How can you perform mobile app testing on all devices without buying them?

Darshit Shah
3 min readSep 14, 2024

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Testing mobile apps across a wide range of devices without purchasing each one can be accomplished through several strategies and tools. Here are some effective methods:

Emulators and Simulators

  • Android Emulators: Android Studio provides a robust emulator that allows you to create virtual devices with different configurations (e.g., screen sizes, and Android versions).
  • iOS Simulators: Xcode offers simulators for various iPhone and iPad models with different iOS versions.

Emulators and simulators are great for early-stage testing but might not capture all real-world issues, especially those related to hardware and performance.

Device Cloud Services

  • BrowserStack: Provides access to a wide range of real devices and browsers for testing, including both Android and iOS devices.
  • Sauce Labs: Offers a cloud-based testing platform with a variety of real mobile devices and virtual machines for testing.
  • LambdaTest: Another cloud service that provides access to multiple real devices and emulators for cross-browser and mobile testing.

These services allow you to test on real devices remotely, often including various operating system versions and screen sizes.

Testing Frameworks and Tools

  • Appium: An open-source tool for automating mobile app testing across both iOS and Android platforms. It supports real devices and emulators/simulators.
  • Detox: An end-to-end testing framework for React Native apps that can run tests on emulators and real devices.
  • Cypress: While primarily for web applications, Cypress can be used for mobile web application testing, particularly when integrated with tools like BrowserStack or Sauce Labs.

Cross-Platform Testing Tools

  • TestComplete: A tool that supports automated testing for various platforms, including mobile, and integrates with cloud device providers.
  • Applitools: Focuses on visual testing and can be integrated with other testing tools to provide cross-device testing capabilities.

Community and Beta Testing

  • Beta Testing Platforms: Services like TestFairy, Firebase App Distribution, or HockeyApp (now part of Visual Studio App Center) allow you to distribute your app to a wide audience for real-world testing across different devices and environments.
  • Crowdsourced Testing: Platforms like UserTesting or uTest allow you to reach a large number of testers who use a variety of devices and provide feedback.

Automated Testing in CI/CD Pipelines

  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Integrate mobile testing into your CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI. Many CI/CD services integrate with device cloud providers to run tests automatically on a range of devices.

Device Labs

  • On-Premise Device Labs: If you have access to a device lab within your organization, use it to test across different physical devices. These labs can be shared among teams or departments.

Tips for Effective Testing Across Devices:

  • Prioritize Testing: Focus on the most popular devices and configurations that your user base is likely to use.
  • Use Analytics: Leverage app analytics to understand which devices and OS versions are most commonly used by your users.
  • Test Critical Scenarios: Ensure that core functionality works well across all devices, even if comprehensive testing is only feasible on a subset.

By using a combination of these tools and strategies, you can efficiently test your mobile app across a wide array of devices without the need to physically own each one.

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Darshit Shah
Darshit Shah

Written by Darshit Shah

Hello! I’m Darshit Shah - ISTQB Certified Software QA Engineer with 13+ years of experience. I believe that by sharing our stories, we can grow together.