Let’s imagine you decided to build a mobile app. You’ve already chosen a platform, decided what features you will be adding, thought about design and user experience. Did the coding part. But you have to test your app before launching it, right? Or check the existing app to find and fix the bugs? So what will you choose – manual or automated testing?
What’s the difference
Let’s quickly review both testing methods just to make sure we have the same definition in mind. Manual QA testing is when there is a real tester pretending to use an app as the end user would. This kind of testing is time-consuming and cannot reveal all the issues an app might have. While automated QA is a written test script that runs tests numerous times aiming to find as many flows as it’s possible. Automated testing seems to become the new black in software development – there aren’t many companies left who prefer to test manually (and a lot of QA testers want to switch their careers). And here’s why:
- Cost saving and time effective
If you wanted to test your app among 1000 users, you’d have to spend a lot of time and money to implement it. A person who would be responsible for testing, would have a limited working schedule and need breaks to keep their mind lucid. Notwithstanding the fact that it would probably cost you as much as an app itself. Automated testing would be much easier to put into action – you would just have to code a test script and could use it numerous times. You do it once and use as many times as you need to.
- Automated QA can get anywhere, where manual testing cannot
With the help of QA automation, you will be able to test every feature and path that the end user will ever use and take. Flows and issues are easier to find when you can run hundreds of complicated tests throughout the development process. And you can start debugging as soon as all the problems are revealed.
- We are just humans, after all
And we all make mistakes. It’s not just a quote from a song, but a harsh reality. Therefore, manual testing is a more accurate way to check an app’s quality. Can you imagine a programme get sick and therefore lose attention while searching for bugs? Or feel bored and go out for a smoke? That’s the point.
- There is always more: knowledge base
Since automated testing is rapidly developing, there are always updates and improvements you can find out about. Developers and QAs love to share their experience on blogs and forums. So you always know about the latest trends and efficient QA automation practices and tools.
- Faster development cycles
Time is money, you know it. Everything should be as fast as possible in development, and manual testing is not. So when you go for automated quality testing, you speed up the development process. The development team doesn’t need to wait for a tester to perform all the needed tests – they can do it themselves.
So, automated testing is really important for your business – it is cost and time effective, has more opportunities for test coverage, more reliable than a person, and speeds up a development process. Additionally, a lot of companies use it and share their experiences. Remember, you end product’s performance depends on how well you did a testing part. Automated QA will surely help you to make your app product closer to perfection and satisfy the end user.
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