A Detailed Guide on iOS App Testing – PART 2
The very 1st step of getting into the iOS app testing is the consideration of the implementation type.
3 Types of Application Implementation
Implementation of an app could be any of the 3 types as under:
- Web-Based Apps: These are apps that work in the same way as built-in iOS apps. These are normal websites that users could access using the Safari browser of iPhone.
- Native Apps: These apps are developed utilizing the iOS SDK [the kit of software development] natively runs on the supported devices of iOS such as Flipboard, VLC, & Uber, etc.
- Hybrid Apps: Such apps tend to be a combination or hybrid of both the above 2 types. They provide access to web content through the web-content viewer & also include some iOS UI elements. Example, Twitter, Zomato, and Gmail etc.
First Type of iOS App Testing (Manual Testing – Using Device)
- System Testing: Such sort of iOS app testing is done on the systems for checking that the different system elements are working together. In this, an iOS app gets launched on some real device of Apple, which then interacts with the UI for triggering the set(s) of user actions. Common user action could be a touch function or sliding on the screen. Eventually, the result has been tested against the expected results.
- iOS UI Testing: iOS devices UI/UX has been the key factor in their story of success. Such testing could be classified into the different categories, as follows:
- Inputs: Testing touch-screen functions [such as short touch /long touch, 3D touch, and scrolling], sizes of the buttons, placement of the buttons, font colors & sizes, etc. into such a category.
- Hard keys: Such types of apps work faultlessly with the device’s built-in hardware keys /hard keys like home key, volume buttons, etc. The app under testing must interact with the hard keys in the same way.
- Soft Keyboard or Soft Keys: How frustrating is it when the keyboard does not appear when you’re on the page of WhatsApp messages? Keyboard appearance, ability to hide when not needed, support for emoticons, symbols, and all symbols & characters, etc. are essential.
- Screen: If an app has been supported on many different devices, its orientation must be tested on all devices. Resolution may vary depending on the device selected for the process of testing. However, portrait/landscape modes & keyboard usage should also be tested anyway.
- Lists: On iOS, when a list needs to be displayed, it always shows a whole new screen, unlike Android, which shows a popup window.
- Messages: When some application crashes, the message displayed on iOS is different from Android. Also, if you noticed, Android phones flash little messages like # GB of memory freed etc., when you free up memory, but you would never see such flash message(s) on iOS.
- Delete Confirmation: If you look closely in the iOS app, the Delete action is located to the left of the Delete option in the delete confirmation window. It’s the other way around on Android or other operating systems.
3. Security Testing: Data security testing is mandatory. Social media logins as well as the information of the payment gateway must be encrypted/protected for protecting the app from hackers.
4. Field Testing: Field testing is performed for verifying the functionality of the application in the phone’s data network. Such testing is usually performed when the application reaches a stable phase and does not crash when it is tested in-house & all functionalities are resolved. This is majorly performed for testing the performances of the applications on the slow network of the data.