I can’t think of a single other object that serves the multitude of purposes that a smartphone does. We use mobile devices to shop, entertain ourselves, pay bills, and organize our calendars. As of 2025, there were 7.3 billion smartphone mobile network subscriptions and over a billion tablet users worldwide—and more than 4 million apps available in the leading app stores. All of this means that mobile testing is an important skill. This chapter explores how mobile testing is different from web testing and introduces the mindset and tools you’ll need. You will learn a strategy to fully test the mobile layer, including automated functional testing as well as performance, security, accessibility, visual, and CFR testing. The guided exercises cover AI-assisted manual exploratory testing and agentic test authoring.
Building Blocks
There are three main areas to consider when approaching the mobile landscape: the devices, the apps themselves, and the network (see Figure 11-1). Let’s take a look at each in turn, then discuss the architecture of mobile apps.
Figure 11-1. The mobile landscape
Devices
Mobile devices vary along several dimensions that you need to understand in order to decide which devices to use for testing. Generally, aim to provide testing coverage for at least 85% of target devices. You should factor in several distinct device dimensions ...
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