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Well someone famous once said - “A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps”. That someone famous was a well known American humorist James Thurber. However, looking at the complexity the mobile testing world brings, enterprises find it hard to smile when using words like “perhaps or probably” while releasing their mobile apps.. Since I assumed the reader would be a tester, and how they love data and not word of some random gal on internet, I decided to throw some numbers in here to explain what I mean.
According to HP Capgemini Quality report,
- Its 2017 and still around 50% of enterprises do not have right tools or Device Lab to test their Mobile apps
- 45% of enterprise, though doing mobile testing, do not have right processes and right expertise to test mobile apps
Have a look at the infographics below to know more -
Now I won’t blame if you decide to bypass testing of your mobile apps, but then I believe you have heard about this lad John, who decided to share his untested mobile app with the world? No? I haven’t as well. So if you don’t want to disappear into oblivion, read on..
Mobile is Everywhere
I woke up, and switched off the alarm, on my mobile phone, there was a missed call on Skype from my son, whom I left behind because of work. And then I switched on the app on my phone which allowed me to see what my family is doing on a Saturday morning, as I prepare for my meeting. There are some unread whatsapp messages from family groups, which kept pinging as I finished meeting with my team using the GoTo meeting mobile application. I saw a beautiful view while driving to work and I decided to click it, edit it and put it as my facebook status for the day. I stopped at toll, to PayTm the amount, and move towards my work. Pretty much a life which most of us live today, until you are that blessed soul who had acres of land in a hill and have converted it into a resort. I envy you. But still i know you use the AirBNB app to get customers. And you prod your clients to give you good ratings over Trip Advisor!
So bottom line your users are using their mobile devices more and more for everyday activity and there is no way you can afford not to test your mobile apps.
You just can’t test your mobile app manually (not anymore)
The way mobile has engulfed our day to day activities is overwhelming and even more overwhelming is the magnitude of the mobile device operating system combination, thanks to a word called device fragmentation, a challenge commonly known with android based devices. And android users still outnumber any mobile user today. Such challenges make it a near impossible task to manually manage this activity and to continuously automate the testing of the mobile application seems the only way to move forward.
So What do you need to automate effectively
1. A Mobile Lab for sure
I will start with mobile lab first because most enterprises feel
managing a mobile lab, is a nightmare. Cloud seems to be an increasingly practical solution for mobile testing as it is highly scalable, asset light and allows pay per use model. Cloud testing vendors procure devices, provide them over the cloud, manage them (including charging and keeping the devices functional and replacing defective devices), and make sure that all devices are cleansed of data loaded by a previous customer. It enables access to multiple devices, OS versions, screen configurations, carriers, geographies, regions, and human languages.
2. Right Methodology (Less Code and more business)
Another very important requirement is to allow business language driven testing. With Gherkin like language available, people like a protocol which can be read and written by all. These nitty gritty of programming, the keywords like Appium, Calabash, java, ruby are words of past. The world has moved to AI, and Internet of things, where people want to live with a fellow Jarvis, yeah Zuckerberg robot more than a fellow human being. So the lines of control which separated an automation tester from a business analyst are blurring at a speed of a cruise missile.
Some possible solutions
Oh! I forgot to tell you the name of your Jarvis for mobile test automation. Its called OpKey. It takes care of everything, while you sip your coffee and post your facebook status. Well, not exactly. You still need to do some work. After all, you got to earn that trip to Aspen that you have been planning. So what are you waiting for? go ahead create your free OpKey SAAS, yeah you heard me right OpKey SAAS account, which you can do from here - https://signup.opkeyone.com/, and integrate it with your free pCloudy - mobile lab on cloud account , which you can do from here - https://device.pcloudy.com/signup, and then allow OpKey to record and generate the business script for you. Setup the devices on which you would want the test to run, take another sip of your coffee, and check the likes on your facebook status, and see how beautiful the world looks as you get the results of your tests.
So now for testing your mobile apps, you’ve get someone who understands you because it allows business language testing. You get someone who takes care of your device fragmentation nightmares by providing you a cloud enabled mobile test lab. Oh let me make your day even better. You are going to be more rich than last year, well look at the gartner report -
Too bad, if you are not into mobile world yet, it is never too late though! And by the way then why are you reading this article?
Someone famous has said - We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. And that someone famous was Walt Disney. So what is new you are trying today? Wait Wait ..I know the answer; is OpKey and pCloudy, Isn’t it?
Author
Pallavi Sharma
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