5 Important Reasons Why You Should Go For Manual Mobile Testing!

Manual mobile testing is a kind of app testing in which the tester performs tests manually without any help from automated tools. The main goal of manual testing is identifying bugs, issues, and defects in the software application. Manual testing is the most primitive technique among all types of testing, and it helps find critical bugs in the software application. Any new application is required to be manually tested before its testing could be automated.

How to test mobile application? The mobile industry is uniformly revolving at a very accelerated pace. According to a recent survey, 54% of total mobile users worldwide use the devices than desktops. Tech titans like Samsung, Google, Apple, and others continue rolling out new Android and IOS devices at ever-increasing rates. Consistent growth in mobile usage has further led organizations to focus on developing apps for catering to their user base.

If an application is compatible with the latest iOS and Android versions, it is a very big win for quality assurance. Nevertheless, referring not to optimize the app’s performance for or earlier Android and IOS versions could lead to significant losses. Plenty of users do not instantly upgrade or consciously want to continue using older devices or operating systems. Below are the two methods on how QAs could test mobile applications manually on different Android and iOS devices:

1. Test on a platform that offers Real Mobile Devices

It is one of the easiest ways as there is no bigger option than resetting our mobile apps on a real device cloud offering an expanded range of Android and IOS mobile devices. QAs code leverage programs that produce a wide range of real Android and IOS mobile devices for testing mobile apps manually. Performing app testing on real devices helps in stimulating apps behavior in real-world conditions. Once the app is uploaded, the device is selected, and it is installed on that distinct device. A new session is launched for QA’s for commencing the testing mobile apps. QAs also get access to DevTools, bug reporting with JIRA, and other essential features like network throttling and geo-location testing on the dashboard. 

2. Testing emulators or simulators

It is a very time consuming, and effort-intensive approach as QA specialists are required to identify the number of devices their app should be tested on and download emulators for each device. Downloading and trying for each Android emulator for iOS simulator is a very cumbersome and productive task. Teams can not be referred for adopting such approaches, especially in such a competing landscape.

Emulators for simulators could be useful in the primary phases of development. Nevertheless they are not stable enough for ensuring the efficacy of applications in real user conditions. It is the reason why it is highly recommended for quality assurance specialists to perform the test on an entire device cloud. They are not required to worry about any download pre configurations. With the rise of automated testing and manual testing mainly sounds unnecessary. Still, certain aspects of an app such as usability, convenience, ease of use, etc. It could not be judged by a machine no matter how advanced the algorithm it has. There is no substitute for human judgment, and manual testing continued to be just as applicable today.

5 Reasons To Perform Manual Testing

Manual testing is unique when it comes to functionality and the first consequences. It provides us the kind of feedback we might hear from actual users. The most meaningful benefit of manual testing is flexibility and simulation of actions performed by real users. But when mobile manual testing becomes applicable and when test automation is better to be chosen?  Here is a list of testing types that resonate with manual mobile testing:

1. Usability and UI Testing

It could be evaluated only by humans how user-friendly and handy the app can be. Even a slight divergence between the app’s actual look, feel, and design agreed upon in the specs could be noted by an experienced manual tester right away, whereas a machine cannot do that.

2. Compatibility Testing

It is a type of testing that could be automated. It is normally a nun repetitive task; hence performing it manually makes more sense because manual app testing is more manageable and cost-effective. It also becomes essential to check if the app is responsive to real devices with different operating systems, screen sizes, and resolutions.

3. One Time Testing

Writing a script will not be profitable if we need to test some features only once or twice. If a task is non-repetitive or monotonous, it is better to run the test and manually document the results.

4. Localization and Internationalization Testing

Changing the font for word length differs from language to language. It could affect the UX/UI of the app, especially when it comes to UI mirroring. Manual testing mobile applications will prove more useful when we check if the app is performing well in all languages and regions in the specifications.

5. Ad-hoc Testing

This type of testing requires testers’ experience, intuition, and creativity, as no script or scenario could be utilized. A professional quality assurance engineer code anticipates the potential actions made by an end-user and guarantees that the app runs sleekly in situations like these. On the other side, manual mobile testing is not the best option for:

1. Regression testing, whereas automation testing will work perfectly for it.
2. Load and performance testing.
3. Complex situations with big data sets that are resource and time consuming if administered manually.
4. Functional testing for large applications that are required to be run frequently.
5. Being the main testing approach to achieving continuous testing.

Conclusion

When it comes to usability and accessibility of mobile app testing, manual testing is king. Monotonous work can result in fatigue and missing bugs, especially when required to run the same tests repeatedly. We need to structure the training steps for performing the manual app testing correctly before we go there. A careful strategy for each test case and a systematic click path will help us achieve the same test for several devices, and if caught, we will eradicate bugs.  

Also Read: Why Should You Shift Manual Testing To Automation Testing?