Mobile Application Testing Using Automation Frameworks

From grocery shopping to anything like taking an appointment with a physician, mobile apps make an important part of our routine grind.  

Therefore, it has become more important than ever to deliver an optimum user experience to the users. Besides, creating mobile applications that offer a seamless user experience across different devices and operating systems require thorough testing before they are launched in app stores. More importantly, anything that could bind users to a brand or service requires an effective user experience.  

Here are some quick statistics that might help you understand the situation better: 

• As per Statista, the total revenue in the App market is projected to reach US$430.90bn in 2022.  

• 21% of Millennials open an app 50+ times per day while 49% of people open an app 11+ times each day, says BuildFire.  
• Overall, 3.8 trillion hours were spent using mobile apps in 2021. 

With all those numbers and statistics available, it gets necessary to recognize and fasten the process of testing mobile apps for effective releases. In this blog, we will aim at highlighting some of the top-rated and most-used mobile app testing frameworks that can help redefine the mobile app landscape for greater reliability, optimum user experience, and of course business ROI.  

Let’s begin! 

Exploring Automated Mobile Application Testing Frameworks 

Though the growing need for testing has made people realize the importance of mobile application testing, here we have a list of some leading and most-used automated mobile app testing frameworks that you need to know to align your automation goals related to mobile app testing.  

 1. Appium 

Appium is one of the most renowned open-source test automation frameworks made to streamline mobile app testing. From native to hybrid applications, Appium can be used to work on all operating systems. However, the operational process for using Appium is quite similar to Selenium where a user could run test cases using the WebDriver interface. As far as test scripts are concerned, it allows users to create them in different programming languages including C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Ruby. 

It is a flexible and easy-to-use cross-platform framework that allows testers to perform testing for any android, iOS, or windows platform without any need to switch the API. Besides, it enables testers to use the same source code saving time and effort.  

2. Calabash 

The second mobile testing automation framework that has been made to our list is Calabash. With multiple language support, Calabash could be easily run by testers working on Flex, Java, .NET, or Ruby to check native apps that run on touchscreen devices. Moreover, the framework offers libraries that allow test scripts to interact with hybrid as well as native apps programmatically.  

3. XCUITest 

If you are looking for a highly reliable mobile testing framework to meet your iOS app testing goals, XCUITest is made for you. Launched by Apple itself, it runs on Swift/Objective C for creating UI tests. By far, it is one of the best and most used tools that is utilized to create tests on native iOS apps offering rapid execution with easy test management. More importantly, it offers an intuitive operation with low flakiness throughout.  

But since it is not a cross-platform tool, it does not bring you the liberty to reuse test cases for android devices. On top of that, it does not give you the benefit to create tests using any programming language such as Ruby or Python since it only runs on Swift. Nevertheless, it is still one of the most efficient mobile test automation frameworks for iOS mobile app testing and enables testers to pursue flawless testing.  

Working on a mobile gaming app but struggling with the testing part? 

Read Here: Reasons Why Testing Mobile Gaming Apps Is Getting Harder Than You Think? 

4. Selendroid 

Otherwise known as Selenium for Android apps, Selendroid is a popular testing platform that allows testers to run both native and hybrid testing. Complementing the needs of the testers and adding more speed, Selendroid allows the execution of parallel test cases on different devices at the same time. Moreover, testers could even use this platform to run cross-browser testing.  

5. EarlGrey 

Coming straight from the house of Google, EarlGrey is a perfect framework for mobile app test automation that can be used to run functional and UI tests. Made to foster unit testing, it is perfectly designed to offer in-built synchronization for all the robustness required during development as well as maintenance of the tests.  

The upgraded version of EarlGrey I.e. EarlGrey 2.0 runs a combination of EarlGrey or XCUITest, which complement testing on both Android and iOS. The capability of the tool could be measured by the fact that Google itself uses the tool to test apps like YouTube or Gmail.  

6. Espresso 

Another mobile testing framework that comes from Google, Espresso allows testers to create and deploy UI tests, but only for android. It is because testing the interface for any product that needs to land in the play store must be tested for offering an optimum experience. Espresso is extensively used by app testers and developers since it allows developers to define and record scenarios on how a user might interact with the device.  

Based on that data, testers and developers could further add assertions to verify the UI elements to match the expected behaviour of the user with the help of screenshots. Furthermore, the tool saves the recording and generates UI test cases to test the application.  

From black-box testing to testing of individual components of the development cycle, it is capable of testing both native and hybrid web views. The test cases could be developed using Java or Kotlin while the framework allows users to enjoy intent validation, synchronized test execution, etc. 

7. Robotium 

Last but not the least, Robotium is another popular test automation tool that is made to redefine the testing of applications based on the android platform. With test cases written in Java, Robotium allows uses to run black-box testing automating activities that testers could execute on the android app, and even needs very less time to write test cases.  

Best Practices To Simplify Automated Mobile App Testing 

Though running automated tests might appear a tricky task for manual testers, there are a few things that a tester must keep in mind to ensure smooth automation. Some of these include:  

• Creating Testable Applications 

The first step that you need to take for improving the test automation process is to create applications that are test-ready. This might need developers and testers to collaborate with each other and define guidelines related to development and testing. For instance, developers could define IDs for any given element or functionality and share them with testers to ensure rapid testing. 

• Avoid XPath Overuse 

XPath is a query language that is used to select nodes in an XML file in order to allow testers to navigate across elements. Since Apple or Google do not allow running XPath queries, using too much of XPath queries forces Appium to make calls. Though it allows finding elements for XPath but hampers the ultimate performance.  

• Arrange Selectors In Order 

Though XPath is a location-based query language, it is comparatively slow to other locators like Link Text, Name, or ID. Therefore, testers must keep a check on defining the order of selectors in a manner that ID comes first and XPath should come last for rapid identification of elements.  

• Implement Accessibility IDs 

Another thing that testers might need to work on to avoid excessive use of XPath by using accessibility ID locators. Setting accessibility IDs on elements could make things more testable and may even add to the scope of testing of the application.  

• Use The View States Of The Application 

View state is a practice that allows storing the page value when an app receives or sends information from the server. View state allows beginning testing where it is exactly needed resisting all the repeated functionality that might be similar for every 8 out of 10 use cases. Ultimately, it saves time and adds more speed to the process.  

• Use Emulators & Simulators Smartly 

Though emulators and simulators could be used to mimic devices, they cannot be used to mimic real-world scenarios like slow-speed internet or low battery on devices. This might lead to unsatisfactory use cases and therefore negate the user experience. Therefore, it is always a good idea to test mobile apps on real device clouds such as BrowserStack where testers could access native device features with elements like network throttler and geolocation testing.  

Interested to know about the various types and benefits of Automation Frameworks?

Read here: Test Automation Frameworks – Need, Types, Process, and Benefits

Concluding It All 

The increase in the number of mobile device users and applications in the past few years has created a need for a more refined user experience. To meet such goals, it is necessary that the right testing strategy must be followed. And right testing strategy requires an effective selection of test automation framework as well as perfect implementation to ensure every build is made to satisfy users’ needs and business objectives.  

And just in case, you need some assistance testing in real-time for creating a mobile application that offers a bug-free experience, consider reaching our team of experts at BugRaptors.  

Reach us through info@bugraptors.com