Why should you worry about testing your no-code app (other than making sure it does what it's supposed to do? After all, you assembled it from pre-built components that were created by expert programmers using best practices, right? And there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of other users working on that same development platform creating applications using those same components. In effect, all those other users are beta testers and would have uncovered any significant flaws in the coding.
All that's true, but there is more to app testing than just confirming that the program produces the correct output for the input fed to it. To make sure your app performs as well as possible you need to test it to see if it:
- Provides a good user experience, with a UI that is simple, uncluttered and easy to navigate. In addition, the user interface should conform to general standards - for example, on a mobile app, if the user pushes outward with both thumbs from a portion of the screen that part of the screen should expand, providing an enlarged view.
- Works properly on different devices. If your app is designed to run both on the web and on mobile devices, you should either have two separate designs (one for the web and one for phones, tablets, etc.) or your screen designs should be "responsive" so that they display properly on any device.
- Does the app integrate properly with other functions if it's running on a phone? Does it minimize when there's an incoming phone call? Are incoming texts or notifications processed properly while the app is running and does it interfere with other apps that are running at the same time? How much drain does it put on the battery?
- Can stand up to an increasing number of users. Does the app slow down noticeably as the number of users starts to climb?
- Struggles as the size of user databases grow. As the total number of data records among all your users increases, does record retrieval speed take a hit?
- Recovers successfully from unexpected shutdowns. Does your app lose or corrupt data if it terminates abnormally?
- Provides adequate input validation. Some of the hardest bugs to track down are due to user input, such as managing to enter a control character in the middle of a data field or creating a situation that involves dividing by zero.
- Provides adequate security. Even if the platform you're using includes built-in security features, it's possible that you failed to take advantage of them or introduced elements (like images) that can be hacked. The last thing you want is an app you built to have a security issue - that can turn off potential users in a hurry.
- Functions properly with any APIs you're using. If you're using one or more APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) in your app you need to test those connections to make sure they're working correctly.
- Works properly with any available deployment option. If your app can be deployed in multiple ways you need to verify that it can be set up successfully under each environment.
- Provides necessary guidance for users. If a user needs information on how to operate the app, is there a question and answer or help file of some type available to the user?
- A Chrome extension called Mobile/Responsive Web Design Tester, which allows you to test the responsiveness of your app on multiple devices with different screen orientations and screen resolutions.
- Loader.io is a free tool that lets you test the scalability of your app by simulating thousands of simultaneous connections.
- Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer is another free tool that analyzes your app for Search Engine Optimization, tells you where your app is weak on SEO and tells you how to fix it.
- Postman offers a free plan that lets you test APIs under multiple variables and environments and even allows you to automate testing.
- SSL Check is a free tool to scan your app for non-secure content by crawling for images, scripts, and files that will trigger warning messages to visitors.
https://coachingnocodeapps.com/application-testing-tools
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