Top 5 Mobile App Testing Tools For You

With the mobile market expanding at a staggering pace, it becomes super imperative that your mobile app is fully functional and bug-free. However, mobile app testing is, by no means, an easy feat - it involves complex processes and testing scenarios, all while keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of platforms, operating systems, and network connections.

As a user and as a developer, one can understand why there is a lot of importance in implementing the right strategies and tools to achieve optimal results. But with limited time and resources, which tools should you invest in to ensure maximum coverage, efficiency, and accuracy?

In this article, we explore the top mobile testing tools for both Android and iOS platforms, to help take your mobile testing strategy to the next level. Regardless of your level of proficiency, these tools will help increase your app's quality and functionality, ultimately leading to higher user satisfaction and success in the market.

What is Mobile Application Testing?

Mobile application testing is an indispensable process in the world of software development. It ensures that mobile applications work seamlessly on smartphones, tablet PCs, and other mobile devices.

Mobile testing falls into several categories, each with its own unique purpose and scope.

• Functional testing is the basic type of testing that verifies if the application performs according to the specified requirements.
• Performance testing, on the other hand, is carried out to assess client application performance, server performance, and network performance.
• Memory testing is designed to ensure optimized memory usage by an application on mobile devices that have limited memory compared to computers.
• Interruption testing is vital to test the application's resilience to interruptions caused by incoming calls or SMS, low memory warnings, low battery warnings, and other similar events.
• Installation testing checks for the ease and smoothness of the installation process, including updating and uninstalling.
• Usability testing is always done to assess the efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction of the application from a user's perspective.

When it comes to mobile application testing, finding the right tool is crucial to ensure your app runs seamlessly across all devices. But with so many options available, it can be challenging to decide which tool is the best fit for your team. Here are some factors you should consider before making your decision:

Ease of Use

The learning curve of a testing tool is an essential aspect to consider. If a tool is complicated and requires the installation of several components, it can take time to learn and set up. However, if a tool includes everything you need within the application itself, you can get started quickly.

Feature Sets

A tool's feature set should cover all the essential mobile-specific testing tasks, such as screening, debugging, cross-device execution, artifact sharing, and reporting. Before settling on a tool, it's crucial to review its technical documentation guide and search for the key features you expect it to have.

Integration with Other Platforms

Most testing tools support integrating with other frameworks, tools, ALMs, or project management applications. However, if a tool has native integrations, it can save you from having to find workarounds to connect it with your existing toolchain.

Scripting Methods

Scriptless methods like record and playback are beneficial for those who haven't had a grasp on programming. Additionally, they help in churning out more tests and expanding test coverage. A testing tool that provides both scripting and scriptless methods can be advantageous for your team.

Budget and Application Under Test (AUT)

Determining whether a testing tool is suitable for your budget and AUT is crucial. The size of your team, the resources available, and the complexity of the application you're testing are some of the factors to consider.

The Best Mobile Testing Tool For You

TestGrid

When it comes to testing mobile apps, TestGrid is a game-changer. With TestGrid, users can perform end-to-end mobile testing with ease, whether it be app testing, load testing or API Testing.

One of the standout features of TestGrid is its ability to offer real devices hosted on the cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid manner. This means that users have access to real Android, iOS devices, and browsers to test their native, web, and PWAs. And with support for programming languages like Java, C#, Ruby, Python, Perl, and PHP, the testing possibilities are endless.

Another impressive aspect of TestGrid is its support for different frameworks like NodeJS and React Native, giving users the flexibility to test in the environment of their choice. And with its seamless integration with Travis, Jenkins, GitLab, CircleCI, BitBar, JIRA, TestRail, MS TFS, and more, TestGrid makes the testing process even more efficient.

But that's not all. TestGrid offers a range of functionalities like Record-and-replay, Cross-browsing functionality, No-code automation, and real devices testing. It even supports IoT Testing, API Testing, Performance Testing, Automation Testing, Security Testing, and more. And with its Cloud Infrastructure, On-Prem Support, Robotic Test Automation, IoT Automation, and Test Cases, TestGrid truly offers a comprehensive testing solution.

So whether you're a mobile app developer or tester, TestGrid is an excellent choice for end-to-end mobile testing in a codeless manner. And with pricing starting at just $29/month, it's an affordable and accessible solution for businesses of all sizes.

iOS Driver

If you're looking for a powerful open-source tool that can integrate seamlessly with Selenium Grid, iOS-Driver is the way to go. It's perfect for automating iOS hybrid and native mobile applications using the Selenium/WebDriver API.

With iOS-Driver, there's no need to make any changes to your app code or install any additional apps to test your app on your device. This tool is built upon two different frameworks from Apple that ensure it can efficiently test native apps and mobile web pages.

