Introduction to Mobile Testing Tools

Mobile testing involves a variety of methods and tools, each designed for different testing aspects. The choice of mobile testing tool typically relies on factors such as the type of app (native, hybrid, or web), the targeted platforms (iOS or Android), and the specific testing goals (functional or non-functional). 

With a wide array of options available—including cross-platform solutions and cloud-based tools—there's a suitable tool for every testing need. This article guides you through some of the most popular mobile testing tools, exploring their functions and use cases to help you identify the best options that align with your organization’s development and testing objectives.

Summary of key mobile testing tool concepts

Choosing the right testing environment

There are three primary types of mobile applications: native, hybrid, and progressive web apps (PWAs). Understanding the differences among them is critical for selecting the appropriate mobile testing tools and strategies to ensure the quality and performance of your mobile applications. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Native apps

These are apps built specifically for a particular platform, such as Android or iOS, using platform-specific programming languages like Java or Swift. They can fully access device features like the camera or GPS, offering a smooth and responsive user experience.

The key drawback here is that creating native apps can increase development and maintenance costs because separate codebases are required for each platform. Additionally, native apps are subject to the specific guidelines and update cycles of each platform's app store.

Hybrid apps

Hybrid apps combine elements of native and web technologies. They are built using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript but are packaged within a native container, allowing them to be deployed on both the Android and iOS platforms. 

A native container is a wrapper that allows web-based apps to be installed on a device like a native app. This container provides access to device-specific features and capabilities, such as the camera, GPS, and accelerometer, while the app's core functionality remains web-based. This approach offers a balance between performance and development efficiency.

Hybrid apps typically rely on frameworks like React Native or Flutter to bridge the gap between web technologies and native device features. These frameworks allow developers to write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms, reducing development and maintenance costs. 

It’s important to note that hybrid apps may not always achieve the same level of performance and user experience as native apps, especially for complex or graphics-intensive applications.

Progressive web apps

PWAs are web applications that leverage modern web technologies to deliver a native-app-like experience. They are built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, just like regular web apps, but they can be installed on a device's home screen and work offline. This makes them faster, more reliable, and more engaging than traditional web apps.

Unlike hybrid apps, which rely on a native container to access device features, PWAs use web APIs to interact with the device's hardware. However, while this approach offers a more streamlined development process, it may not always provide the same level of performance and feature access as native or hybrid apps.

{{banner-large-dark-2="/banners"}}

Identifying the ideal testing framework

This section will explore the various testing tools available for native, hybrid, and web apps, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses to help you make informed decisions.

Native testing tools

Android

Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for developing native Android applications. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for building, debugging, and testing Android apps. 

Testing frameworks like Espresso and UI Automator are tightly integrated with Android Studio, offering fast and reliable testing. UI Automator is used for more advanced, cross-app, or system-level testing. It enables developers to test interactions that span multiple apps or interact with Android system components, like notifications or settings. This type of testing requires interactions with both the app and the Android system, which UI Automator is designed to handle effectively.

Both Espresso and UI Automator are integrated into Android Studio, making it the central environment for writing, running, and debugging tests in the Android ecosystem.

iOS

Xcode is the official IDE provided by Apple for iOS app development. It offers a comprehensive environment for building, debugging, and testing native iOS applications. Xcode includes a range of built-in tools to facilitate both unit testing and UI testing; the primary testing framework for UI testing in iOS is XCUITest, which is directly integrated into Xcode. XCUITest allows developers to write automated tests that simulate user interactions with the app’s interface, such as tapping buttons or swiping screens, ensuring that the UI behaves as expected.

Additionally, Xcode supports XCTest, which is used for writing unit tests and testing the app's business logic. While XCUITest focuses on in-app UI testing, XCTest provides a broader scope for functional and performance testing, including testing individual components of the app.

Like Android Studio, Xcode integrates both testing frameworks into a unified environment, making it the central tool for iOS developers to build, test, and debug their native iOS applications.

Cross-platform testing tools

As the name indicates, cross-platform testing tools allow developers to write tests that work across multiple platforms—such as Android, iOS, and sometimes even web applications—all from a single codebase. These tools reduce maintenance costs and simplify the management of test scripts by eliminating the need for separate scripts for each platform. However, choosing the right tool depends on factors like test speed, the level of platform integration required, and whether additional features such as UI testing, device compatibility, or performance monitoring are necessary. 

