Five Myths About Automated Mobile UI Testing You Thought Were True

The user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) of a mobile app will have a direct impact on its popularity and profitability. So before launching a mobile app, the business must thoroughly test the application's features and performance, along with its look, styles and layouts. When the mobile UI testing is automated, it becomes easier for testers to make changes to the app's user interface without affecting its features and functionality. But many enterprises are still sceptical about the benefits of automating mobile UI testing because of some common myths.

Decoding 5 Myths about Automated Mobile UI Testing

Myth 1: Mobile UI Testing Automation Requires Additional Time

Nowadays, businesses have to complete mobile app development and testing within a shorter amount of time to reduce time to market. Many enterprises avoid mobile UI testing automation as they consider the process time-consuming. While automating UI testing efforts, the testers will require some time to write test scripts and maintain the cases to complement the latest mobile devices. But the test cases can be modified easily in the future, and reused frequently without increasing time to market. The testers can further reduce the time drastically by executing test scripts simultaneously.

Myth 2: Not Possible to Attain Complete Device Coverage

The user interface of each modern mobile application has to be tested across a wide variety of devices manufactured by different companies. The fragmentation makes it difficult for testers to cover most devices available in the market while testing the mobile UI. The automation tools enable businesses to avoid buying and maintaining a large number of mobile devices. The testers can take advantage of third-party cloud services to load the app quickly on many devices, and perform the tests effectively. After completing the tests, they can easily restore the factory setting of the devices, and reuse them in future without any hassle.

Myth 3: Mobile UI Testing Automation is Expensive

Many businesses consider mobile UI testing automation as expensive. They have to invest in a variety of tools, frameworks and skilled manpower to enhance test coverage and reduce testing time. That is why; a significant percentage of enterprises prefer testing mobile UIs manually. Despite being inexpensive, manual testing is time consuming. So the businesses have to deploy more testers, and hence increase the project overheads. Further, the quality of manual testing results is not 100% accurate and reliable. So the mobile UI testing cannot be performed completely and effectively without using testing tools. The tools can be further reused repeatedly across different projects, while helping businesses to get higher returns by delivering a high quality mobile application.

Myth 4: Decision Making in Impacted due to Inconsistencies in Test Automation

Many manual testers still do not like the concept of "ready-to-deploy". They believe in the traditional approach of releasing a maintenance update for the bugs identified in the mobile app after its release. Nowadays, businesses have to identify and fix all bugs and performance issues in the mobile app before its release to impress and retain users. So they testers must use tools to assess all aspects of the mobile UI thoroughly, and generate accurate test results and consistent test documentation. The mobile UI testing automation will further help the business to take decision about the app's commercial launch.

Myth 5: Have to Replace Manual Testers with Tools

Many enterprises feel it is not wise to replace manual testers with test automation tools and frameworks. They forget the simple fact that the automation tools make the testers more productive, and help them to complete the required tests within a shorter amount of time. The testers can further use the tools to perform certain tests repeatedly without putting extra time and effort. The testers will further find the time required to assess the app's user experience more effectively across a wide variety of devices. Further, the business will still need the help of manual testers as it cannot automate all aspects of mobile app testing.

On the whole, automated mobile UI testing offers benefits in terms of quality and time. The automated tools make it easier for testers to assess the app's user interface across a wide range of mobile devices, along with making changes easily to boost user experience.