To use iOS-Driver for native apps, you'll need Xcode with an IOS SDK > 5.0. Simply enter "$ xcodebuild –showsdks" to check. For mobile web or UIWebviews in hybrid apps, iOS-Driver uses the remote WebKit debug protocol. This requires ios 6+ and safari6+. If you don’t have that, the native part of the iOS driver will still work, but you won’t be able to test mobile web pages on Safari or to Interact with UIWebviews using dom selectors.

While iOS-Driver runs on devices, it's much more efficient on an emulator. However, some of the recent versions have improved on this and now run faster on devices. So, if you're looking for a reliable and easy-to-use tool for automating your iOS mobile app testing, iOS-Driver is definitely worth checking out.

Katalon Studio

Looking for a user-friendly and efficient Appium alternative for your mobile testing needs? Look no further than Katalon Studio, a trusted tool used by over 850,000 users around the world.

Designed with ease of use in mind, Katalon Studio requires no complex setup or programming background to get started. With versatile automated test design features such as record & playback, built-in keywords, and pre-defined project templates, you can quickly and easily create effective tests with a friendly user interface.

Katalon Studio supports cross-environment testing on real devices, emulators, or cloud-based devices with integration to popular cloud services such as Kobiton, Perfecto, SauceLabs, LambdaTest, and BrowserStack. This makes it easy to test your mobile applications in any environment you require.

The tool also reduces maintenance efforts with its powerful object-spying utility. With this feature, you can easily identify and update objects in your application without needing to modify your entire test script.

Additionally, Katalon Studio offers advanced graphs to visualize essential metrics and real-time notifications after each execution, with integration with popular collaboration tools such as Slack, Git, and Microsoft Teams.

Whether you're testing mobile apps, web applications, APIs, or desktop applications, Katalon Studio is a versatile and efficient tool that will help you streamline your testing processes and deliver high-quality applications with ease.

Appium

Appium has rapidly emerged as a popular mobile test automation framework, thanks to its ability to test native, hybrid, and mobile web applications using the WebDriver protocol. With a wide range of scripting languages like Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and C# at its disposal, Appium makes it easy for users to adopt it if they're already experienced with Selenium.

One of the key advantages of using Appium is its ability to integrate with other frameworks and testing platforms. This means that users can leverage their existing test automation infrastructure while taking advantage of Appium's rich feature set. And because Appium doesn't require the recompilation of applications, other codebases or frameworks, it helps to save time and streamline the testing process.

Another great feature of Appium is its ability to enable test and code reusability between iOS, Android, and Windows platforms. This helps users to reduce redundancy and improve overall testing efficiency. Plus, the fact that Appium is open-source means that it's accessible to all users, regardless of budget constraints.

Overall, Appium is a powerful tool that is ideal for those looking to test their mobile applications on a variety of platforms. Its rich feature set, wide range of scripting languages, and ability to integrate with other frameworks make it a must-have for any serious mobile app tester.

XCUI Test

XCUI Test is an incredibly valuable tool developed by Apple for iOS developers seeking to automate UI testing within the Xcode Integrated Development Environment. This automation framework is specifically tailored to iOS devices and does not support Android systems.

One of the standout features of XCUI Test is its support for both Swift and Objective-C, two widely used scripting languages within the iOS development community. Additionally, XCUI Test can seamlessly connect with both Xcode and third-party tools and frameworks to record and execute UI tests, allowing developers to easily incorporate automated testing into their development workflow.

Furthermore, XCUI Test boasts a deep integration with Xcode, providing developers with an intuitive and efficient interface to simplify the coding process. The framework also offers a variety of useful methods, subclasses, and assertions to streamline the automation of UI testing.

Moreover, XCUI Test also provides support for integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) systems, enabling developers to easily incorporate automated testing into their development pipeline.

Finally, XCUI Test is particularly well-suited for black-box testing, allowing developers to test their application from the perspective of the end user without requiring any knowledge of the application's internal workings.

All in all, XCUI Test is a powerful and versatile tool that can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the iOS development process, making it an essential asset for any developer seeking to deliver high-quality applications to their users.

In Conclusion

Mobile app testing is a crucial aspect of the app development lifecycle, and having the right automation tool in place can greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the testing process. With the rapid evolution of the mobile landscape, it is important to choose an automation tool that keeps up with the latest industry trends and technologies.

At Saffron Tech, we offer a wide range of mobile automation testing services and solutions that cater to the diverse needs of our clients. From native to hybrid app testing, our team of experts leverages the latest automation tools and frameworks to ensure the highest quality and reliability of your app. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your mobile app testing goals.