The Secrets and Pitfalls of Free Mobile App Testing
The number of mobile apps that power up our gadgets keeps growing, causing ampler competition. The rivalry drives companies to release new, better projects – and to do it faster than ever before. It all elevates the role of app testing to new heights.
Professional software testing services remain the ultimate means of quality advancement. Still, they aren’t the number one option for everyone. Companies also look for more cost-effective solutions, and the spotlight turns to free mobile app testing.
What We Mean by “Free Mobile App Testing”
Obviously, “free” means a team doesn’t have to pay for extra services, such as contacting an outsourced software testing provider or hiring in-house QA experts. It is about using tools without charges and involving people who already work with the project. BUT.
Whenever there is something free, there is a “but.” Leaving software testing to developers, PMs, product owners, and everyone unlucky enough to evade the extra work is not “free testing.” All these people are testing during their work hours – the time they are paid for.
Some of them may like testing, and others would rather spend this time doing what they were hired to do. None are skilled enough to run the proper quality assurance. Explaining why a professional QA team should test is a story for an entirely different article (or perhaps even a series of articles).
As for the free mobile testing tools, they do exist and can help with manual and automated testing. This article will focus mainly on the particularities of such means.
Pros and Cons of Using Free QA Tools
Cost-effectiveness is a sure benefit of free mobile testing tools. Limited features of “no-charge” plans mean limited opportunities when it comes to testing. This duality should be the center of your attention when considering and practicing free mobile QA.
Advantages of Free Mobile App Testing Tools
Using free tools is a way to minimize expenses. For startups and small businesses with limited budgets, it can be the only viable option. The advantages here, however, go beyond lower spending. Diversity, flexibility, and community support are the highlights you will also enjoy.
Diversity
Testing tools are primarily associated with test automation. The chances are high that some related query led you here. The good news is there are free tools that support various testing types and codeless tools available free of charge. The selection is less extensive if you exclude paid options, but it is decent.
Flexibility
Even with freemiums, QA tools offer a degree of flexibility and allow customization. Meanwhile, open-source tools offer features and integrations similar to commercial platforms and much better adjustability.
Community Support
Free tools tend to have active user communities that compensate for the lack of official assistance. Tech minds can discuss the development and testing practices, seek advice, share knowledge and experience of tool implementation, and find solutions to common issues.
Challenges of Using Free Mobile App Testing Tools
The overview wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the hurdles that can come with the free tools for mobile app testing. You probably understand what comes as a part of this bargain, but we can’t skip a quick reminder.
Operating with Limited Features
Naturally, free tools come with curbed opportunities. You may only have access to some features, be subject to timeouts, or lack official support. Always check whether a free version of a particular tool would be enough for your team.
Compensating for Unavailable Functionalities
You may need to combine various tools to fill the gaps of missing features. While this is partly a solution, it is also extra work for the people who will have to learn and navigate the free tool bundle. And if you use software with timed trials, they will have to constantly look for new options and study the new tools non-stop.
What You Get with Free Mobile App Testing Tools
You must have noticed that we are not trying to convince you to avoid using free tools. “Free” doesn’t necessarily mean “not good enough to cover the needs.” You just need to understand how it works in practice. So, let’s look into that.
Particularities of Free Tools
Before moving to limitations, pay attention to the particularities that don’t necessarily affect the choice of a tool but may be unacceptable.
Usage Restrictions
Such constraints may not pose significant issues for smaller teams or projects but can impede testing scalability. These restrictions can manifest in various forms:
- Limited number of users.
- Limits on the number of projects.
- Shallow device pool.
- Lack of the necessary configurations.
So, evaluate whether the tool’s limitations align with your growth ambitions and operational scale.
Branding & Watermarking
Free tools often come with vendor branding or watermarking on test reports and results. While this branding is a fair exchange for accessing the features without charge, it does introduce considerations regarding the presentation of test outcomes.
Always weigh the importance of maintaining a professional and unbranded image, especially when sharing reports with clients or stakeholders, against the cost-saving benefits of using free tools.
Support & Documentation
Free tools typically come with basic assistance and limited or delayed responses. The absence of immediate, dedicated support can be challenging, especially when encountering critical issues or complex testing scenarios.
The solution to this is online resources and user community support. Internal documentation covering the adoption and usage of the tool will help your team track the issues and remain a source to return to when encountering any problems in the future.
