Testing Sites on Mobile Devices: Tips and Techniques

Over the past few years, mobile devices have emerged as the primary means by which millions worldwide access the internet. As mobile web traffic has grown, the ability to test sites on mobile for responsiveness is not a luxury but a necessity, especially for smartphone and tablet users.

The mobile environment contains significantly higher variability in size and content: the screen may be of different sizes and resolutions, the operating system may be different, and the browser may also be different. That is why testing becomes more complicated, and one must address problems that negatively influence users’ reactions.

Why Perform Mobile Website Testing?

Testing your mobile website ensures it works well on different smartphones and brings extra benefits to your business, such as:

  • Makes Websites Easily Accessible: Making your website mobile-friendly ensures it can be seamlessly accessed on any browser across diverse mobile devices. This responsiveness is vital for businesses, boosting their visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
  • Makes Websites Mobile Device Compatible: Mobile website testing allows you to ensure compatibility across all major mobile phones.
  • Makes Websites Easier To Find: Google prefers mobile-friendly sites to non-compliant mobile devices desktop sites. Responsive website design will perform better in all search engine results since clients and anyone needing the website will find it easier to do so. Web traffic has grown in the past few years. Mobile phones became more popular mainly because of their better browsing capabilities than desktops, making a responsive website more important.
  • Offers Speed & Accuracy: People use mobile phones in virtually all aspects of their lives, such as looking for information, ordering movie tickets, checking on social networks, and using other features. This preference is mainly due to mobile phones’ speed and convenience. Therefore, conducting mobile website and responsive app testing is essential to providing users with instant access to your website.
  • Improves User Experience: A mobile-friendly website offers users a superior experience to desktops, as they can access all the content on a small, compatible device. It helps you attract more users and builds trust among them.
  • Improves Website’s Look & Feel: Device-specific responsive testing can ensure an appealing look and feel for your site across various mobile phones. It encourages users to appreciate and revisit your site whenever they need useful information or services from your business.

Mobile Testing Best Tips and Techniques In 2024

Here are some of the best tips and techniques for teams trying to build a stand-out mobile app:

Test the Right Platform

Following these, the specific testing you intend for your application will significantly depend on whether it is a native, web-based, or hybrid application. A native app has the most flexibility when designing the user interface. Still, it is not easy to maintain one application for different operating systems because of differences in the devices’ hardware and software.

Some key issues of web-based app testing include difficulty testing the app’s compatibility with various browsers, performance and load testing, and, lastly, the problem of ensuring that the app is correctly displayed on the client’s desktop or laptop, considering the ever-increasing use of responsive and adaptive forms of web design. Regardless of which platform you are testing on, having the proper testing knowledge cannot be overrated.

Know Your End Users

You need extensive data about your end users to build a successful mobile app. Informed business decisions, support policies, development priorities, and user experience improvements are only possible if you understand how users interact with your app. Collaborate with your development team to incorporate analytical mechanisms into the app. Measuring end-user data is crucial for identifying an effective test strategy and making informed business decisions in the future.

Functionality First

The core functionality is the main attraction of any app and must be rock solid. Users seek out apps to perform specific tasks, and incomplete or inadequate functionality will lead to abandonment. Therefore, ensure the primary functions are fully implemented and thoroughly tested before progressing.

User Experience Second

Mobile apps have to be accessible and slick. If the user interface is poorly designed, or the functionality doesn’t flow intuitively, you need to rework it. Testers must consider usability and highlight any issues. Don’t wait until the app is ready for testing to evaluate user experience. You can begin testing the user experience early in the development cycle when the prototype or design mock-up is prepared.

Don’t Forget Emotional Engagement

In the mobile era, for example, hundreds of apps have the same business ideas, but only several apps capture the market share. This is because even if you can make a user download and install your app, there is no guarantee that he or she will engage with it as often as you desire. People download many apps and use them only once before the users delete them. Constructing hooks and strategies wherein people would come back into the building is relevant.

Test the emotional engagement of your app with a representative group of end users outside the development team.

Smart Balanced Testing

Keep a careful balance between script-based testing and exploratory testing. Remember that script-based testing won’t help evaluate emotional engagement, and this type of testing normally takes longer to achieve the desired level of coverage. Session-based testing is more effective for detecting user experience issues, edge case scenarios, and special usage conditions. Get the mix right to ensure that coverage is as complete as possible.

Define Your Support Policy

Testing every combination of browsers, platforms, and devices is impossible. Define your support policy early on and revisit it every three months or so to keep up with the pace of the mobile market. Employ end-user data and market research to identify your target devices and platform versions. Most testing should focus on the combination representing the greatest number of end users.

Use a Cloud Service to Test on More Devices

You can use emulators during development, but eventually, your app must be tested on real devices. It’s not practical to maintain a full inventory of all mobile devices. Consider using a cloud-based device management platform to give the team easy access to various devices and platform versions.

Refine and Optimize

A few specific test types work very well for mobile apps to refine and optimize them. As usual, consider alpha/beta testing for key delivery milestones. Use A/B testing to determine what end users prefer and base final decisions on the feedback. Use optimization testing to decide on small, simple UI and functionality changes. Fake-door testing may also be used to determine which new features end users are most interested in at an early stage of development.

Don’t Forget Performance Testing

Mobile devices operate in a range of different conditions, and this is easily forgotten when testing. Use real devices to find out how your app handles different signal strengths, multitasking with other apps running, switching between core functions of the phone, and running on different carriers. You must look at many areas to detect all the possible performance issues.

How Helpful Is LT Browser In Mobile Website Testing?

LT Browser gives you a competitive edge with its state-of-the-art features. Here are several ways it enhances the overall mobile view of your website, making it more appealing and accessible:

  • Compare the mobile view of websites across different mobiles and tablets with a side-by-side view to ensure complete responsiveness.
  • Utilize the mirrored interaction functionality to quickly compare the mobile view of the website.
  • Add a custom device according to your requirements if the desired device isn’t listed in the browser.
  • Use built-in developer tools to streamline your debugging process, enabling you to quickly identify and resolve issues.
  • Ideal for responsive testing of locally hosted websites using just the localhost URL.
  • Access the built-in image editor to highlight bugs with markers in various colors and shapes.
  • Easily share reports and bugs from the testing process with your colleagues with a single click.
  • Record the entire test session in a single video for easy accessibility to other team members.

Using LT Browser for mobile website testing provides comprehensive access to essential features, eliminating the need for other testing methods. However, if you have diverse testing requirements, such as cross-browser testing for a web app, you can opt for LambdaTest. This AI-powered testing cloud platform allows you to test your web app across over 3000 browsers and operating systems.

End Note

It is undeniable that mobile phones have become the preferred choice for users to access the internet due to their accessibility and convenience. Therefore, businesses must ensure their web apps are mobile-friendly. To achieve this, conducting thorough mobile website testing across various smartphones and tablets is essential to meet the expected outcomes.