Equivalence Partitioning (EP)
- What it is: Divides input data into partitions of equivalent data from which test cases can be derived.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Input fields (e.g., login forms, search boxes) are tested by creating test cases for valid and invalid partitions (e.g., different password lengths, valid email formats).
Boundary Value Analysis (BVA)
- What it is: Tests boundaries between partitions where errors tend to occur.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test extreme values for input fields, such as the minimum and maximum length of text fields or file uploads (e.g., minimum and maximum resolution of an image upload).
Decision Table Testing
- What it is: Models system behavior with different input conditions using decision tables.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Mobile application settings often involve multiple options (e.g., turning on notifications, dark mode, permissions). Decision tables help test combinations of these settings.
State Transition Testing
- What it is: Tests how the application behaves when transitioning from one state to another.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Mobile apps often have distinct states, such as login/logout, background/foreground, or different navigation flows. State transition testing ensures correct app behavior as users interact with various features and transitions between states (e.g., switching between active screens, minimizing and reopening the app).
Use Case Testing
- What it is: Validates the system behavior by following specific user scenarios or workflows.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Create real-world scenarios such as registering a new user, placing an order, or navigating a map in an app. It ensures the app works from the user’s perspective for each typical action.
Exploratory Testing
- What it is: Ad-hoc testing technique where the tester actively explores the application without predefined test cases.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Discover unexpected behaviors by interacting with various parts of the app (e.g., swiping, pinch-to-zoom, rotating the device). This is particularly useful for UX testing.
Usability Testing
- What it is: Evaluates the app’s user-friendliness and overall user experience.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test the app’s layout, navigation, responsiveness, and interaction. Verify the ease of use of buttons, touch gestures, app loading speed, and error messages. Also, ensure the app is intuitive and consistent with mobile design guidelines (e.g., iOS vs. Android UI/UX standards).
Compatibility Testing
- What it is: Verifies the application’s compatibility across different mobile devices, screen sizes, resolutions, and operating systems.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test the app on various device models (iPhones, Android phones) and OS versions (e.g., iOS 14, iOS 15, Android 10, Android 11). Also, check how the app adapts to different screen sizes (phones, tablets) and orientation (portrait vs. landscape).
Interrupt Testing
- What it is: Ensures the application can handle interruptions gracefully.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test how the app reacts to incoming calls, text messages, low battery warnings, switching between apps, or airplane mode. The app should resume properly after the interruption.
Localization Testing
- What it is: Ensures the app supports different languages, time zones, and regional formats.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Verify that the app correctly displays translated text, numbers, and date formats across different languages and regions (e.g., US vs. UK date formats, local currencies).
11.** Performance Testing**
* What it is: Evaluates the app’s performance in terms of speed, responsiveness, and resource usage.
* How it’s used in mobile testing: Simulate low internet bandwidth or unstable network conditions. Test app loading times, battery consumption, memory usage, and responsiveness under heavy usage or background processes.
- Security Testing
- What it is: Identifies vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the application.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test login mechanisms, encryption of sensitive data (e.g., payment information), secure transmission of data, authentication (e.g., two-factor authentication), and handling of user sessions.
13.** Network and Connectivity Testing**
* What it is: Ensures the app performs well across different network conditions (e.g., Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G).
* How it’s used in mobile testing: Test how the app behaves when switching between networks or under different connectivity scenarios like weak or lost signal, airplane mode, and reconnections.
Regression Testing
- What it is: Ensures that recent code changes haven’t introduced new bugs or negatively impacted existing functionality.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: After bug fixes or feature updates, run automated or manual test cases to verify that previous functionality still works as expected.
Gesture-Based Testing
- What it is: Tests mobile app interactions that rely on gestures like tap, swipe, pinch, zoom, or rotate.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Validate the proper response of gestures on different devices and screen sizes (e.g., map zoom-in/zoom-out, swiping between screens).
Installation and Update Testing
- What it is: Ensures the application installs, updates, and uninstalls properly.
- How it’s used in mobile testing: Test app installation under different scenarios, such as a fresh install, app updates, rollbacks, and app removal. Validate data persistence after an update and check the impact on user preferences or data.