ISTQB® Mobile Application Testing - 2025

Explore the main types of mobile application tests, including compatibility testing with device hardware, software interactions, and connectivity methods, to craft a comprehensive test plan ensuring app quality.

Test device features and compatibility across diverse hardware using target portfolios informed by mobile analytics data. Ensure app remains functional when features are absent, such as cameras or fingerprint sensors.

Test how the app scales interface elements across devices, viewport sizes, aspect ratios, and resolutions (PPI and DPI), addressing product fragmentation for a consistent experience.

Plan tests that simulate high energy use to evaluate mobile app behavior during device overheating, ensuring no unusual behavior as CPU frequency, memory, and background services respond to thermal stress.

Test an app's response to diverse device input sensors, including motion, light, audio, and location, under varying conditions, and ensure fall detection and touchless inputs function across devices.

Test mobile apps across input methods by validating that the keyboard pops up, gesture recognition, and camera functionality on devices with one or both cameras, including barcode and QR scanning.

Master testing for screen orientation changes by validating usability, functional behavior, and state retention through continuous portrait and landscape switches, ensuring inputs and outputs remain intact.

Test how the app handles typical device and user interruptions, preserves session state, and meets user expectations during notifications, calls, app switching, and do not disturb scenarios.

Test access permissions to device features, ensure the app works with reduced permissions, request only resources relevant to its functionality, and assess permission denial during installation.

Test power consumption and state to detect battery drainage and data integrity issues in foreground and background, using log analyzers like Battery Guru Battery Health for continuous, timed insights.

Explore how mobile apps interact with device software and test notifications, quick access links, and cross-platform interoperability to gain a comprehensive view of app quality.

Test how mobile notifications interact with the app under foreground, background, and low battery conditions, including direct interaction and deep link handling to open specific pages.

Test quick-access links, including Android app shortcuts and iOS 3D touch or haptic touch, ensuring they perform the same actions as when opened from within the app.

Validate every operating system provided user preference, including sound, brightness, network power, save date and time, time zone, languages, access type, and notifications, to ensure apps behave accordingly.

Evaluate testing strategies for native, hybrid, and web apps, focusing on device compatibility, interaction with native features, performance, usability, and cross-browser compatibility across JavaScript engines.

Ensure interoperability across multiple platforms and operating system versions, verifying look, feel, and functionality; test backward compatibility, cross-platform frameworks, and platform standards to maintain energy efficiency.

Test interoperability and coexistence between apps on a device, ensuring correct data transfer and protecting user data while assessing conflicting behaviors with risk-based testing.

Explore testing for connectivity methods, including 2G–5G cellular networks, Wi‑Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth, and evaluate emulators, field tests, and bandwidth manipulation setups.

Explore the most common mobile test types, including install ability, security, and accessibility testing, and learn the test levels and the process for performing these tests on mobile apps.

Master installability testing by verifying installation, upgrade, and uninstall across store and enterprise channels, including sideloading and desktop installs. Validate permissions, data retention, and behavior on jailbroken or rooted devices.

Stress testing measures mobile app performance under traffic surges, using tools like Apache Jmeter and monkey to simulate many virtual users and expose bottlenecks under high cpu, memory, battery stress.

Security testing identifies vulnerabilities in mobile apps across design, coding, and implementation, using tools like Immune Web Mobile Suite and ZAP to protect data and secure communications.

Performance testing for mobile apps measures time and resource use across devices and back ends, using stress testing and Chronometry benchmarks to ensure fast loads for important workflows.

Learn mobile usability testing using heuristics, test tools, and personas to identify usability discoveries. Ensure apps are self-explanatory, intuitive, and aligned with platform guidelines.

Explore mobile database testing, covering data storage validation, synchronization across devices, and upload conflicts. Assess crud operations, search accuracy, data security, constraints, and data integration for performance and reliability.

Explore globalization and localization testing to ensure apps work across languages and regions. Verify translations, layout compatibility, and correct handling of currencies and date formats for diverse locales.

