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Functional testing is an integral part of mobile app testing that ensures that the application works as it should and the requirement and design specifications are met. This testing aims to look at the application from the end user’s perspective.

With that being said, let’s have a look at the best practices for functional testing.

1. Collaborate on requirements for testing

You and your mobile app testing company need to be completely sure about what needs to be tested to construct a test plan. Because without a test plan, there should be no testing.  

I may be stating the obvious when I say that the best practice is not to work out the requirements in a vacuum. The development team will have a handle on which screens, processes, integrations, and user commands that will be most critical. Let this collaboration be a stepping stone towards working on the test plan.

2. Create your test plan and prioritize your tests

Surprisingly, this step is often left out by teams. Often because teams find it a waste of time to write down what they already know. But this is not what the test plan is about. It’s about writing what you’ll do and instead of writing, the real hard work goes into the mental gymnastics to create test strategies. Briefly, though, an ideal testing plan should incorporate everything from test schedule and test resources required to scope and objectives of testing. It’s also important to prioritize test cases in the plan to avoid wasting time on test cases that are of the least significance.

3. Determine what can be automated

This can be considered as a part of a test plan but since it’s so critical to testing strategies and mobile development, I decided to dedicate a separate session for it. Simply put, automate as much as possible. Automation testing ensures improved software quality and reduced time-to-market. But you can’t automate everything and you shouldn’t. Why automate something that a manual tester could do more effectively or cheaply? Having said that, automation can be very helpful in the long-run. Yes, it may cost slightly higher in the short-term, but the long-term financial benefits far exceed them. Experts believe that with the right support, most enterprises can comfortably automate 80% or more of their testing.

4. Execute your tests under real user conditions

More than any other type of development, there is a greater need to find a way to test under real user conditions in mobile app development. The smartphone is the most used electronic device on the planet. Since an average person spends a major portion of his/her day using a smartphone, even the smallest issue can be easily noticed. Therefore, numerous factors have to be taken into consideration when developing a mobile application. For example, what happens when you receive an SMS or you go out of data coverage, something that web developers don’t have to worry about.

Conclusion

Above mentioned are some of the practices you can adopt to ensure that your functional testing is on point. A well-reputed mobile app testing company can be of great help in achieving your quality goals to reduce time-to-market. But even if you opt for these services, you should make sure that these practices are being adopted.