Automation of Regression Testing with Appium for a Secure Mobile App

Summary

A European provider of secure mobile apps for governments and enterprises had introduced changes to the core functions of its secure messenger for iOS and Android, and needed regression testing to verify the app's main functionality after the new features. With only a manual testing team, regression testing took too much time and effort. INNERLUXES automated regression testing of 11 core test cases in Java on the Appium framework within an 8-working-day deadline — covering both platforms from a single suite and running on synchronized real devices.

About the Client

The Client is a European company that has provided secure mobile apps to governments and numerous enterprises for over ten years.

The Challenge

The Client introduced changes to the basic functions of its secure mobile messenger, developed for both iOS and Android. It needed regression testing to verify the app's main functionality after the introduction of the new features.

As an experienced provider of mobile app services, the Client had a manual testing team in place. Still, regression testing became a concern: with only manual resources available, it required too much time and effort. The Client commissioned INNERLUXES to perform regression testing automation to check the stability of the basic messenger functions (11 test cases), with a deadline of 8 working days.

The Solution

The Client provided the test cases, and INNERLUXES's automation test engineer scripted them in Java. The test cases targeted possible defects in crucial messaging functions such as message creation and deletion, call initiation and ending, attachment dispatch, adding a new contact, creating a chat, and redirecting a message.

To automate the test cases, INNERLUXES's test engineer used the Appium framework. Appium was chosen because it allowed launching the testing process for both the iOS and Android versions of the app, saving the time and cost that separate automated regression testing for each platform would have required.

Before delivering the automated regression testing to the Client, it was run on several real devices to verify testing under real-life conditions and to make the check faster than with virtual models. Appium's functionality allowed synchronizing different real devices — so, for example, messages were created on one device and received by another automatically. During this process, several defects (e.g., improper message deletion and redirection) were recorded, and INNERLUXES's test engineer listed them in a final report to the Client.

The Results

• The Client received smoothly operating regression testing automation to check the messenger's basic functionality.
• The Client appreciated INNERLUXES's competence in delivering reliable test automation that met both its requirements and the tight deadline.
• Thanks to the delivered automation — applicable to both iOS and Android — the Client reduced the human and financial resources spent on testing its updated mobile messaging app.

Technologies and Tools

Appium, Java 8, iOS 11, Android 8.0.