There has been an ever-increasing need for complex, high-performing B2B and B2C mobile apps. Along with this need come high standards and a strict no-tolerance policy for errors or poor performance in mobile apps. These programs are quickly abandoned by users, who never use them again.
An unsatisfactory user experience, such as a confused UI/UX, an excessive number of bugs, a long load time, or an app crash, is the main cause of mobile app dropping rates.
You must adopt a continuous testing methodology to ensure that the mobile apps you develop functions flawlessly and fulfills user expectations. Testing mobile apps, however, may be difficult depending on the platform, operating system, network, carrier, and circumstance. Test automation with auto-healing can help with that.
This blog will look at the best practices for automation test maintenance for mobile apps.
What is Mobile App Maintenance?
The upkeep of mobile apps is a continuous procedure. It covers the post-launch maintenance, bug fixes, and architecture and functionality enhancements for mobile apps. Additionally, it incorporates the upkeep of the application’s compatibility with evolving devices and operating systems. It assures users of the application’s dependability and security while offering the highest level of technical assistance.
It is an essential step in the creation of apps in a mobile testing lab. Application maintenance services contribute to the program’s ongoing success and user happiness. You should think about mobile app maintenance if your company has any mobile business applications.
Significance of Mobile App Maintenance
After the app is fully developed, upkeep for mobile apps takes precedence. A few justifications for its importance to a business are listed below.
Retain Users
Updating the mobile app fixes issues increases performance, and incorporates new functionality. This would help an app stay true to its intended purpose of providing users with value and integrating it into daily life.
Enhance User Experience
When customers have a great experience using your mobile app, they will not only utilize it but also like using it in the long run. In addition, this would encourage referrals and boost installations.
Scale-up for Financial Benefits
Upgrading the potential for new revenue streams by providing newly gained customers with mobile-only features and services is another aspect of maintaining a mobile app, with the goal of achieving more.
Get an Edge Over Competition
By keeping the app updated, you not only stay current with trends but also contribute to its improvement. To prosper in the competition and differentiate oneself from the crowd, the upkeep will increase customers’ app usage.
How to Automate Mobile App Maintenance?
Planning your automation strategy, putting automation scripts into practice, integrating automation technologies, reviewing automation outcomes, and updating scripts are all necessary for efficiently automating mobile app maintenance. Establish your strategy’s objectives, parameters, and scope before proceeding. Select the Test automation with auto-healing frameworks and technologies that best fit the demands and budget of your application. It’s also critical to set up time and funds for maintenance and development. It is essential to write reusable, concise, and understandable automation scripts that cover the most important and common circumstances for your application.
Code quality and consistency may be guaranteed by utilizing version control, code reviews, and documentation. Automation scripts may be triggered automatically by building a continuous integration and delivery pipeline with tools like Bitrise, Bamboo, and Jenkins. Verifying functionality, performance, and stability may be achieved by routinely reviewing automation test reports and logs.
Optimizing execution time and resource usage requires that you find any problems or holes in your automation scripts. Finally, be sure to add new test cases or build configurations to your automation scripts as needed to keep them current with updates to your application.
What are the best practices for automating mobile app maintenance?
To maximize the benefits of automated maintenance for mobile apps in your mobile testing lab, you should use a hybrid strategy, start small and work your way up, test frequently, and track your progress. Concentrate on the most significant and commonplace actions and events before attempting to automate everything at once. Utilize a variety of complementary technologies and frameworks to automate mobile app maintenance rather than depending just on one solution.
Run your automation scripts often and consistently, and test your application as soon as you make any changes to the code or settings. It is important to measure and review your automation performance in order to determine the quality and efficiency of your automation scripts. Don’t assume that your scripts are perfect. To make improvements to your automation scripts based on your findings and input, leverage metrics like test coverage, execution time, defect rate, or user feedback.
Best Practices for App Maintenance
You can make sure that your users enjoy a flawless app experience by following best practices mentioned below –
1. Adding New Feature Updates
Monitoring and looking for areas for improvement and new features that will enhance your app’s value is a terrific idea.
2. Keeping User Interface (UI) Updated
Your app’s success depends on you keeping an eye on and updating the user interface in accordance with emerging trends in styles and usage patterns. Your current users will be happy with your app if it is more fashionable.
3. Monitoring Performance
Verifying the functionality of your app is essential. Examine loading times, delays, and responsiveness problems, and use analytics data to keep informed.
You must monitor your engagement and conversion rates, examine client use trends, and understand your retention and churn rates.
4. Scheduling System Maintenance
Setting up routine system maintenance is a great method to make sure you don’t overlook any problems or bugs. You may keep your app up to date and notify users in advance when the system will be unavailable for maintenance.
According to experts, mobile is the future of everything. It is your duty as app developers to shape the mobile experience of the future by coming up with creative ideas and putting them into practice effectively.
How Does Mobile App Testing Platforms Make Maintenance of Automated Test Cases Easy?
We now understand that maintenance testing is both feasible and time-consuming. What if we told you, though, that it doesn’t have to be as stressful? Self-healing is a characteristic that makes this possible. Test cases may self-heal on a number of platforms.
This occurs because testing solutions with self-healing capabilities utilize artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to identify modifications made to web components in the source code and automatically fix them, saving the test cases from failing. A regular occurrence of UI modifications would be one illustration of this. Changing the test element from “Username” to “UserID” in your test cases that use “Username” will undoubtedly result in a test failure.
However, when the developer makes this modification, your test will automatically repair itself if you use reliable automated test maintenance platforms. The tool’s AI modifies the property and then finds the appropriate element. Additionally, if your code changes, they can indicate which test cases need to be maintained.
Conclusion
Developers make regular code changes. Code updates are frequently necessary when new features are added, the user interface changes or users ask for changes. The exams also need to be adjusted in light of these modifications. At this point, maintenance testing becomes relevant. Regular test maintenance, together with automated test cases, can aid in finding issues in the most recent code. Thus, test maintenance might take a long time if it is not maintained properly. Using a test automation platform that facilitates test maintenance can help solve part of the issue.
