Mobile applications have become an indispensable part of our everyday life, so their development is receiving more and more attention. To get a high-quality and useful application, you need to put effort not only into its creation but also into app testing. One of the important elements of the examination of any mobile application is functional testing. You will learn more about its features and purpose from this article.
Definition and purpose of functional app testing
Functional app testing is one of the many types of software verification. Its purpose is to check all the functions of the application to find out how correctly it works and whether it meets the expectations of developers and the requirements of future users. In fact, functional testing consists of modelling numerous scenarios that simulate the use of the application by customers.
Why functional testing is important
The future reputation and demand of an application depend on how thoroughly and qualitatively its functional app testing https://testfort.com/functional-testing is carried out. If the functions of the application work poorly or with errors, it is quite likely that users will rarely download the software and it will not become popular.
On the other hand, if the functional testing was carried out on time and qualitatively and the application is completely functional, its release will be successful.
Basic types of functional app testing you should know about
Functional testing is a large complex concept that includes many subtypes. Here is a list of the main ones that are crucial for testing a mobile application:
- Exploratory: It involves simultaneously designing and executing tests and using the information obtained to create new ones to expand test coverage and improve test performance.
- Regression: Every time you update an application, you need to make sure that all its functions work as well as before. In other words, you should perform regression testing to check the functions of the application that have already been tested before.
- Smoke: It is a quick test of the main functions to detect possible errors. It is usually superficial and is performed not by QA engineers but by developers.
- Component: It is the testing of individual components of the application without reference to other constituent elements.
- Unit: It is testing components that are interconnected into a larger integration.
- User Interface: It aims to check how easy the application interface is to use. UI testing checklist includes but is not limited to checking the design, colour palette, and basic integration functions.
- Acceptance: It is one of the types of final testing when the application is checked for all the requirements that were provided by the customer.
- System: It is testing the finished application as a whole. It is the final type of testing of the application’s functionality.
List of basic functional app testing stages
Any mobile application testing consists of a number of steps that need to be taken to achieve thorough verification. Here is how you should act if you are going to test the application’s functions.
Step 1: Set goals
You have to determine the requirements for the future application and the expectations of end users. It will help you understand what criteria the application should meet.
Step 2: Prepare test data and scenarios
Before you start checking the app, you need to define all the necessary conditions. These may include an Internet connection, a list of operating systems, gadget models, etc.
Step 3: Create and execute test cases
To test the application, you need to write and perform all possible test cases. You can use only a manual approach or involve automated testing and machine intelligence.
Step 4: Analyse the results
At the final stage, after conducting functional testing, determine whether your application meets the initial requirements that you set for yourself as a model.
Functional vs Non-Functional app testing
The main divarication between functional and non-functional app testing is in the components of the application that need to be examined. Functional testing is carried out to check the functions, while non-functional testing covers other app parts, such as performance or usability.
Testing is a complex concept that involves many different types and approaches. Their key purpose is to make sure that the software works, is convenient, and secure.
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