Limitations of Free Tools
Avoid unquestioningly trusting “best free mobile app testing tools” lists. View each option in the context of your testing needs. The things that might be limiting to your work may vary, so we’ll share the list of the most common limitations you can use during the analysis.
Limited Feature Sets
Free tools typically provide essential testing functionalities for detecting and addressing bugs but lack the advanced features of premium versions. The following may be missing:
- Automated test scheduling.
- In-depth performance analytics.
- Integrations with third-party services.
- Extensive reports.
- Sufficient coverage (how many features fit in).
- Project sharing & collaborative usage, and more.
With this trade-off between functionality and cost-effectiveness, remember to assess your needs carefully and decide which features are indispensable for specific projects.
Test Environment Variability
One of the primary limitations lies in the variability of the test environments a tool provides. There may be inconsistencies in emulated devices, operating system versions, and network conditions. Such disparities complicate testing.
When a testing environment doesn’t represent real-world conditions accurately, the risk of overlooking critical issues increases. To address this challenge, conduct thorough testing on various physical devices and conditions to supplement your virtual testing efforts.
Security & Privacy Concerns
Another critical consideration is the potential security and privacy concerns associated with free testing tools. As organizations entrust their app’s code and data to external services, they must be aware of data vulnerabilities (if any).
Have a strategy to mitigate risks and safeguard sensitive information in place. It may involve anonymizing data, using encryption, or opting for self-hosted testing solutions when dealing with confidential data.
Integration Capabilities
Integration with other tools may be crucial and not always possible. Free resources often lack it or make integrations with other platforms problematic. If a solution has a limited toolset, and your team needs to power it up with something else, don’t hurry to adopt it. First, get a complete understanding of what combination you are going to use and how it will function.
Poor integration increases manual work and leads to errors. To overcome these limitations, you choose the platforms attentively and make sure they are compatible. Long story short, do your homework well.
Maximizing the Benefits of Free Tools
Even with all the limitations of free tools for testing mobile applications, there are ways to gain the benefits you expect.
Prioritize the Testing Goals
Define the critical functionalities and focus on them. Keeping the core of your mobile app in order is the most logical approach that will also leave you time for experiments with other features and activities.
For example, if you automate regression testing, you cover a big chunk of work and free up the time for manual inspection of new or problematic scenarios. You both guarantee that the core functionality remains stable and get more time for other tasks, whatever it may be.
Complement Free Tools with Paid Ones
Yes, you are looking for FREE testing tools. Yet, you might have reconsidered the everything-for-free approach and assumed something might justify extra expenses. Maybe you can afford to balance the total economy and available budget and find a golden mean.
Test several tools and discover how their limitations affect your work in practice. See what requires complementation and then select a paid addition. An example of such a scenario would be investing in performance tools or professional security assessment while running regression tests on Appium and accessibility tests on BrowserStack.
Monitor Open Source Tools
Open source doesn’t equal free. It is neither an antonym for “commercial.” Still, open source mobile testing tools give users the freedom to experiment and adjust the base version for their needs. If a free tool that perfectly suits your request doesn’t exist yet, you may soon discover someone has offered a solution and find it on GitHub.
You can also modify and enhance open source software on your own without waiting for customization from others. Of course, you’ll need a person with appropriate skills. Investing in expertise, however, is always better than relying solely on tools. So, if you have time or are ready to switch between solutions, keeping track of what is happening in open source can pay off.
Free Mobile App Testing: Beyond Tools
The bottom line is free tools are great if you approach the selection wisely. Know your project, do the research, and put your team’s needs and the quality of a software product first. Don’t let the “free” tag play a joke on you.
This article focused mainly on free tools, just like we promised. But let’s wrap it up with free mobile app testing in general – just like we started.
In quality assurance, just like other services, you pay for expertise. QA engineers comprehend the particularities of software from different industries. They know:
- How to achieve ultimate test coverage with minimum effort.
- What functionality and testing types to prioritize.
- How to report bugs to make the debugging easier.
- What small things make a product more appealing and user-friendly.
- How to arrange knowledge maintenance and diversify quality-related risks.
The outcome of partnering with an outsourced QA company, finding a freelancer or agency on Upwork, or hiring an in-house QA engineer is stable and more frequent releases with no critical bugs in production. That’s what you might be missing if you prioritize the economy and don’t try to allocate a budget for quality assurance in the upcoming business quarters.