Automated vs Manual Testing: What to Choose When?

As the number of mobile apps are increasing in the market, a drift has been observed from an application that provides the facility to the one that delivers high value along with the service. In other words, the performance, efficiency, and security have become the core pillar of an app success - making the developers look ahead to test their application effectively.

In the midst of this, if you are someone who has realized that quality assurance can make or break your app, but are confused about what should be the right approach for testing your app and making it bug-free: - Automated or Manual testing, this blog is going to be a good read for you.

Here, we will go through a brief introduction of both the testing type, consider their pros and cons, and tandem, watch out for when to choose what.

So, let’s begin with Manual Testing.

Manual Testing

As the name suggests, Manual testing is an approach where a quality analyst tests the application manually. That implies, they make a work test plan and introduce for different values and conditions manually to ensure that the output received is as per what app is functioning the way it should and delivering the desirable outcomes.

This mobile app testing approach brings several benefits to the mobile app development scenario, a few of which are:-

• Inexpensive:- Since the tester will be in-house, you won’t have to hire someone just for a project or  invest heavily in infrastructure and communication mode. This means, the cost of manual testing will be low.
• Fast and Accurate Feedback:- The quality analysts who will be testing on the app will be well familiar with anything and everything related to mobile application development, which will cut down the time required to understand and begin with the testing process. Besides, the tester will be able to deliver the feedback in real-time, implying faster processing will be done in terms of app maintenance.

• Use of Intuition and Human Judgement:- In the case of Manual testing, a human can make use of his intelligence and intuition to find out more scenarios and perform well.

• Time Saving:- Since the work test plans are written and executed by mobile app testers manually, any change in the approach can be implemented in real-time. This results into saving many productive hours and efforts.

While these benefits make everyone believe that Manual testing is just the right technique to go with, it also has some limitations. Some of these limitations are:-

• Less Reliability:- Since humans are performing all the tests manually, there are higher chances of errors and mistakes.

• No Reusability:- The process can not be recorded, which makes it difficult to reuse the manual tests later for the same or other projects.

• Difficulty in Tasks:- There can be some testing methods are critically tough to perform, eventually resulting in consuming more time and efforts. In fact, you might have to look ahead for some expert advice for continuing the process.

With this attended to, let’s look into what Automated testing is, so as to get better knowledge of what to select for your testing requirements.

Automated Testing

Automated Mobile testing refers to the process where a complete set of testing tools are taken into consideration to ensure the quality of the process. [Read here: Automated Testing Tools Beneficial for Mobile App Developers]

The process holds various plus points and minus points, when it testing your application.

For example, here are the advantages of going with Automated testing:-

• More Bugs and Issues:- Since machines are well-programmed and have lower scope of making mistakes or overlooking any scenario, the Automated testing process give an access to more bugs and issues, which eventually helps to make your app perfect.

• Higher Speed and Efficiency:- As the major fraction of testing process is automated, the speed and efficiency of the quality assurance process increases effectively.

• Reusability:- Automation process can be recorded, which implies you can reuse and perform the same testing operation on the same or other mobile app later.

• Upgraded Productivity:- Automated mobile app testing also proves to be crucial for mobile app development companies in the context that the tools give humans an escape from tiring and fatigue and provide them with enough time to look ahead to more productive tasks.

While these were the benefits of going with Automated testing, it also hold some limitations, such as:-

• Unclarity of UI elements:- Without intervention of humans, it is quite difficult for automated testing tools to get familiar with the visual aspect of UI elements like font style, color, button sizes, contrast, etc.

• Expensive:- Every automated tool comes with its own price value, which can further result into a rise in the mobile app development cost.

• Challenge of Debugging:- Debugging a test script is yet another major issue associated with automated testing with maintenance requiring more efforts and monetary funds.

Now, as we have covered the benefits and limitations of both the mobile app testing strategies, it’s the right time to dig deeper into the market and determine when to choose what.

Go with Manual App Testing when:-

• You want to understand the basics of the application.
• You are investing anonymous crashes and bugs.
• You are performing Exploratory testing.
• You are looking forward to testing scenarios that are not technically feasible.

Choose Automated Testing when:-

• You want to test an app in least time.
• You have to check a particular app feature or functionality only.
• You are performing a repetitive task.
• You are looking forward to executing advanced GUI testing.

So with this, we have taken a look into what Automated and Manual testing are, what are the associated pros and cons, and the scenarios when they fit into your testing plan. Hope this will make it easier for you to make the right decision. If still having any queries, connect with the experts immediately.