A Complete Guide to Mobile App Regression Testing

As applications evolve and new features are introduced, it becomes increasingly important for development teams to ensure that the changes made to the system do not negatively impact the existing functionality of the application. Regression testing is a crucial part of the software testing process, as it allows teams to identify and address any unintended consequences that may arise due to new changes.

Regression testing involves running a comprehensive set of tests to ensure that the application functions as expected, even after changes have been made. This type of testing is essential to maintaining the stability and reliability of the application, as it helps catch any issues that may arise as a result of new features or fixes.

When it comes to mobile applications, the need for regression testing becomes even more critical due to the vast range of mobile devices available on the market. Mobile devices vary in terms of their screen size, operating system, processing power, and other capabilities. As a result, a comprehensive set of tests is required to ensure that the application functions seamlessly across different mobile devices and platforms.

What is Regression Testing?

Regression testing is a crucial aspect of mobile app testing that aims to ensure that changes made to an application’s program or code do not negatively affect its existing features or functions. It is an essential part of the testing process when introducing new features or fixing bugs in an app or software.

The primary purpose of regression testing is to verify that the fixes made to an application do not cause new issues or bugs or break the app’s existing functionality. By conducting regression testing, developers can ensure that the app remains stable and reliable even after implementing changes.

Mobile app regression testing is an indispensable process for ensuring the success of an app. It is equally vital as the development process itself and should be conducted consistently throughout the app’s lifecycle. By prioritizing regression testing, developers can identify and address any issues that may arise due to new changes, ensuring that the app delivers a high-quality user experience.

When conducting regression testing, there are several important factors that must be taken into consideration, including:

1. The mobile devices and operating systems used by end-users: It is essential to test your app on a wide range of platforms and devices to ensure its compatibility and functionality across different operating systems. This is particularly important if your target audience uses a diverse range of devices, which can increase the complexity of the testing process.

   Your regression testing plan should be designed to accommodate these requirements. Therefore, before conducting regression testing, it is recommended to gather information on the types of devices and operating systems used by your target customers. Starting with a core user base and gradually extending beyond it is often a good approach.

2. Multiple user conditions: Even if your app boasts unique and useful features, it may still fail to deliver a good user experience. To ensure the success of your app, it is crucial to test it under various conditions in which it will be used. During regression testing, you should check your app’s performance under different network conditions.
3. When conducting regression testing on your apps, it’s important to focus on critical application workflows, which represent the end user’s journey and the essential steps they take to complete their tasks. These workflows are used by every user every time they use the app, making them a critical part of the testing process. By testing these critical journeys, you can ensure that your app functions smoothly and prevent any issues that could hinder task completion.
4. Parallel testing is a technique used to save time by testing different versions or parts of an application simultaneously on different systems with the same data. This method is especially important in regression testing and can help enterprises scale in the cloud to support multiple transactions per day while saving time and money. When implementing parallel testing, it’s essential to determine the number of tests to run in parallel and select the appropriate frameworks based on the skill sets of your developers, engineers, and manual testers.

LambdaTest is a digital experience testing platform that provides access to both real and virtual devices. It offers a diverse range of iOS and Android devices with different operating systems, screen sizes, and more, allowing for efficient testing on real device cloud and delivering high-quality mobile apps.

Regression set

A “regression set” refers to a group of test cases that software must pass to become eligible for release. These test cases should cover all critical aspects of the application.

For a potential release candidate to proceed, it must pass the entire regression set. If any issues are identified during the testing process, they must be fixed before the software can move forward.

It is important to note that the regression set is a living document that should be updated regularly to reflect changes and new features in the software. The specific content of the regression set may differ depending on the nature of the software being tested.

Regression Packet

After the app successfully passes the regression set, it can be considered a Regression Packet or a Release Candidate. This is a significant checkpoint because it signifies that the app is ready to be released to the public.

Naming conventions such as “Android 3.3.2-rc” or “iOS 2.2.1-rc” can be used to identify these reliable builds. These names indicate that the app has gone through regression testing, and is a candidate for release.

