Progressive Web App testing: Important checklist to follow

The smartphone era has significantly altered the way we access the internet. With more emphasis on native apps, we almost rely on these small packets of extreme potential for our day to day tasks!

But when we talk about accessing websites through our smartphones, we undeniably face certain glitches that are quite annoying. Whether it is the layout or improper alignment of the content, the conventional website never gives smooth navigation.

The perfect alternative for this dilemma is to consider progressive web apps that give the exact feel of a native mobile application. More and more focus is given to these applications that serve their purpose without hampering the user experience.

When it comes to the testing of these web apps, there’s definitely no doubt that a lot off testing professionals face numerous glitches. Here we will emphasize adequate things that contribute to a fruitful progressive application testing.

Responsiveness of web app on mobile and tablets

Imagine a native mobile application with a lot of horizontal and vertical scroll. Sounds nasty, isn’t it? One of the crucial things that require adequate consideration is the overall responsiveness of your progressive web app.

SEE ALSO: “PWAs are a natural choice for building offline-ready, installable, fast web apps”

Your progressive web application should behave and feel just like an application installed on your mobile device. It is important for the testing engineer to test the app’s layout on diverse screen sizes and devices so as to ensure there is no issue related to the responsiveness of the application.

Several manual testing approaches could be considered to ensure that your application is doing great on every device, regardless of the platform and web browser.

Offline loading URLs

One needs to ensure that their application loads adequately in airplane mode. This is a crucial aspect of testing your PWA. One needs to load different pages of the PWA while the device is in offline mode to ensure that the application displays at least some content when there is no internet connectivity.

There are several tools that can be utilized for automated testing of PWAs to ensure their stability and performance. So, it is important for you to check the pages that aren’t responding in the offline mode by utilizing the adequate test case.

There are some domains that should offer functionalities even when the mobile device isn’t connected to the internet. These aspects must be precisely tested before the application is deployed for users.

Networking testing PWA

One of the major testing areas of PWA’s is network connectivity. Most mobile users use diverse internet connectivity options that make network testing a daunting task. One should start testing the PWA while the device is connected to a local WiFi network, followed by their default network operator.

The thing that matters most is that the testing professional needs to emphasize diverse network settings like 3G or 4G network connections to ensure better performance and loading speed. There could be chances that your application may function inadequately on slow connections and you need to rectify the same using a strong test case strategy.

Apart from this, testing the application on different mobile network connections is yet another challenge. One should consider testing the performance and loading speed of the web app on diverse mobile internet service providers.

Cross-browser testing

If you are about to launch your PWA, it is important for you to perform cross-browser testing. For cross-browser testing, we simply mean that you need to run your PWA on different mobile browsers to analyze its performance, loading speed, and navigation.

There are possibilities that your web application could perform well on one web browser but may face certain issues with another browser. This means you can deploy your web application without ensuring adequate cross-browser testing.

Apart from this, you need to consider the fact that the browser installed on your tablet or mobile phone should be updated to the latest version. This is important so that you can be sure enough that the application’s performance can be analyzed accordingly.

Loading speed

Many times the application isn’t able to load quickly while the files are stored in the cache. This simply could be due to a flaw in the code, which should be identified and rectified at the earliest possible time. You won’t be able to engage potential clients if your progressive website application isn’t loading fast.

SEE ALSO: 10 things to consider while developing mobile apps with React Native

The loading speed of your web application depends not only on the device type but also on the platform. One needs to adequately check that the application is working perfectly on every operating system.

There are numerous tools available that can offer precise monitoring of your application’s performance while it is being used on multiple devices. Load testing is also included if you are about to create a dynamic PWA that could cater to huge traffic at a single time.

Final verdict

For those that are about to launch their venture and their target audience is mobile users, PWA is perhaps the optimum choice! With the use of automated and manual testing approaches, one can be sure that their PWA delivers optimum performance and user experience.

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