A Mobile App is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers. There are different types of mobile apps such as Native, Hybrid and Mobile Web.
A Native App is one that is installed directly onto the smart phone and can work, in most cases, with no internet connectivity depending on the nature of the app.
Hybrid Apps are combinations of native and Web apps. They run on devices or offline and are written using web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS.
A Web App works via the web browser on the smartphone but requires either a cell signal or wi-fi to function.
How to test Native and Hybrid Apps
- Testing begins with App installation and launch.
- Testing on some mobile devices require access to Device ID.
- Functionality and usability needs to be tested on multiple devices considering the Operating System and version, Screen Size, Custom themes and Interruptions.
- Many native/hybrid apps have access to additional APIs. Those connections need to also be tested.
Mobile Web Apps
- No installation required
- How does the site render in different browsers iOS runs Safari
- Android runs a stock browsers but also supports chrome, Dolphin, Opera Mini and third party browsers
- Windows phone runs IE
- Blackberry runs a native browser, Opera Mini or Bolt
- Requires an internet connection
- Connectivity varies by location
- Load Time is extremely important for mobile web users
- 60% of users expect sites to load within 3 seconds
- 74% of users will only wait five seconds
