Performance Testing for Mobile Applications

Mobile-first means every application must also be tested for performance on mobile.

Performance Testing for Mobile Applications, Mobile applications are a significant business channel for enterprises today. Thanks to mobile apps, businesses can automate their core functions efficiently. They not only improve employee efficiency, communication to the end-user but also customer outreach. As a matter of fact, a user spoilt for choice will simply switch off an app that suffers from performance issues. Mobile apps should make the business interface available to an end-user at the click of a button.

With the increase in mobile app usage for business purposes, the case of performance issues and outages has surged too. Very often, users abandon mobile apps with lengthy wait times, performance issues, errors, or service interruptions. So much so, that performance problems with mobile applications can lead directly to revenue losses and even damage to brand image. Further, in worse case scenarios, it can lead to diminished employee productivity. Today all mobile apps are crafted to handle sudden spikes in traffic or operation volume without compromising the experience they offer. That is why modern businesses are opting for performance testing for mobile applications.

Many mobile app businesses face intense pressure in the market crowded with avant-garde apps. Especially, complex mobile app products face a constant risk of a complete meltdown. Thus, conducting performance testing tools for mobile applications allows a business to retain a competitive advantage in the market. Through efficient performance testing for mobile apps, companies can be severe performance problems and accurately predict system behaviour. A wholesome mobile app testing strategy includes identifying performance problems. They use efficient performance testing tools to find bottlenecks during the test run.

If a business fails to incorporate mobile application performance testing in their mobile app testing strategy, it is inviting failure. They stake monetary funds, resources as well as reputation in the market by skipping the necessary step of performance testing.

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Why is Performance Testing an Integral Part of Every Mobile Application Development Process^?

Every mobile app software application has good days and those that are bad. However, unfortunate occasions can be costly for app businesses. Performance Testing for mobile applications reveals how a system responds to various situations. Companies intend to achieve high-speed execution, scalability, and stability of the system with the apps they build. Performance tests simulate different possible user scenarios to ensure that the final app product performs well.

End users expect app pages to load. Loan testing informs businesses if there is a need to decrease the page load time. Moreover, companies aim to achieve scalability from their app products. This is why performance testing needs to be a significant priority for mobile app businesses.

Types of Performance Testing for Mobile Applications

the amount of time it takes to execute their desired functions. There are multiple types of performance testing for a mobile application:

1. Load Testing
2. Stress Testing
3. Spike testing
4. Endurance testing
5. Scalability Testing
6. Volume testing
7. Soak testing

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Mobile Application Performance Testing Best Practices that ASTAQC Team Swears By

Mobile app companies must pay attention to the responsiveness and stability of their app products. Businesses often count on a mobile app testing service to ensure that the app will behave appropriately under unexpected loan conditions. Additionally, the mobile app testing tools must include a quality mobile load testing tool for performance testing mobile apps.

Here in this article, we discuss performance testing best practices for multiple mobile load test scenarios, that our team follows:

Emphasis on Network and Bandwidth for Wireless Protocols

Thanks to 3G wireless protocols, mobile app devices connect to the Internet, albeit using a slower, lower-quality connection than web apps. This adversely affects the response times on the client-side and on the server too.

The mobile app testing framework should be designed to account for it, as businesses define their tests and analyze results. Additionally, the performance testing scenarios for mobile applications should also count in factors like latency and packet loss.

Importance of Realistic Performance Goals

Businesses must define performance testing metrics for mobile application in their test strategy. Performance goals can be based on the outcomes of the application due diligence. Performance testing includes parameters like response and volume, etc. Subsequently, laying out realistic performance benchmarks in performance test cases for mobile apps works in favor of the business.

Although setting realistic performance goals isn’t the same for all businesses. There is a need to set performance objectives in a granular manner for different devices, platforms, and environments. Also, simulating a load for one type of device or browser isn’t sufficient for a wholesome mobile app testing strategy. Successful performance testing companies take into account their entire diversity. They calibrate the load according to the diversity. It’s best to aim for realistic load simulation scenarios and to align them with the performance goals for the mobile application.

Users Matter the Most

Most performance testing frameworks focus on the test parameters set by performance testing teams. These parameters may include server responses, transactions-per-second (TPS), the number of concurrent users supported, etc. However, these test parameters reveal the picture only partially.

Performance testing necessitates the participation of users who are too engaged in the testing process. Together with a proactive approach of involving users early in performance testing, businesses need to make it a part of the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process. This is because users can spot problems that the performance testing tools may miss.

Businesses can release a public beta version of the mobile app when it is still a work in progress. For this, they can invite a few selected intended users, thus making it a more manageable process.

Choose the Right Kind of Methodology and Tools

Performance testing for mobile applications can be a tedious process for businesses. Teams use multiple combinations of parameters to test apps on different devices, platforms, and so on. Thus, performance testing is time consuming. Developers choosing the agile methodology over the waterfall one can expedite the whole performance testing process.

Isolate the Test Breakdown Timings

Before using any performance testing tools, it is essential to break down the complicated procedure of testing. Mobile app testing companies soften measure various factors. Measurables include content request time, content delivery time, render time, user gesture response, and even general UI responsiveness in different segments.

"More than the act of testing, the act of designing tests is one of the best bug preventers known. The thinking that must be done to create a useful test can discover and eliminate bugs before they are coded – indeed, test-design thinking can discover and eliminate bugs at every stage in the creation of software, from conception to specification, to design, coding and the rest."- Boris Beizer

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Why ASTAQC for Performance Testing of Mobile Applications?

Conducting performance testing mobile applications using load helps businesses determine if a system meets specific acceptance criteria for both responsiveness and robustness. While the responsiveness may vary, it’s something that can be measured directly. Even the robustness factor in mobile apps varies with the system.

However, testing robustness means the measurement of stability, scalability, and overall system reliability. We base our successful performance testing plans on well-thought-out goals. Testing teams begin by defining test plans that include load testing, stress testing, endurance testing, availability testing, configuration testing, and isolation testing etc. Along with precise metrics in terms of goals, acceptable measurements, and a plan to deal with performance issues, these test plans bring forth the best results.

Performance testing, as we know, it improves the optimization and load capacity of a mobile app. At ASTAQC, we include performance testing in our mobile app testing effort. Performance tests fruitfully eliminate attacks on mobile app software under analysis. We maintain open communication channels with client businesses to ensure that the final performance of the mobile app aligns with their business strategy. Our team indulges in strategic decision making and adequate measurement of performance against internal standards. We create win-win app experiences for end-users through performance testing. Our mobile app performance testing effort executes bugs and fixes to ensure that the final mobile apps are scale-worthy.

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