iOS App Testing

Ad hoc distribution is the manual process of distributing iOS Apps for testing. This usually involves distributing the App via email or something like Dropbox, then installing the App to your test device via iTunes. In order to do this, the UDID of the test device(s) must be known in advance by the developer

A crashing iOS App is seen as the most serious type of iOS bug – usually treated as criticial/show-stopper – especially if it happens on multiple devices.
The iOS App may crash for many different reasons, so the developer will want to know as much information about the crash as possible, so they can attempt to fix the issue. This information will usually include both a description of what the tester was doing in the iOS App at the time of the crash, the exact time of the crash and also any accompanying crash reports/logs from the device.
There are several possibilities for obtaining Crash Reports from your test device: the first is syncing it with iTunes and then using the Console app on your Mac OSX desktop/laptop, the second is to use an App onboard the iOS device and there are several of these, such as Log Police – and the third, if using iOS 7+, is to go to the Diagnostics and Usage data within Settings – where a list of crashes and low memory reports can be viewed and managed. Also, the latest version of TestFlight (now owned by Apple) can be used for obtaining crash reports.

Creating Test Plans and Test Results documentation is a vital part of the testing process and enables the tester to plan what to test and to keep track of what’s been tested.

Creating detailed Bug Reports is an essential part of the testing process, allowing the developers to reproduce the bug and then attempt to fix it.

Sometimes a bug is best shown via a screenshot or a video – or both – especially when a text description doesn’t seem sufficient or would be too complicated to be useful. When testing an iOS App, screenshots are easy to get, as the iOS devices have a built-in method for this. Obtaining videos is a little more tricky as there are (currently) no apps for doing this (unless using a jail-broken device, which isn’t recommended for testing). A way round this would be to use another device to record the video. Update: The Reflector App can now be used to grab videos of your iOS device’s screen.

Maintaining and tracking issues in an Issue Tracking System is a vital way of managing the Test Process, so that progress in fixing issues can be monitored and updated.

Different projects require the use of different Issue Tracking Systems. So far, I’ve used the specialist Jira system, the Redmine issue-tracking system, the DoneDone issue-tracking system, the issue-tracking features in the Codebase system, also Pivotal Tracker, plus have also used Excel spreadsheets and Google Docs.

As the iOS platform has matured, new technologies have been added to the iOS ecosystem and other concepts have evolved, such as IoT. These technologies are sometimes used within iOS apps and therefore require specialist testing.
iBeacons – this is a comms technology which enables radio connections/messaging/alerts between a location – such as a shop or a display stand – and a user’s smartphone or tablet, to transmit info such as special offers and product information. The tech has been in iOS since iOS 7 and extends Location Services, using Bluetooth 4.0/low energy.
Apple Pay – Apple bills Apple Pay as “Your wallet. Without the wallet.” and it allows users to make payments both in stores and in apps. It uses a combination of Near Field Communication (NFC), Touch ID and the Passbook/Wallet app to enable the payments to be made securely.
NFC – NFC is a method of wireless data transfer between two enabled devices that are in close proximity (about 10 cms) An NFC-enabled device will detect another NFC-enabled device and data can then be transferred between the two devices. In the real world, NFC is technology used in ‘Tap and go’ or ‘Proximity card’ services – including Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, plus many other services.
IoT – The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the interconnection of physical objects or “things” which contain network connectivity, sensors, electronics and software and are enabled to exchange data with smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets – this then enables them to be app-controlled.
AR – Augmented Reality (AR) is where a view of reality is augmented with visuals generated by the app, with the Pokemon Go app bringing this technology into the public awareness in 2016.

Testing tools help the testing process in many different ways and there are many different testing tools. Charles Proxy is a good example, which I sometimes use to test bandwidth throttling for apps and websites, to see how the product handles network connections with low bandwidth and varying stability and reliability. Other tools I’ve used include Postman, for API testing.