In a crowded App Store with over 1.96 million apps available, users are highly selective about which apps they download and keep. The choice often comes down to the quality of the user experience, app performance, and reliability. A study by Business of Apps shows that only 25% of users remain active on Day 1 after downloading an app, and this retention rate plummets to around 6% by Day 30.
Furthermore, about 77% of daily active users (DAUs) are lost within just the first three days post-installation. Over a longer period, the churn rate is even more telling, with an average of 68% of users abandoning the app within three months.
These numbers highlight the importance of having a seamless and bug-free user experience, which can be achieved through iOS app testing.
iOS app testing is essential to ensure applications deliver the expected user experience before launch, aiming to prevent potential issues. Apple's iOS is a leading platform for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, with a global market share of approximately 30% and over 50% in North America.
Testing iOS apps can be tricky because the system is closed, making it hard to access the code. Plus, Apple frequently updates iOS, so developers must test their apps regularly to ensure they work well with each new version.
Native apps, typically developed in Swift or Objective-C using the official iOS SDK, use Apple's native APIs and UI components. While native iOS apps generally exhibit consistent behavior, compatibility issues can arise due to variations in programming language versions or operating system types. iOS native app testing helps identify and address these issues before app deployment.
Web apps, which serve as mobile counterparts to websites, can utilize various frameworks, resulting in diverse behavior across different browsers. Since iOS users have different preferences for browsers, testing web apps ensures that they function optimally across popular options like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and others. This involves checking for compatibility issues and performance optimizations and ensuring consistent functionality across different browser versions.
Furthermore, web apps may interact differently with device features such as touch gestures, screen sizes, and orientations. Testing on iOS devices helps identify and address any discrepancies in user interaction, ensuring that the web app behaves as expected regardless of the device used.
Hybrid apps blend the features of native iOS apps with web-based applications, often incorporating a native UI component known as a "webview." This integration allows developers to leverage web technologies for app logic while accessing native APIs like camera or media library functionalities. Given the intricate nature of hybrid apps, thorough testing is crucial to identify compatibility and performance issues before releasing them to users.
Types of iOS application testing involve different methods to make sure iOS apps work well on various devices and situations. These methods include:
Unit testing focuses on isolating individual units of code and creating specific test cases for them. This ensures that each unit performs as expected during different stages of development. Key benefits include:
UI testing involves simulating user interactions to verify that the app's user interface functions as intended. Using Apple's XCTest framework within Xcode, developers can:
Integration testing ensures that different modules and components of an app work together seamlessly. It involves:
Performance testing evaluates the app's responsiveness, stability, and resource usage under various conditions. Developers can use tools like Instruments in Xcode to:
CI testing automatically integrates code changes from multiple developers into a shared repository. This process helps to:
Exploratory testing is an unscripted testing approach where testers actively explore the app to discover unexpected defects. It helps to:
Usability testing evaluates the app's ease of use and user experience. This involves:
Compatibility testing ensures the app performs correctly across various devices, iOS versions, and configurations. It focuses on:
Beta testing involves releasing a pre-release app version to a limited group of users to gather real-world feedback. It aims to:
This testing ensures the app provides a consistent experience for users across different regions and languages. It involves:
Accessibility testing ensures that the app is easily usable by people with disabilities, promoting inclusivity. It focuses on:
Manual testing for iOS apps offers several benefits. Firstly, it provides a human perspective, allowing testers to explore the app naturally and intuitively, which often reveals usability issues and unexpected defects early on. Additionally, manual testing offers flexibility, enabling testers to adapt their approach based on real-time observations. This method also allows for early-stage testing, providing valuable feedback before automated testing begins.
While manual testing may require a significant time investment and there's potential for human errors, it remains indispensable for ensuring thorough app quality. Moreover, manual testing can be tailored to specific user scenarios and edge cases, enhancing the overall user experience.
Automated testing enhances efficiency and scalability by executing numerous test cases quickly and reliably. It is ideal for repetitive tasks and regression testing, offering:
What exactly do you want to achieve through testing? Are you aiming for flawless performance, impeccable compatibility, or exceptional user experience? By setting specific goals, you can focus on the most critical aspects of our app.
Automation is a developer's best friend when it comes to testing. Leveraging testing frameworks like Apple's XCTest and integrating continuous integration (CI) tools such as Jenkins or CircleCI streamlines the testing process, making it more efficient and consistent. By automating repetitive tasks and regression tests, you can catch issues early and minimize the risk of costly fixes down the line, allowing us to focus on more complex testing scenarios.
While automation is essential, it cannot replace the human touch regarding certain aspects of testing. Exploratory testing allows testers to actively explore the application without predefined test cases, uncovering hidden bugs that automated tests might miss. Usability testing ensures the application's interface is intuitive and user-friendly. In contrast, accessibility testing verifies its usability for people with disabilities.
These manual testing approaches provide invaluable insights into the user experience, helping us create applications that truly resonate with our audience.
Although emulators are commonly used, they are not ideal for testing certain aspects, such as user interactions, battery consumption, network availability, and performance under real usage conditions. Therefore, always prioritize testing on actual devices.
At Global App Testing, we offer extensive testing coverage with 90,000 testers utilizing 60,000 devices, ensuring comprehensive evaluation across various platforms and scenarios.
A clean and modular codebase is the foundation of a successful iOS application.
Modular design principles allow you to break our application into smaller, manageable components, simplifying testing and updates. This organized approach enhances collaboration among team members and facilitates future feature additions and updates.
Testing is an ongoing process, so your test cases should evolve alongside your application. Regularly updating and reviewing test cases ensures that they remain relevant and effective.
As your app grows and changes, your test cases must align with new features and functionalities. Removing outdated or redundant tests helps you maintain an efficient and focused test suite, allowing you to catch new issues without being bogged down by unnecessary tests.
Launching test cases is effortless with our streamlined process, designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing workflows. Here's how we make it easy for you:
Protecting user data is crucial during app development and testing. By using strong security measures and following regulations like GDPR and CCPA, you build trust with our audience and keep their information safe. This is especially important for iOS apps, given Apple's emphasis on user privacy.
Global App Testing has achieved ISO 27001 certification, meeting the highest worldwide security standards. Our robust processes and policies ensure data security, integrity, and availability.
iOS app testing is something you shouldn't overlook due to the platform's high user expectations for performance and reliability. At Global App Testing, we adopt a practical approach by integrating our test management platform with popular bug and issue trackers. This supports a hybrid testing strategy that balances automated and manual testing efforts, which is crucial for comprehensive and effective mobile app testing at scale.
Schedule a call with our specialist today and discover the impact of our extensive testing solutions!
What is test driven development? (+Examples)
iOS vs Android app testing - What's the difference?
What is Android testing - Types, tools and best practices