Why are cloud device farms necessary for mobile application testing

According to Statista, in 2021, global mobile devices reached nearly 15 billion, and projections indicate a rise to 18.22 billion by 2025. With so many different devices out there, it's impossible to manually test the app on each one. Also, the expense associated with procuring, installing, and maintaining these devices is often beyond the means of many organizations.

As a result, testers find themselves making compromises on the extent of their testing, resulting in incomplete evaluations and subpar testing reports. This, in turn, contributes to the release of applications with inadequate performance. That's where the importance of mobile application testing comes in. With a reliable testing platform that offers a device farm with easy access to all kinds of mobile devices for testing across real-world conditions, companies can ensure the best possible digital experiences from their mobile apps.

What is a Device Farm?

A device farm refers to a testing environment that enables testing teams to assess the performance of their web apps, websites, and mobile apps on a wide array of real devices. It provides access to both current and older device models from various manufacturers. These device farms can be either managed internally or hosted on a cloud platform.

Establishing an internal device farm is often challenging due to the complexities involved, coupled with high maintenance and operational expenses. Setting up an in-house farm requires the team to have diverse devices installed and set up different browser versions and operating systems. Additionally, if they wish to conduct tests from various locations, arrangements for that must also be made. Therefore, it’s a prudent decision to opt for a cloud-based device farm.

What is a Device Cloud?

A device cloud is a testing environment with access to a collection of real devices that are stored in the cloud. These devices come with pre-installed operating systems and browsers.

While some device clouds offer emulators and simulators, those that provide access to real devices offer a significant advantage to testers. This setup allows them to observe how their creations perform in real-world conditions. Testers can interact with mobile devices just like regular users on a genuine desktop, tablet, or phone.

Testing on a real device cloud involves developers using and controlling actual devices to see how the user interface works on each one. This helps easily spot functional issues and missing elements. Additionally, it allows for assessing app performance by considering hardware factors like battery usage, CPU activity, network strength, and interruptions, like incoming texts or notifications from other apps. Device clouds empower testers to manually check how well apps and websites function from an end-user's perspective.

Why Should You Use a Cloud Device Farm?

They grant access to numerous real devices, eliminating the requirement to buy and maintain physical devices. With features like test automation, collaboration, and reporting, these tools multiply the efficiency and effectiveness of the testing process. A device farm typically gives the following features:

1. Device Management: The tool efficiently handles a variety of mobile devices, offering access to different types, operating system versions, and configurations. It takes care of device setup, configuration, and maintenance, letting testers and developers concentrate on testing.

2. Test Automation Framework: The device farm usually integrates with popular test automation platforms, enabling testers to create and execute automated tests on the devices.

3. Collaboration and Reporting: It provides collaboration features for testers and developers to work cohesively, share results, and discuss issues. Detailed reporting, including test outcomes, device logs, and screenshots, is also part of the package.

4. Security and Privacy: Device farms ensure the security and privacy of tested data and applications through secure data transfer, storage, and isolation.

5. Billing and Pricing: They offer a pricing model that allows customers to make payments based on device usage, either hourly or monthly, depending on their needs.

Overall, device farms present a cost-effective and scalable solution for testing mobile applications.

Benefits of a Cloud Device Farm

1. Improve Customer Experience: Gain the advantage of testing your applications on the exact devices and setups your customers use, ensuring a more realistic evaluation.

2. Debug issues faster: Quickly identify and address problems in your applications, leading to a more streamlined debugging process.

3. Real User Scenario Testing: Evaluate your applications under genuine user conditions like varying network conditions or low battery, allowing for more accurate testing and ensuring optimal performance in real-world scenarios.

4. Instant Device Accessibility: Instantly access a variety of devices for testing purposes, facilitating a more dynamic and comprehensive testing process.

5. Browser Compatibility Testing: Ensure your applications are compatible with the latest and older browser versions, guaranteeing a broader reach to users with diverse browser preferences.

6. Saves Time: Minimize the time testers spend waiting, leading to a more efficient testing cycle and faster progression in the development lifecycle.

7. Accelerated Time to Market: Speed up the overall development process, allowing your products or services to reach the market more swiftly and stay ahead of the competition.

8. Seamless Integration with Tools: Easily incorporate the device cloud into your existing bug tracking and management tools, ensuring a seamless and organized workflow for issue tracking and resolution.

Conclusion

In the dynamic landscape of mobile application development, ensuring seamless functionality across diverse devices and platforms is a formidable challenge. The traditional manual testing approach is not only impractical due to the multitude of devices but also poses financial constraints for many organizations.

Source: This article was originally published at https://www.rgbwebtech.com/blogs/page/why-are-cloud-device-farms-necessary-for-mobile-application-testing.