Compatibility Testing: Why Is It Crucial for Your Software?
Businesses today that stay abreast of technical advancements enjoy a significant competitive edge. It comes as a package with the capacity to deliver digital goods that offer outstanding user experiences and resolve customer issues. One of the things that makes it possible is software testing. This post will teach you about compatibility testing, a crucial step in the creation of mobile and online applications. Compatibility testing ensures that an app or booking platform works consistently on a variety of devices. It opens up a larger audience to your program. Allow us to walk you through the specifics of compatibility testing, which will aid in the management of the creation of software products.
What Is Compatibility Testing?
When Apple releases a new version of iOS, they test the update thoroughly to make sure it functions properly on all devices (iPhones, iPads, Apple watches), carrier networks, and device settings (for example, the most recent update might only support iPhone models from the 6 series onward). One instance of compatibility testing is this.
Cross-platform, cross-device, and other cross-configuration and related sorts of QA checks are all referred to as compatibility testing. Assuring availability for a wide range of users, it assists in validating the proper behaviour of software across various mobile devices, web browsers and their versions, operating systems and their versions, hardware configurations, platforms, and so on. Check out the online QA training to learn more about Compatibility testing.
Is Compatibility Testing Essential?
The answer is “yes,” to which I will give a quick explanation below. You can have faith in the finished product thanks to compatibility testing. It’s a means of confirming that a platform continues to work across different devices. 100% test coverage, or testing on every possible combination of hardware and software, is undoubtedly not possible nor required. Nonetheless, the majority of eventualities can be covered by choosing a minimum of a few popular cell phones, laptops, and PCs in a target region, each with multiple copies of the most recent operating system and browser installed.
A reliable, high-quality product contributes to the company’s enhanced reputation. More importantly, the most crucial thing that supports business continuity is a solid digital platform that appears and functions as intended across a range of devices.
What Does Compatibility Testing Cover?
A QA organisation will often conduct the following kinds of compatibility testing for a product:
- Browser testing: It guarantees interoperability with every popular browser, including, but not limited to, Google Chrome and Safari.
- Operating system testing: It verifies operating system compatibility (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS).
- Network testing: This is done to ensure that the software functions properly across various networks, including WiFi, 5G, 4G, 3G, EDGE, and network switching.
- Device testing: Software that needs access to Bluetooth, USB, SD cards, and other ports is tested by QA professionals on various devices.
What Are The Examples Of Compatibility Issues?
We test a variety of digital items for compatibility, so each one will have some challenges unique to its niche. However, there are certain bugs that crop up rather regularly. Here are some of the several issues:
- incorrect adjustment of the screen size.
- missing several important buttons.
- broken interface for navigating.
- Scroll bar problems.
- Aligning text incorrectly.
- issues with updates and installation.
- changes to the colours and style of CSS.
- Broken input fields, frames, and tables.
Compatibility testing becomes more challenging with the introduction of new device models and frequent operating system changes. Other major hurdles include testing expertise, genuine devices, and tight timelines. For this reason, hiring a QA firm to handle compatibility testing makes sense. That way, there’s little danger of missing something significant.
What are the Benefits of Compatibility Testing?
Testing for compatibility allows you to observe how your program functions and appears across a range of devices. This is how you find out if the program will be accessible to a large user base as well as your intended audience.
- Real devices display the picture.
It is important to manually verify the display accuracy and device-specific features that are integrated into actual devices. QA engineers can observe how various hardware interfaces and network connectivity function in real-world scenarios by using genuine devices. In case a certain physical device is unavailable, a quality assurance team may utilise cloud testing services like BrowserStack.
- You get to find errors before the launch.
Compatibility testing quickly identifies software flaws. The development team has ample time to address at least the most critical bugs prior to release since quality assurance engineers identify and report issues before production.
- You learn about the danger areas.
It is important to understand the possible hazards. Both scaling and maintenance can benefit from this information. In any scenario, having this knowledge can help you cut expenses and time while putting in less work now on future support and development. You can appropriately set priorities if you are aware of the portions that are at risk. And when there are tight deadlines, that becomes even more crucial.
How Does the Compatibility Testing Process Go?
Considering the wide range of equipment and software alternatives that need to be examined, compatibility testing can be a laborious procedure. As a result, a QA team plans ahead to ensure that nothing is missed during the process. In essence, the following steps are involved in the entire process:
- A QA team familiarises itself with the product, including its designs and requirement specifications.
- A QA professional creates the device list if you don’t already have one to test your product on.
- Next is the documentation for testing: A QA engineer creates test cases or a checklist covering the functionality to review.
- A Team Lead designates a specific set of checks for each specialist if multiple specialists are participating in the testing.
- The promised deliverables (checklists, problem reports, etc.) are given to the development team, along with thorough explanations of each bug.
Conclusion
Businesses are putting a lot of effort into developing software that is easy to use on various platforms, operating systems, and devices. It is essential to conduct compatibility testing before release in order for it to happen. It can repeatedly increase your customers’ contentment. Check out the QA training course to learn more.
