Application Compatibility Testing

Application compatibility testing is one of the software compatibility testing activities aimed at identifying the factors which make an impact on the mobile and desktop applications quality, their interface appearance and usability, and, ultimately, on the demand for these software products by their potential users.  

During application compatibility testing we check how software products behave during installation and while running on various devices with a specific hardware and software configuration as well as certain OS and browser versions. Thus, before testing activities start, the customer determines the list of environments and platforms for which this application is created. At the same time, the testing is conducted manually in a “live” interactive mode, on real desktop and mobile devices, smartphones and tablets, in accordance with the test cases created based on the software product specifications.

Application compatibility testing is carried out according to the black box testing strategy, without searching for code errors but based on the analysis of the validity of the input data and the output results. Application compatibility testing is one of the types of non-functional testing and is conducted during system and acceptance testing of a completed commercial product.

 

Application compatibility testing types

Checking test objects for compatibility is carried out in the following areas:

Cross-browser testing supposes the software product performs equally well and the identity of its interface elements (dynamic, graphic, text) is intact when the application is launched on one or more devices with different versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Edge browsers. This type of testing takes into consideration not only the browser type but also specific hardware configurations.

Cross-platform testing is designed to verify the compatibility of software products running on iPhone / iPad, mobile phones and tablets with Android and iOS platforms and the software ability to correctly display all application elements and support all specified platform versions and device types.

To increase the effectiveness of application compatibility testing, especially when it is performed on mobile devices, our testers create mobile compatibility checklist, which includes the following items:

• •  If the application displays correctly when it opens in various browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera);
• •  If the HTML version used in the application is compatible with the browser versions;
• •  If the quality of images, fonts, background colors used in the application remains consistent in various browsers;
• •  If JavaScript code correctly operates in different browsers;
• •  If the application dynamic elements, scroll bars, and page scaling display and operate properly in different browsers.

Bugs detected during this testing are recorded and reported into bug trackers and bug reports with an indication of their priority and criticality in accordance with test cases based on test coverage matrices.

 

In our Lab we have an incredible set physical mobile devices:

and many more...