As of early 2023, 5.44 billion people, or 68% of the world’s population, were mobile phone users. Because nearly everyone has a mobile device, businesses are developing mobile apps to attract more business. You may accomplish various things using your phone, such as placing restaurant orders, making bill payments, and purchasing airline tickets. With all the focus on mobile apps, you can expect them to be high caliber and customer satisfaction oriented.
Software testing automation is growing in popularity because it minimizes human error and saves time. Selecting the appropriate instrument is necessary for the project to be successful. It helps to have an automation framework for testing dynamic mobile apps across several devices. Let’s quickly look at how to test mobile apps and discover widely used mobile testing tools to make the process easier.
What Are Mobile Testing Tools?
Mobile testing tools are programs that software, web, and app developers use to test mobile websites, apps, and other mobile applications on Android, iOS, and other mobile operating systems. Some examples are testing tools that are cloud-based, tools for app distribution, crash reporting, performance testing, emulators for mobile devices, automated user interface testers, tools for A/B and mobile optimization, and defect recording.
With these tools, mobile testers may determine whether mobile apps function as intended, are easy to use, and seem promising. It is necessary because even minor modifications to devices or the release of new iPhone versions might result in faults, which automated testing helps find and address. It guarantees that users can receive applications of the highest caliber.
Factors To Consider When Choosing Mobile Testing Tools
Is the tool easy to learn and use?
When working with open-source frameworks, installing additional components, like libraries, language-specific client drivers, and JAR files is often necessary. If the tool has everything you need, all you have to do to get started is download it.
Does the tool’s feature set provide all the necessary tasks for testing mobile-specific apps?
It covers reporting, sharing artifacts, platform testing, debugging, and screening. To determine if it includes your required essential functionality, consult the technical documentation guide.
Do native integrations on other platforms or CI/CD systems exist?
The majority of mobile testing tools have native interfaces, which eliminates the need for many workarounds when connecting to your team’s toolchain, even though they can link with a variety of frameworks, tools, ALMs, or project management applications.
Does the technology support both scripted and non-scripted approaches?
Scriptless techniques such as recording and playback are helpful for nonprogrammers and increase the number of tests and test coverage.
Top 10 Essential Mobile Testing Tools 2023
1. Appium
It is one of the most popular open-source tools for automating mobile apps. It automates Windows, iOS, and Android apps. It functions with native, web, and hybrid mobile app types. A REST API controls Appium, much like a web server. It supports and automates various app types, such as Native, web, and hybrid applications.
Appium is a valuable option for many developers and testers because it is a flexible and accessible tool for automating mobile apps across multiple platforms and languages.
2. Espresso
Google developed Espresso, an open-source framework for Android automation testing. It offers reliable, quick, and high-performance tests. This tool helps you to create quick test cases without worrying about the application’s setup. It can test both native and hybrid views of your application. This tool allows testers to write test scripts in Kotlin or Java. Google’s Android Studio also integrates with Espresso.
Espresso has many great features, such as the ability to test Java and JUnit native applications, easy and lightweight APIs that support black-box and unit testing, and automatic synchronization with user-interface elements and test actions.
3. XCUI Test
Apple developed XCUITest, an automated framework for UI testing on iOS devices. It facilitates receiving accurate and timely feedback on changes to the code. You can use XCUITest with native iOS language support without requiring any installation. It enables seamless communication between developers and testers and provides quick, dependable, error-free test execution.
With XCUITest, you can use the Swift or Objective-C programming languages to create automated user interface tests. A helpful tool for creating test code and capturing UI interactions is Xcode’s UI test recorder. The XCUITest framework for automated app testing supports continuous integration (CI).
4. Robotium
Like Espresso, Robotium is an open-source framework for automating UI tests in Android apps. With its help, testers and developers can design test cases replicating user actions like clicks, text inputs, and gestures. Android app acceptance and functionality testing is its primary use. Robotium is simple and requires little configuration to integrate into existing projects.
As a result, there will be a manageable learning curve, and you can begin writing tests effectively. It allows automated testing to be an integral part of your development process. It integrates smoothly into your continuous integration workflow. It keeps apps stable by assisting in the early detection of regressions. It is an easy-to-use and adaptable tool for testing Android UI with several features to improve the effectiveness and dependability of app testing.
