I was recently asked: “What else is there to test on a phone app when you’ve tested the functionality?” After giving it some thought, I came up with a brief list and thought I’d share that list with a wider audience.
1. Airplane Mode
Test to see how your app behaves when there’s no network. Does it still try and contact a server to download or upload data? If so, does it let you know there’s a problem?
2. Backgrounding & Foregrounding
Put the app into the background, then foreground it again to bring the app back into focus. Does it behave well, with no redraw or refresh issues?
3. Force Quit & Restart
Quit the app from every screen and state, and check that everything is still okay when you restart.
4. Memory Issues
Don’t just test that the latest functionality works, then close it and move onto your next task. That’s not how most users will use the app — they may well leave it running and backgrounded all day or all week. What happens if they do? Are there any problems that might indicate a memory leak?
5. Rotation
Are portrait and landscape modes supported? If so, does the app look good and behave correctly in both modes?
6. Just Say No
Apps will ask permission for things like Notifications. Try saying “no” to all of them, and make sure there are no impacts on the app.
7. Go Dark
Switch on the iOS Dark Mode, and make sure all text and controls in your app are visible.
8. Installation
If this is an update to an existing app, check the two ways the app can get onto a phone — a brand new installation and an update of an existing one.
9. New Phone, Who Dis?
When users get a new phone, they often transfer apps over. Check that all the user data gets into this new installation when the user signs on.
What else would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for more ways to test? Read some of the other posts in this series:
- 9 Situations to Test the Strength of Your Mobile App
- Learning from Fairy Tales
- Bugs Don’t Take Vacations
- Adding Software Tools to My Toolbelt
- Travel Bugs
- Testing Error Conditions
- Using Tea/Coffee Breaks in Your Mobile Testing
- Alternating Phone Models Per Test Cycle
- Peripherals? I’d Forgotten About Those…
- A Tester’s Consistency Checklist
- “Alarming” Problems You Should Be Preventing
- Quick Tests for Your Web App
- Testing for App Consistency
- Is it a Good Story?
- Quick Attacks on CRUD Apps
- Lights, Camera, Action, Bugs!
- Follow the Data