Have you ever thought about the importance of Quality Assurance in app development? If you haven’t, maybe it’s time to understand why Quality assurance is crucial for your app’s success.
In this post we will discuss the importance of Quality Assurance in the app development process.
The Purpose of Quality Assurance
Your great app idea is your brainchild, and you want the end product to be loved by your users as much as you love it. That means its code needs to be fully functional, the UX needs to be flawless, and its usability needs to be spot on. In order to deliver a seamless app to the marketplace, it’s crucial to do Quality Assurance (QA) throughout the app development process.
It’s no secret that the app marketplace is thriving, but it’s also very competitive. So, when you deliver your app to the app store, it needs to be top-notch to stand out. Quality Assurance is a crucial piece of this puzzle as it can help you ensure a viable app.
The purpose of Quality Assurance in app development is to make sure that bugs, mistakes, and potential risks of your app are addressed at an early stage of the development process. This helps reduce costs by solving problems in a timely manner, mitigating the reputational impact it might have on your brand as well as the negative experience it might deliver to your users.
Having the right app development team can make or break your app, so having QA engineers on your team is imperative. They are the ideal candidates to address any quality-related issues with your app.
Identifying liabilities from the very beginning is pivotal when it comes to an app’s success. Let’s dive into the quality control process and what Quality Assurance engineers should look for when it comes to the app development process.
Why Does My App Need Quality Assurance (QA)?
In 2020, there were 592 million apps downloaded daily. Although this proves that there is a lot of room in the market for your great app idea, keep in mind that a considerable number of users are frustrated by overall app performance. This tells us that while apps are in high demand, a lot of the apps being downloaded are a letdown. In order to ensure your app doesn’t fall into the app performance frustration category, Quality Assurance (QA) is a crucial stage in app development.
The Quality Assurance team on a project should test all aspects of an app while it is still in the software development phase. This is done to find and eliminate any bugs or hang-ups in the app. This way, if all the quality requirements have been met, and it goes live, the app will most likely be seamless.
QA engineers work in tandem with app developers so that any bugs located can be fixed right away. Crucial quality control processes shouldn’t be skipped because nothing will cause users to uninstall an app more quickly than coming across a bug in your app.
Let’s take a look at some of the key aspects of Quality Assurance.
Common Bug Occurrences
These are some common software quality bugs that your QA team members should look out for throughout the app development process:
- User data input: One of the most common areas where software quality bugs exist is when apps require users to put in data. These data fields must be tirelessly tested by QA team members to make sure that the app’s functionality works properly.
- Popup messages: Whether popup messages aren’t grammatically correct, or they are too complex for the average user to understand, popup messages are an area of apps that a good QA team will pay close attention to.
- Multiple device testing: A good QA team will test your app on multiple mobile devices. One of the most common problems is that an app performs differently on each mobile device and it’s easy to let bugs fall through the cracks if an app isn’t tested on multiple devices.
Dynamic Testing
With the app market being so competitive, dynamic testing needs to be performed on your app before it hits the market. To do this correctly, you need to make sure that your QA engineers are knowledgeable and experienced.
A competent Quality Assurance engineer will run dynamic tests on your app during the app development phase, so make sure they keep the following software testing aspects in mind:
- User experience (UX)
- Performance of different components
- Functionality across different devices
- Enhanced security features
- Streamlined process of entering user data
- The installation process when the user downloads the app
- Resource usage (battery consumption)
- Memory usage
App Security Best Practices
Security flaws are hard to recognize, so it’s extremely important that your QA engineers are experts when it comes to data security and compliance standards. Guaranteeing data privacy and safe operations online is key to the success of any type of app.
This is especially important when it comes to MedTech and FinTech apps. Authentication, data storage, compliance, and other security issues can be thoroughly tested by your QA team. They’ll know the ins and outs when it comes to data compliance and making sure information stored on your app functions securely.
Can’t My App Developer Perform Quality Assurance Testing?
Whether for budgetary reasons or a team lacks a QA engineer, many companies rely on their developers to perform QA testing. While software developers are very talented, it’s essential that your app gets a second pair of eyes on it from someone who specializes in Quality Assurance services.
Having a QA engineer on your app development team means that your app developer can spend more time writing new code and implementing new features instead of running exhaustive tests on your app. Additionally, QA engineers are better suited to handle the QA-specific tools that help address quality issues.
QA engineers have a distinct set of skills and specialize in running tests to ensure that your app is flawless. They are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to user behavior and running a series of tests that mimic consumer user flow to identify potential bugs.
Key Takeaways on the Importance of Quality Assurance
The app development market is thriving but there is also a lot of competition. Users will be quick to uninstall an app that has bugs. If you’re developing an app, you need to make sure you have a QA engineer on your team. QA engineers are highly experienced professionals who will work hard to identify any bugs that your app may have and will ensure that you deliver a flawless app to the marketplace.
Be sure to vet your QA engineers for the following:
- Experience doing dynamic testing tirelessly to identify bugs in all parts of your app’s UX.
- Strong knowledge of app security regulations and potential issues.
- Good interpersonal skills to work hand in hand with your app development team.
Even more important for your app’s success, understand the importance of Quality Assurance. It may be tempting to overlook QA and leave the bug testing stage in the hands of your developer, but that could be a mistake that could make or break your app.
