Why do you need to test your mobile application?

At times one feels hard pressed for choice while choosing a mobile app for download, which is quite understandable with thousands of apps available at Google Play and App Store. But the most important question that arises over here is that who monitors the quality and worthiness of these apps? ; Especially when they are freely and abundantly available for download.

 A mobile phone app developer creates these apps for users and not for his personal use. His survival and livelihood depends on the success of the app he has created. Therefore, it becomes an obligation of the developer to deliver a perfect app which he is expected of. Testing before its launch is the only solution to ensure a perfectly working application.

A well tested application always tends to do better and cut through the competition, which is required in a tough and competitive market. What also has to be kept in mind is that an app developer’s reputation is at stake until the app begins to perform well in the market. After all reputations are not built overnight, it takes years of effort and hard work. But yes, they can be broken with a small mistake.

User reviews greatly influence the success or failure of an application. A user downloads and tries the app on his smart phone and then gives his reviews on the app. These reviews are read by other users, and if the reviews are positive, more and more users queue up to download the app. In case the app is full on technical glitches and bugs, users will post negative comments and discourage other users to download the app.

Testing becomes even more significant, considering the fact that it’s not only the reputation, but a considerable amount of time; hard work and money that is involved in creating an app. An app must succeed in order to allow a developer to recover his costs and also to take home some profit, otherwise it will be a total waste of his talent and time.

Taking into the user perspective is also important, as they feel cheated after downloading an app full of bugs. Bugs and errors frustrate users, as no user likes to spend his bandwidth and internet bill on a worthless application which refuses to download first, and if by chance gets downloaded, refuses to run properly. This has a negative impact on other apps as well, which have been created by the same developer, or company.

This topic of discussion about the needs to test an app before its release cannot be concluded without understanding as to why it happens. Lots of factors influence the haste in launching an application without proper testing. Since the whole industry is driven by money, pressures from stake holders and the marketing department are the main catalysts for triggering such haste. But a smart application developer should not bow down under such pressures and test his application rigorously before releasing to do complete justice to the users and most of all to himself.

Author Bio:

Katie Stanfield is a famous app developer working with Xperts Infosoft, New Delhi, India. She is the project leader of the App development India project. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter to share her views and reviews about mobile phone applications.