Learn how accessibility testing ensures apps are usable by people with disabilities by using device accessibility settings and checking text readability, high contrast, captions, screen readers, and assistive technologies.

Expand mobile testing scope by adding field testing and app store approval checks, covering post-release considerations beyond component to acceptance levels.

Conduct field testing to validate mobile apps in real world environments across Wi-Fi and cellular networks, varying speeds, temperatures, and user scenarios, while preparing devices and carrier plans.

Evaluate App Store approval and post-release testing via checklist validations of content, design, and technical elements, and cover upgrade compatibility and user feedback.

Create detailed user personas to represent potential mobile app users and use mnemonics like S I'd p o t and I sliced up fun to guide experience-based testing techniques.

Discover heuristics as rule-of-thumb approaches to mobile testing, including the heuristic test strategy pattern and areas: project environment, product elements, quality criteria categories, test techniques, and testing and quality story.

Use tours in exploratory testing to examine an app from viewpoints, mapping legacy code, startup logic, and sleep-mode areas. Pair tours with session-based testing for improved mobile testing effectiveness.

Explore session based test management (SBTM) for mobile applications, using a session sheet and test charter to guide timebox exploration, design, execution, and issue reporting.

Explore the mobile test process, from planning device combinations and using emulators and simulators to analysis and design for app store approval, and from field testing to post-release test execution.

Developers and testers apply testing levels from component and integration through user acceptance to deliver mobile apps, with test pyramid flipped toward manual system and acceptance tests using platform tools.

Explore common mobile testing approaches, including jailbroken versus non jailbroken devices and stress testing. Learn about security, accessibility, internationalization, field testing, and the mobile test process for app quality.

Explore mobile app testing types, including installability, security, and accessibility, and examine mobile development platforms, common testing tools, emulators and simulators, and how to set up a test lab.

Survey mobile development platforms and IDEs, including Eclipse, Xcode, and Android Studio, and their tools for coding, debugging, and testing. Explore cross-platform frameworks like React Native for iOS and Android.

Explore common development platform tools, including SDKs, ADB, and layout inspection, to test and optimize mobile apps across Android and iOS with emulators and performance profiling.

Explore emulators and simulators to test your mobile apps on devices you don't own, across different iOS and Android versions and screen sizes or configurations.

Explore the differences between emulators and simulators, where emulators mirror hardware and simulators model a runtime environment, guiding testing choices with real devices as needed.

Use emulators and simulators to test mobile apps across networks, GPS, and orientation changes, install test builds via IDEs or Android Debug Bridge, and perform functional and non-functional testing.

Set up a mobile test lab with physical devices, emulators, or simulators, define os versions and hardware specs, and choose on premise or remote labs based on cost and security.

Compare mobile development environments, from iOS Xcode to Android Studio, and contrast emulators with simulators, while exploring mixed test-lab setups including on-site, remote, and physical devices.

Explore methods and tools for automating mobile app testing, including emulators and simulators, and learn how to set up an automation lab to optimize testing.

Compare mobile test automation approaches, including user agent based testing and device based testing, with popular frameworks like Appium and WebDriver IO.

Explore mobile automation methods, including image recognition, OCR, and object recognition, to identify and interact with graphical objects, and compare script creation, reliability, and maintenance for multi-device testing.

Evaluate automation tools by assessing organizational and technical fit, tooling capabilities, ci/cd integration, licensing, training needs, and total cost to select a tool that supports your mobile application testing.

Compare on-premise and remote device test labs to design a stable, scalable automation environment for continuous integration, balancing emulators, full device labs, and maintenance across development stages.

Distinguish automation approaches and testing frameworks, focusing on object identification and test reports. Identify methods like unit, service virtualization, and performance testing, and note that a/b testing is not automated.

Discover how to test mobile web apps with Chrome DevTools, using device toolbar, responsive testing, throttling, and inspector for layout and styles. Use Lighthouse for performance.

Distinguish emulators from simulators to optimize mobile app testing. Emulators mirror hardware and OS for stress tests, while simulators render software environments to inspect UI and layouts.