See the table below for a few key considerations and recommendations related to cross-platform tools.

Below, we expand on two key categories of cross-platform testing tools: cloud-based mobile testing tools and on-premises mobile testing tools.

‍

Cloud-based testing tools

Cloud-based testing tools provide a flexible and scalable solution for cross-platform testing. These tools allow developers to execute tests in a cloud environment, letting them simulate a wide range of devices, operating systems, and screen sizes without requiring local device infrastructure. Through leveraging cloud resources, teams can run tests in parallel on multiple devices, significantly improving testing speed and efficiency.

One of the main benefits of cloud-based testing is the ability to access a large pool of real devices and virtual environments, ensuring that applications are tested across a variety of configurations. These tools are particularly useful for teams with limited access to physical devices or for those who need to test across a broad spectrum of device types without the overhead of maintaining an extensive device lab. Even better: Cloud-based platforms often offer integration with continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, enabling automated testing as part of the development workflow. 

AI-powered cloud-based testing tools like Qualiti automate the creation, execution, and maintenance of your test cases. Qualiti leverages advanced AI algorithms to analyze your app's codebase and generates comprehensive test suites, ensuring thorough coverage and faster time-to-market. It emulates a team of junior testers, taking on repetitive tasks and freeing up your experienced QA engineers to focus on strategic initiatives.

On-premises testing tools

On-premises testing tools are installed and operated on a company's own infrastructure rather than being hosted or managed in the cloud. These tools can be customized to meet the specific needs and workflow of the organization, often offering more flexibility than cloud-based solutions.

The primary benefit of using on-premises testing tools is the granular control provided over the testing environment, letting developers test platform-specific features like device sensors, camera functionality, or operating system-level interactions. Since they run locally or within a controlled environment, they tend to provide faster execution for tests that don’t require full device or environment simulation. For instance, unit tests or simple UI tests that don't require a wide range of devices can be executed much more quickly in an on-premises framework than using cloud-based solutions.

That said, there are some downsides to consider when using on-premise tools:

• Initial investment: On-premises testing tools typically involve significant upfront costs. These include the purchase of licenses, setup of infrastructure, and installation of the testing tools. This is in contrast to cloud-based tools, which often operate on a subscription model with lower initial costs.
• High ongoing costs: Since on-premises tools require dedicated infrastructure, organizations must account for the ongoing costs of maintaining servers, hardware, and software.
• Scalability challenges: As the organization grows, the number of tests or the complexity of the testing environment might increase. Scaling on-premises testing tools may involve acquiring additional servers, upgrading hardware, or purchasing more licenses. This can be a slow and costly process.
• Access limitations: On-premises tools are typically restricted to a specific local network or physical location, limiting access to the tools for remote workers or distributed teams. In contrast, cloud-based tools are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, making collaboration easier.

Considerations in choosing a mobile testing tool

Here are some key factors to facilitate an informed decision regarding your testing strategy, broken into several categories:

• Team expertise and skillset:
  
  • Technical proficiency: Assess your team's technical skills and experience with programming languages, testing frameworks, and automation tools. 
  • Learning curve: Consider the tool's learning curve and the time required for your team to become proficient. Does your organization have the resources to accommodate a new team member focused on testing or potentially establish a new department?
    
    Note: Tools like Qualiti can significantly reduce the learning curve by automating many aspects of the testing process, making it accessible to teams of all skill levels. It’s possible to achieve rapid test cycles with a time to first test of around 10 minutes and full test suite execution in less than an hour.

• Project budget:
  
  • Licensing costs: Evaluate the licensing fees associated with different tools, especially for commercial licenses and large-scale deployments.
  • Maintenance costs: Consider the ongoing costs of maintaining the testing infrastructure, including hardware, software, and cloud services.
  • Open-source alternatives: Open-source tools can be cost-effective but tend to require much more setup and maintenance effort.

• CI/CD pipeline integration
  
  • Automation: Does the mobile testing tool integrate with your CI/CD pipeline to automate the testing process and accelerate development?
  • Reporting and analytics: Does the integrated tool provide detailed test reports and analytics to monitor the health of your application?

• Customer support, community, and documentation:
  
  • Technical support: Consider the availability of documentation and a strong and active community. 
  • Vendor support: If you're using a commercial tool, ensure that the vendor provides adequate customer support and timely updates.

