmentation analysis criteria.
Step 5: Review Types of Testing Offered
The scope spans:
- Functionality – Validate app features across use cases
- Usability – Manual testing for UX by target personas
- Localization – Multi-language, location support
- Security – Data, device vulnerabilities
- Payments – Transactions via wallets, banks
- Carrier – Validate connectivity, messaging
Review your total test requirements against the provider‘s service portfolio. Identify any gaps upfront.
Step 6: Check Automation and Manual Testing Support
The right combination of test types is key:
- Automated testing accelerates regression testing across devices
- Manual testing necessary for assessing UX, complex workflows
Automation Frameworks
Evaluate automation support for:
- API testing – tools like Postman
- Front-end – Selenium, Appium, Espresso
- Performance – JMeter, Gatling
Manual Testing
Confirm flexibility in:
- Test case management
- Device sharing access for distributed teams
- Screen recording to capture bugs
Aim for a service that provides the framework integrations your team prefers for both automation and manual testing.
Step 7: Analyze Debugging Features
When test failures inevitably happen, having robust tools to log, reproduce and fix issues quickly is essential to meet release timelines.
Must-have debugging features:
- Videos and screenshots capturing bug steps
- Device logs checking memory usage, network activity
- Test failure logs with environment details
- Support to access devices remotely
The best services provide intuitive reporting and analytics dashboards to identify root causes through easy data filtering without needing to watch lengthy videos.
Step 8: Verify CI/CD Integrations
Leveraging mainstream Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery pipelines enables automating test execution and deployment.
Review integration support for your specific CI/CD platform – common ones include:
- Jenkins
- Azure DevOps
- CircleCI
- GitHub Actions
Documentation on configuring test jobs, retrieving test reports and customizing workflows saves significant engineer time.
Step 9: Compare Customer Support Levels
Inevitably issues crop up – with test environments, devices behaving unexpectedly or connectivity glitches that require troubleshooting.
Compare mobile testing providers across:
- Multiple channel support – email, chat, phone
- Responsiveness in resolving issues
- Replacement for flaky devices
- Test environment availability
I recommend asking detailed questions on response times for different channels and overall account management model to ensure a high-touch relationship.
Step 10: Evaluate Budget and Contract Flexibility
Balance cost versus value based on test requirements and business impact of poor app quality.
- Cost: Pay-as-you-go based on hourly device usage or automated minutes pricing models provide predictability
- Value: The right provider ensures comprehensive test coverage, fast test cycles ultimately leading to better user feedback, ratings and lower operational costs for a high-growth app
Consider multi-year contracts with discounts for larger device minutes commitments if scale is planned. Confirm ability to ramp device usage up and down flexibly each month.
Key Takeaways
Choosing the right mobile testing partner requires aligning test provider capabilities to your app goals, fragmentation reality, processes and budgets.
Leveraging a framework like this 10-step guide will help you make a systematic data-driven decision on the best provider fit rather than relying on slick marketing pitches. I encourage revisiting this evaluation every 12-18 months as your app evolves across growth stages from MVP to Scale.
Prioritizing real devices access, test coverage breadth, CI/CD integrations and flexible contracts provides the best foundation for evolving mobile testing needs. Consider a pilot of 30-60 days to validate operational fit before longer term commitment.
I hope you found this guide useful based on learnings from my decade helping clients navigate the fragmented mobile landscape to deliver delightful app experiences. Reach out in comments below if you need any further help in your decision making.