5. Flutter
It is a feature-rich integrated development environment (IDE) designed specifically for Apple developers. It offers an extensive array of potent mobile testing tools to develop, test, adjust, and optimize applications for various Apple platforms. It includes developing watchOS applications to add functionality to wearable technology, tvOS experiences for Apple TV, and iOS and macOS desktop apps. At the moment, 31,680 businesses use Xcode.
It provides a complete set of tools, all integrated into one environment, such as a code editor, debugger, Interface Builder, and performance analysis tools. For visually designing user interfaces, it comes with Interface Builder. Xcode offers an extensive feature set to assist Apple developers in creating, testing, and optimizing applications for a range of Apple platforms.
6. Katalon Platform
The all-in-one automation testing solution for web, desktop Windows apps, mobile apps, and APIs is the Katalon Platform. It spares you the trouble of creating a test automation framework from scratch and is a well-liked substitute for Appium. You can use low-code methods and don’t need extensive programming knowledge. In addition to working with Windows, macOS, and Linux, Katalon Studio is compatible with the Android and iOS platforms.
It allows you to run tests on real devices, simulators, or custom cloud-based devices locally, remotely, and across different environments. It works with services like Sauces Lab, Kobiton, Perfecto, Lambda Test, and more. It supports the Page Object Model design and object refactoring to make maintenance easier. You can easily share test artifacts, exporting and importing them between projects. The tool includes advanced reporting to provide insights and speed up troubleshooting.
7. Android Studio
Android Studio is the official Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for creating Android apps from Google. It is the preferred platform for creating excellent Android applications because of its strength and abundant mobile testing tools and resources. About 37,689 businesses use Android Studio, which integrates seamlessly with the Android ecosystem. It streamlines development and increases productivity.
With full support for both Java and Kotlin, you can select the language that best fits your needs and project, increasing code compatibility and reusability. It has an integrated Android emulator that allows you to test your apps across a range of simulated devices with varying screen sizes and functionalities, which can help you find and address compatibility issues. It has an integrated Gradle plugin tailored for Android development, making dependency management and build processes easier.
8. Earl Grey
It is a Google-created and maintained automation testing framework for native iOS applications. Compared to EarlGrey 1.0, the most recent version, 2.0, offers several noteworthy enhancements. It facilitates out-of-process interactions with XCUITest and lets you write concise and understandable tests in Objective-C or Swift.
It monitors the application’s state to guarantee consistent test results across runs. It automatically keeps track of network requests, queues, and user interface modifications. It also provides the option to apply customized timings manually. Further, it provides a deeper insight into the test application’s behavior, directly querying it from your tests using EarlGrey 2.0.
9. Calabash
It is an open-source automation testing tool designed specifically for native apps on iOS and Android platforms. With this tool, you can create and execute automated acceptance tests for mobile applications. It’s accessible in addition to being open source. Xamarin develops and maintains Calabash.
It provides Android and iOS-specific automation libraries. The cucumber framework, which Calabash supports, enables testers to use straightforward English to explain how an application behaves. It makes it simpler for people to comprehend how an application functions, which may require coding experience.
10. Detox
Detox is a gray box end-to-end mobile testing tool tailored to React Native apps. It is designed to be cross-platform, supporting iOS and Android, and allows writing tests in JavaScript. You can directly integrate into the application for faster and more robust test execution from the start of the app launch without needing external tools to synchronize during the test execution process. This automation testing tool saves time and effort while ensuring the app’s quality on different platforms.
Future Of AI-Powered Mobile Testing Tools
The future of AI-powered testing tools appears bright as the industry evolves. We can anticipate additional AI tools shortly due to the advancements in AI technology and the expanding application of AI in testing. These tools will streamline testing and contribute new ideas for testing. However, we must exercise caution when utilizing AI-generated outcomes. To verify whether the results of AI are reliable and practical, human reasoning and judgment are still required.
Final Words
Software testing has changed significantly due to AI-powered tools, particularly for mobile apps. This blog lists the ten mobile testing tools demonstrating how AI can benefit software testers. They offer features that can improve and streamline testing, such as codeless automation and visual AI testing. Testers must stay informed as the industry continues to use AI and experiment with new testing resources that can expand the scope and ease of testing. So, harness the power of AI and find fresh approaches to enhance your testing.
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