Factors to consider before implementing mobile regression testing plan

Before implementing a mobile regression testing plan, there are several important factors to consider. As the demand for mobile applications continues to grow, it is essential to ensure that mobile testing is rigorous and thorough. Ultimately, the quality of the final product will determine the success of the mobile testing process. Here are some key aspects to keep in mind during regression mobile application testing:

• Choose smartphones that reflect your target customers’ usage patterns: It is important to select a diverse range of devices and operating systems that match your customers’ usage patterns. Testing on a wide range of devices can increase the level of testing complexity, so it is important to design your regression testing plan around these requirements.

• Use emulation and simulation for faster and more automated testing: Utilizing emulation and simulation tools can speed up testing and automation, making the process more efficient and cost-effective.

• Consider testing on the cloud to reduce costs and delivery time: Cloud-based testing can help reduce costs and delivery time, allowing for more efficient and thorough testing.

What do we need Mobile App Regression Testing?

Regression testing arose from the need to ensure the integrity and quality of an application even after new features have been added or changes have been made to it. While an application may work perfectly before a new feature is added, the combination of the new feature with the existing application may result in unforeseen bugs or issues. This can be a significant risk to the app’s performance and user experience.

Regression testing is necessary to identify and address these potential issues by testing the entire application, including any newly added features, to ensure that the app continues to function properly and meets the users’ needs.

Outsourcing Mobile App testing

Mobile application testing is a critical aspect of software development that must be taken seriously to ensure that the app performs as expected in various conditions. To avoid the overheads of mobile testing, it is often wise to consider outsourcing mobile testing services. By doing so, you can ensure that your app is thoroughly tested by experienced professionals while reducing the costs and resource requirements of in-house testing.

• When it comes to mobile application testing, several key aspects must be considered. One of the most critical aspects is validating network connectivity under various conditions. This includes testing the app under full network, intermittent network, and no network conditions to ensure that it can handle connectivity issues effectively.

• Another critical aspect of mobile testing is performing manual and regression test automation based on the number of test cases, scenarios, and iterations. This involves testing the app across multiple devices and operating systems to ensure that it works properly under all conditions.

• Load and stress testing are another important aspect of mobile testing. This involves testing the app under heavy load to ensure that it can handle large volumes of traffic and users without crashing or malfunctioning. This type of testing can help identify performance bottlenecks and other issues that could impact the user experience.

• Finally, mobile testing also involves performing security testing to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors. This includes testing for common vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and others.

Benefits of Regression Testing

• Regression testing is an essential step in software development as it helps to identify and fix bugs that may arise when making changes to the original application code. Every time code is changed, it creates the possibility of new bugs appearing, which can be difficult to identify without proper testing.

• By performing regression testing, you can ensure that the changes made to the code have not introduced any new bugs and that the application continues to function correctly. This type of testing helps to improve the quality of the software and ensure that it works as intended.

• Studies have shown that regression testing can save significant amounts of time and money. By catching and fixing bugs early, regression testing can reduce the time spent on bug fixing by up to 60%, and save 10%-40% in costs.

• Enterprises can automate regression testing, which helps reduce the amount of time and effort required for manual testing. This approach also allows for more frequent testing, which can lead to earlier detection of bugs and faster bug fixing. By automating regression testing, organizations can improve the overall efficiency of their testing processes and reduce the risk of releasing buggy software to the market.

Conclusion

Regression testing is a crucial checkpoint in the software development process. It ensures that a particular version of an application is reliable and safe to release. The regression set is a collection of test cases that need to be passed to deem a version stable. In addition to test cases, it’s important to ensure that the environment, devices, server, and data all meet the requirements before beginning regression testing.

Regression testing can be a time-consuming task, and its duration depends on the scale of the project. It is not uncommon for regression testing to take one to three days or longer. Despite the potential time investment, it’s essential to perform regression testing to maintain the quality and reliability of the application.