The ease (and willingness) users have to try out an app for even a few seconds before deleting it and downloading another means your software must be rock solid to stand a chance on the App Store.
Knowing how to use iOS automated testing techniques effectively will give you a leg up on the competition and help you develop the right development and QA strategy.
📱How iOS Automated Testing Works
Automated testing for iOS apps uses software tools to execute test scripts and verify the functionality, performance, and usability of iOS applications. These tests can range from simple unit tests to complex end-to-end scenarios that cover various aspects of app behavior. Automated testing frameworks interact with the application’s user interface (UI) elements to simulate user interactions such as taps, swipes, and inputs, to validate its behavior under different conditions.
✅ The Benefits of iOS Automated Testing
- Efficiency: Automated tests can be executed quickly and repeatedly, allowing developers to identify issues early in the development cycle and accelerate the release process.
- Scalability: As the app evolves, automated tests can be easily scaled to accommodate new features and changes to maintain test coverage and quality.
- Accuracy: Automated tests follow predefined scripts, which allow for consistent and reliable results without the risk of human error.
- Cost-effectiveness: While initial setup may require investment, automated testing ultimately reduces the time and resources spent on manual testing, resulting in long-term cost savings.
🚧 The Challenges of iOS Automated Testing
UI Fragmentation
The diversity of iOS devices, each with different screen sizes, resolutions, and hardware capabilities, can introduce several challenges for creating and maintaining tests that work seamlessly across all device variations. Your tests will need to be carefully designed to adapt to different UI layouts and elements, which can increase the complexity of test scripts and the effort required to maintain them.
Device Compatibility
With each new release of iOS, developers must ensure that their apps — and by extension, their automated tests — remain compatible with both the latest system version and older ones still in widespread use. That means you’ll need to have a comprehensive testing strategy that includes a variety of devices and iOS versions to ensure complete coverage and functionality across all the potential user environments.
Test Maintenance
Automated tests are not set-it-and-forget-it tools. They require ongoing maintenance to reflect changes in the application’s user interface and functionality. As features are added, removed, or modified, your tests will need to be updated to remain effective. This maintenance can be time-consuming and requires a detailed understanding of both the application’s development and the testing framework.
🛠️ Using an iOS Automated Testing Framework
Using an iOS automated testing framework can significantly streamline the QA process for your team. These frameworks offer a suite of tools and libraries tailored to the needs of iOS app development to enable developers to create, execute, and manage tests with greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Creation of Automated Tests
iOS automated testing frameworks often come with syntax and functions that are easy to understand and use, which makes writing test scripts more intuitive for developers and testers. XCTest, for example, allows for writing test cases in languages that most developers are already familiar with, such as Swift or Objective-C.
Automated testing frameworks also support the creation of modular tests, where common steps and setups can be reused across multiple test cases. This not only saves time but also improves the consistency and maintainability of your scripts.
Execution of Automated Tests
Automated testing frameworks for iOS can be used for running tests on both simulators and real devices. Their flexibility ensures that applications can be tested under various conditions and hardware configurations by closely mimicking the end-user environment.
To expedite the testing process, some frameworks offer capabilities to run multiple tests in parallel across different devices or simulators. Parallel execution can significantly reduce the time required to complete the testing cycle, which helps you iterate and release faster.
Integration with CI/CD pipelines is another key benefit of using iOS automated testing frameworks. They enable tests to be automatically triggered as part of the build process, so you can make sure that each release meets your quality standards while saving you valuable time.
Management of Automated Tests
Advanced test management features allow for organizing test suites into groups or categories, making it easier to manage large test sets. Developers can also filter tests to run specific subsets, which is particularly useful for focusing on newly added features or areas prone to errors.
Automated testing frameworks generate detailed reports of test executions, highlighting successes, failures, and performance metrics. These insights are crucial for identifying issues early, understanding their impact, and guiding the prioritization of bug fixes.
As applications evolve, so must the tests. iOS testing frameworks provide tools to update and maintain test scripts efficiently, helping to keep pace with changes in app functionality and UI. This includes refactoring tools, deprecated API warnings, and compatibility checks for new iOS versions.
🤖 Automation Testing Tools for iOS Mobile Applications
Ranorex
Ranorex Studio is a powerful test automation framework that can enable your team to build and maintain automated tests for iOS applications. With its intuitive user interface and full suite of iOS app automation testing tools, Ranorex can simplify the test automation process and speed up your development cycles.
Its tools include the Ranorex Recorder, which captures user interactions within the app, allowing you to generate reusable test scripts that can be executed across different devices and configurations. Ranorex also supports parallel automation testing in iOS, so you can test across multiple devices and environments simultaneously.
Ranorex Studio also includes a flexible API and built-in integrations with popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins and Azure DevOps.
XCTest
XCTest is Apple’s official framework for unit, performance, and UI testing of both iOS and macOS applications. Integrated directly within Xcode, XCTest provides an efficient environment for developing and managing tests.
Since it is a part of Xcode, XCTest is tightly integrated with the iOS and macOS development environments. The native integration can offer several benefits, including the use of Swift or Objective-C for writing tests, direct access to your app’s code, and the ability to run tests from within the IDE or the command line.
XCTest’s UI testing capabilities allow developers to automate interactions with the app’s interface. Using Xcode’s record feature, developers can record interactions and automatically generate test code, which can then be refined and expanded. These UI tests can simulate real user interactions, such as tapping buttons, entering text, or scrolling through content.
The software also includes tools for measuring and tracking the performance of your app. You can define specific metrics, such as CPU usage or memory allocation, and create tests to ensure that your app meets these performance criteria over time. This is crucial for maintaining a smooth user experience as the app evolves.
XCTest can also fit naturally into CI/CD pipelines with Xcode Server or third-party tools like Jenkins. It also allows developers to incorporate accessibility checks into their iOS automated UI testing, helping to ensure that apps are usable by people with various disabilities.
Appium
An open-source test automation framework, Appium enables testing mobile applications across iOS, Android, and Windows platforms.
Appium tests can be written in any WebDriver-supported language, including Java, Python, Ruby, and JavaScript. Plus, it interacts with apps using the standard platforms’ automation frameworks, such as UIAutomator for Android and XCUITest for iOS. This means there’s no need to embed additional code into your app to make it testable, preserving the integrity and performance of your production app.
Appium seamlessly integrates with a variety of testing tools and frameworks, including Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, and others. It also supports testing on both real devices and emulators/simulators, providing flexibility in how tests are executed.
✅ Why Choose Ranorex?
While XCTest and Appium are viable options for iOS automated testing, Ranorex offers several advantages:
- A comprehensive toolset: Ranorex provides a wide range of features for test automation, including user-friendly, built-in object recognition, data-driven testing, and automated reporting capabilities.
- Cross-platform support: Ranorex supports testing on iOS, Android, and web applications, allowing you to use a single tool for all your testing needs.
- Ease of use: With its intuitive interface and powerful scripting capabilities, Ranorex simplifies the test automation process, so developers to create and execute tests with ease.
- Dedicated support: Ranorex offers comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and dedicated support services to assist developers at every stage of the testing process.
✨ Start a Free Trial Today
Ready to revolutionize your iOS app development process with automated testing? Sign up for a free trial of Ranorex and experience the power of efficient, reliable iOS automated testing.
