There are nearly 6 million apps that are distributed across the globe through different app distribution markets. This number is climbing as many more apps are being developed daily. Gone are the days when we had apps only to play games on mobile devices. The new age of app development has revealed that we are closing in on having apps for every need. With the help of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, we are able to achieve more than what we could ever imagine.

Importance of omni-channel communication and devices

The App world is no more restricted to mobile devices and smartphones. With the rise of digitalization, Businesses and Enterprises are focussing on having an omni-channel presence to maximize the reach and make it easy for their consumers to use their services. Creating an omni-channel presence by using Multi experience Development platforms has come to the forefront. Transitioning from Mobile and smartphones to Web Applications has taken a center stage off late. There are many other Testing Trends that are set to make an impact in 2021, ensuring that you are staying ahead in understanding these trends will also enable you to ease your testing efforts.

As there are a lot of new technologies and devices being brought into the market. The coverage of smart devices is becoming the key components of the digital world. Smart devices such as – 

• Voice Assistant Speakers, 
• Smart Watches,
• Augmented/virtual reality

While the interaction with smart devices is becoming more promising and easy, however, they are leaving a bitter taste when not done right. When smart devices don’t understand what you say and ask you to repeat the same thing multiple times. It could get a bit frustrating. Ensuring that your apps perform well in most if not all situations can be guaranteed when devices are tested thoroughly. However, considering the challenges faced because of Device Fragmentation setting up and maintaining a lab of your own is an expensive and tedious process.

Being in the testing space, we need to scale up our testing efforts. Since many businesses have developed apps of their own to ease access to their customers, the duty to test apps thoroughly takes utmost priority.

Challenges of App Testing

Device Fragmentation

Living in a world where electronic devices are being upgraded every now and then brings its own set of advantages and pitfalls. Feature additions and OS updates are being released at a much faster rate than expected. Being able to cope and run with the current pace is sure a herculean task for many. Looking at the statistics that are mentioned in our Device Coverage Report, we can understand the crux of the problem that arises due to Device Fragmentation.

Since the market share of devices that are being used by consumers is quite vast. Ensuring that your apps work well with most if not all devices would mean that you test the apps on a select the right devices to cover the target user base.

We also need to keep in mind that different digital avenues other than Mobile devices such as tablets and desktop systems are also used to access apps these days. And not just that the evolving digital world is moving towards utilizing other digital touchpoints such as wearable devices, smart speakers, etc. to reach the maximum number of consumers on the maximum number of devices. This would mean that as an App Development firm you will need to have complete device coverage to ensure that your apps function perfectly on most if not all devices. Click on the link here to understand Why you need to test your app on different devices?

OS Fragmentation

Within the different Operating Systems that are available, multiple versions come out quite often. The number of times Android and iOS versions that are released vary significantly and also their adoption rate by users. We need to understand that not all users download the updates as soon as the latest Android or iOS versions are released. Many users get comfortable with the older versions and dread every time there is a new update. 

Sometimes you would have to change your device to take advantage of the updates. Though the adoption rate of iOS is much higher than that of the Android versions. There are still a lot of users who just want to stick to using older devices that run android versions of 5.1 Lollipop or iOS versions of 12.4. Ensuring that we test across different devices and their OS versions is crucial for the success of any Mobile App.

Mobile/Tablets and Web Apps

Off late, there has been a significant increase in the number of web applications that are being developed. This again affirms that businesses are focusing on being present in multiple digital touchpoints to increase their visibility. Ensuring that your apps are compatible with different desktop systems and browser versions is another challenge we’ll need to keep in mind. Hence, testing the app on multiple devices and digital platforms is key to a successful app testing strategy.

Choosing the Right Testing Platform

Having understood the different challenges that are present when it comes to app testing. There are several factors that need to be considered while exploring Testing Platforms. Again, there is always an option of building your own App Testing Facility or source it in the form of SAAS product offerings that are available. Of the many offerings that are available in the market. Some of the key pointers that you need to keep in mind while evaluating the testing platform are – 

• Device Fragmentation – Does the Testing platform have the devices that you are looking for to fulfill your market reach. 
• Availability of devices – How easily can you access the devices that are present on the platform?
• DevOps – Does the platform integrate with your build systems/Dev IDEs or continuous integration systems?
• Automation – Does the platform let you automate your tests? Does the platform support the automation tools or frameworks that you use?
• Types of Testing – What are the different types of testing you require? Will the platform be able to perform the functional testing aspects that you are looking for?
• Security – Can your app be uploaded on an external cloud or does it need to be testing within an internal server? Does the platform support testing on a Private server?

pCloudy Device Coverage

Keeping in the mind the constant influx of devices that are released in the market every now and then. There is a desperate need for different devices to have a broad device coverage included in your testing strategy. In the Device Coverage Report, we have highlighted the most popular devices that our user base of over 170K+ users avail from the 500+ devices that are present on our platform. The pCloudy platform comprises both mobile/tablet devices and desktop systems that provide you with 2000+ browser and device combinations. However, in this report, we have covered the popular mobile devices being used on the platform

We have gathered this data from a combination of the usage pattern of devices by our users on the platform and the compilation of usage statistics that are recorded throughout the year. A majority of our user base comes from the US and India regions specifically. The report consists of the 30 most preferred devices for testing in the US and India based on some specific parameters.

Key Takeaways

Ensuring that you have the right set of devices at hand for testing is crucial to achieving optimum device coverage. Knowing which devices you need to pick and choose to target your audience is another important aspect as well. pCloudy’s Device Planner provides a comprehensive solution where a recommendation of devices is suggested to meet the specified parameters you choose for the Market Coverage and region. It also allows you to plan your test schedules so as to complete your testing hassle-free. Read more about the solutions to curtail the problems of fragmentation by choosing the right set of Devices recommended on the full report of Device Coverage Report 2021.