Real device testing is an important aspect of mobile app testing. Testing the mobile app mainly involves running a series of tests to ensure that the app’s performance, functionality, stability, and usability meet several different testing requirements. Unsurprisingly, the app testing sector thrives globally, with over 6.3 billion smartphone users. Thus, it can be stated that the use of mobile-based applications is gradually increasing, increasing the rate at which new mobile apps are getting downloaded.
Due to the high popularity of mobile-based apps, the revenue generated via downloading and using the mobile-based app is expected to exceed $935 billion by the end of 2023. With an increase in mobile-based applications, the companies designing these applications must get accustomed to mobile device testing solutions. Such mobile device testing solutions will help ascertain the app’s quality and ensure the design of cost-effective applications within a stipulated time.
One of the most complex parts of testing the mobile-based application is the robust nature of the testing process. Selecting the right testing solutions compatible with the device, operating system, browsers, and hardware is crucial for a productive output.
What is Real Device Testing?
Physical devices deal with testing your web or mobile app by automation testing strategies. It can range from checking if the buttons are functioning properly to understanding the underlying mechanism of why the app is getting frozen suddenly on certain devices when there is a memory storage issue.
Real device testing on the cloud deals with cloud-based testing of the mobile-based application under cloud settings. Alternatively, it can be stated that Real device testing is defined as a process of testing your native, hybrid, and web-based applications over physical devices under cloud-based or remote settings.
This signifies that you are testing how you assume your prospective user will use that app on their mobile devices. Thus, real device testing enables a mobile app developer to run and simultaneously test the designed application’s overall functionality at cost-effective rates.
Real device testing under cloud-based settings is used to test the quality of the designed app by running the apps in the middle of all the impending interruptions that are present over mobile phones. Alternatively, it can be stated that real device testing helps to test the quality, speed, and errors (if any) in the app under real-time settings, thus helping to provide the developer with a real-time overview of the app.
Moreover, under cloud-based settings, there is no need to buy your own physical device. The results that are generated from the real device testing are considered to be accurate. However, the operating system and the user interface of the real devices under cloud-based settings need to be updated depending on the new updates received on the operating system and the release of new devices in the gadget market with new features, software, and various algorithm.
Why use Real Time Physical Devices?
Physical devices like mobile phones from different brands and with different operating systems are always helpful for real-time testing of the quality of the apps. Several other advantages of using physical devices are explained below:
- More hardware support in the form of real-time devices.
- To experience real environment testing to test the software and notify the errors or bugs, if any.
- To increase the overall performance frequency of the app by understanding the gaps in the algorithms.
- To identify usability issues like the app’s acceptance among the masses.
- Identify the bugs, if any, by identifying the errors and making the code changes accordingly. That is the main purpose of physical device testing with real-time devices.
- To get an idea about the configuration settings to make it compatible with the operating system.
You can leverage real device testing on a cloud-based platform like LambdaTest. Its real device cloud platform is an excellent way to test your web applications on different real devices without maintaining physical inventory or worrying about device availability. The platform supports smartphones, tablets, and desktops, all from the cloud, allowing you to test from anywhere at any time.
Furthermore, LambdaTest’s real-device cloud platform offers several features for effective real-device testing, such as running Selenium, Cypress, Playwright and Puppeteer automated tests in parallel across multiple devices and detailed reports for analysis. With its comprehensive range of features for both manual and automation testing capabilities on various devices through its cloud-based infrastructure, LambdaTest is an efficient solution for developers looking to ensure compatibility between their web applications and different environments.
Do’s of Real Device Testing
While using real devices under cloud-based settings, a few factors must be considered to make the smooth operation of the app testing.
- Real device testing provides reliable and accurate results or measurements. Thus, one must rely on the results and can launch their app in the market accordingly. There is no need to use other testing approaches if you are using real device testing.
- You should always consider testing your application on different ranges of devices. This will help you ensure that its functionality works flawlessly. For example, this will involve testing on different OS, screen sizes, hardware configuration, and versions.
- The tests must always be performed over a live environment as it helps to understand the network-related actions and how those actions can affect your app’s functionality, speed, and compatibility.
- If you are using real device testing for your payment interface-related app, you must always test the outcome of the app’s functionality; while attempting to make a transaction, it is suddenly interrupted by an incoming call or poor internet connection.
- While using real device testing, it is futile to use emulators as real devices are more accurate than emulators and simulators. Emulators and simulators are not actual phones. They are software that provides identical functionality to real phones. But they are not real phones.
- All the real devices that are present need to be kept updated.
- All the latest devices must be present to get comprehensive results in real device testing.
- User accounts and other data must be cleared from the devices for security or to prevent data breaching because new apps might not be strong enough to regulate the privacy of customers’ information leading to data piracy.
- You should utilize automation tools to perform real-time testing, as this will improve your accuracy of testing and help perform repetitive tests, which allows easy and early identification of bugs and consistencies.
- Monitor the performance of the software applications by evaluating test metrics like CPU usage, memory usage, and battery consumption.
Don’t Real Device Testing
Some of the points must be considered while using real device testing to increase the possibility of highlighting perspectives and gaps in designing the app.
- Do not limit testing over a single platform, as testing over one platform can lead to the generation of biased results and thereby limiting the probability of findings issues in the applications.
- Security testing must never be ignored. Security testing is important for any application, and ignoring the same can hamper the stringency of an application’s privacy and confidentiality traits, thereby causing legal litigation.
- Do not rely on emulators or simulators while testing real devices, as they fail to generate battery and other performance issues.
- If you want to cross-platform them, real device testing is not an option. Cross-platform testing can be done seamlessly by emulators or simulators.
- One having a stringent budget must never opt for real device testing. This is because real device testing is expensive, and the cost involved in procuring the devices and managing the overall physical sources can be extremely complicated.
- Do not worry about the speed of the debugging process while using real devices. Using real device testing slows down the debugging process during the initial stages of software development.
- Do not rely on emulators or simulators while using real device testing, as they fail to generate battery and other performance issues.
- If you want to test cross-platform them, real device testing is not an option for you. Cross-platform testing can be done seamlessly by emulators or simulators.
When to use real device testing?
There are certain circumstances when real device testing under cloud-based settings becomes mandatory. Some of the areas, when real device testing is important, are mentioned below:
- To conduct interactive and manual testing over actual physical devices
- To replicate the issue that matches the exact model as reported
- For conducting pixel-perfect testing
- While testing the hardware dependencies like memory, displays, CPU, and GPS
- To test the native ARM libraries
- To test over custom Operating Systems (OS) like Samsung TouchWiz, OnePlus OxygenOS
- To test any kind of native frameworks like Robotium and Espresso
- To analyze the scenario that demands carrier network connectivity, like making phone calls and sending messages to devices with SIM cards.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be summarised that selecting a physical device or a real device on the cloud depends on the nature of the mobile app testing strategy that you need to use, the algorithm used to design the app, and your budget. It is always recommended to rely on standard cloud testing services when testing your apps or other websites over a large scale using real device cloud testing. By doing this, one can always remain one step ahead of the testing curve laid out by the market standard.