{{banner-small-3="/banners"}}

Planning when to use emulation and real device testing

Emulators

Emulators are useful for testing the general functionality of an app when a physical device isn’t available or when testing on multiple device configurations is required quickly. They're great for initial development stages and automated testing on various device types and OS versions.

On the downside, emulators may not fully replicate real-world conditions, especially in terms of performance, touch accuracy, network variability, and device-specific hardware interactions. They may also miss out on testing the app’s interaction with sensors, cameras, or other physical components, elements that are important for certain app types.

Emulators are also slower than real devices because they simulate the hardware. Physical devices will give you more accurate results for performance testing, such as app startup time or memory usage. It's also important to note that emulators cannot replicate real-world conditions like battery usage, temperature fluctuations, or unforeseen background processes, all of which can affect app performance.

Physical devices

Physical devices are essential for testing an app’s real-world performance, responsiveness, and hardware interactions. They should be used when verifying app behavior under actual usage scenarios, especially for performance, battery consumption, and hardware integration. 

You should also opt for physical devices if your app relies on specific hardware-related features, like the camera or microphone.  Physical devices can provide a true reflection of how your app will perform in the hands of end users, factoring in conditions that emulators can’t simulate.

A drawback of physical devices is that they are often limited in availability and can be time-consuming to manage, especially when testing on multiple devices. Additionally, testing on physical devices can be costly and challenging to scale compared to emulators or cloud-based tools. In the early stages of development, when testing basic functionality, UI design, or simple features, physical devices are not necessary.

Including non-functional testing

Slowdowns, crashes, security holes, malfunctions on different devices—poor user experiences can lead to high abandonment rates. Non-functional testing helps catch and fix these issues early, so the app runs smoothly, stays secure, and keeps users happy. By paying attention to both how the app works (functional testing) and how it performs (non-functional testing), developers can create apps that aren’t just functional but also reliable, fast, and enjoyable to use.

Non-functional testing covers critical areas like:

• Performance: How does the app perform under varying load conditions or with limited device resources? This includes load testing, stress testing, and performance monitoring.
• Usability: Is the app user-friendly? Does it provide a smooth, intuitive experience across different devices and screen sizes?
• Security: Are there vulnerabilities in the app that could expose user data or allow unauthorized access? Mobile apps must be secure to protect sensitive information.
• Compatibility: Does the app function well across a wide range of devices, OS versions, and screen sizes? Compatibility testing ensures consistent performance across various platforms.
• Reliability and scalability: How well does the app handle increased usage, and how reliable is it over time? Non-functional testing checks the app’s stability and scalability as it grows.

Qualiti for mobile testing

Qualiti is an AI-powered testing platform that can automatically generate new tests to cover new code features. In the dashboard, team members can generate a full test suite based on existing codebases. From there, testing can be automated through an intuitive no-code interface. With AI features enabled, tests are automatically sorted into Test Folders, where they can be reviewed:

‍

For each test case, you can view a history of the test runs from each environment:

‍

You can get started in minutes monitoring application code. Each test run can be replayed step-by-step using the Trace Viewer. This is useful for many kinds of testing—you can check app performance at a glance, inspect in-app data flows, and replay production errors in a safe and isolated environment.

‍

Mobile apps are increasing in complexity and there is ever-increasing demand for faster time-to-market. In this environment, tools like Qualiti can seamlessly integrate with existing development and testing workflows, allowing teams to accelerate their testing cycles and deliver high-quality apps.

{{banner-small-4="/banners"}}

Last thoughts

This article discussed the nuances of mobile testing tools, exploring the diverse landscape of native, hybrid, and progressive web apps. It highlighted the importance of selecting the right testing environment and framework, helping you create a testing strategy that helps you make informed decisions about your testing process.

Here’s a summary of the steps to take to get started with mobile testing:

1. Determine your environment: native, hybrid, or progressive web app (PWA).
2. Select the right tool for your environment:
   
   • For on-premises (native or hybrid), manage infrastructure and testing environment yourself.
   • Alternatively, go cloud-based, using a hosted solution for faster onboarding and a gentler learning curve.
3. Write your first test:
   
   • Start with a basic “Hello, world” type test to ensure that your environment is set up properly. 
   • Create a happy-path test to confirm that you are on the right track.

By considering factors like platform, mobile environment, and physical testing needs, you can choose an effective testing tool that will grow with your codebase.

Cloud-based mobile testing tools help you get started with testing very quickly. They represent a natural starting point since you can start using them within minutes, unlike other options.