When it comes to Testing your mobile or web applications, you make use of efficient test automation processes. You use real hardware to see how your application works under real-world conditions. Automated testing lets you run your test cases on many devices and browsers simultaneously, resulting in faster and more frequent deployments. But are you already taking advantage of concurrent tests? Let’s talk about how you can speed up mobile and web app testing with unlimited concurrency for and learn how you and your team can benefit.

Modern Teams Need Modern Solutions

Delivering mobile and web apps in a timely fashion requires your team to follow current practices like continuous integration and delivery. Hence, the execution of automated tests is crucial to identify problems and deficiencies even during the early stages of the development lifecycle.

Automated testing can save you a lot of valuable time compared to manual testing strategies. However, the test scripts still need time to run – the more complex a test case is, the longer it probably takes. Additionally, you need to test your web and mobile applications on different devices, operating systems, and browsers. Naturally, this extends test time even more and makes timely deployment harder to achieve.

When you develop a new feature for your application, you wish to deliver it as fast as possible to your waiting customers. How can you speed up your automated testing time and ensure frequent and timely deployments?

What if you run your tests on multiple devices, platforms, and browsers at the same time? This is where concurrent testing comes into play.

What Is Concurrent Testing?

When we speak of simultaneous test runs, we are tempted to believe that they are actually running in parallel. You can think of concurrent testing as eating at a restaurant. You and your family order food at the same time, but it can happen that the meals won’t arrive at your table all at once. However, it doesn’t take long for everyone to receive their dish, and you can enjoy eating together.

So if you execute your test scripts on multiple devices and browsers concurrently, they won’t necessarily run at once. For example, a particular test device or browser may not be available at the moment, and you must wait until it’s free. As a result, the test scripts do not end at the same time.

This difference may sound trivial at first but can make a significant difference as you schedule test procedures!

Nonetheless, concurrent test runs help you test more agile and efficiently, adding another significant advantage to your automated testing setup. Naturally, simultaneous testing doesn’t work with manual procedures because it lets you test only on one device or browser at a time. We don’t say you should abandon manual testing altogether. You still need to do it from time to time to ensure your app’s user experience is spot-on. For other cases, especially repetitive tests, you should focus on automation.

Remove the Concurrency Limit and Save Resources

Sequential testing slows down your entire development and deployment process. Parallel app testing – especially on any number of devices and browsers – can dramatically shorten the total time you spend.

Let’s say your goal is to verify how your app works on 100 different mobile devices with test automation. Each test more or less lasts 5 minutes.

• If you execute these tests on one device at a time, it will take you about 500 minutes to finish.
• If you’re using a service that lets you execute tests against max. 20 devices at once, you will simply need 100 minutes to get all test results. That is already a big gain from concurrent testing, but somehow it still takes a lot of time!
• If you can get tests executed on all 100 devices at the same time, your tests literally can be finished in about 5 minutes. Sounds much better, doesn’t it?

Now, imagine you want to cover 10x the number of mobile devices – sequential testing or limited device concurrency simply can’t deliver the same level of test efficiency as unlimited device concurrency does. And your team will end up with excessive waiting time for tests to be completed and losing productivity.

Testing on any number of devices and browsers saves your development and QA team many hours of work. It lets them efficiently follow other tasks, such as troubleshooting or implementing feature requests. Besides, you free your engineers from repetitive, mentally nonstimulating tasks and allow them to work on your projects with joy.

The more you can test at once, the faster you can ship your app to your customers and increase their trust and loyalty towards your product and brand.

The Right Infrastructure with Unlimited Testing Concurrency

So what do you need to make your automated and concurrent test dreams come true?

First, you need to pick a test automation framework, such as Selenium for web apps, or Appium for mobile applications.

Then you need the right infrastructure. Your customers use a variety of devices, operating systems, and browsers. Thus, your setup must provide all of these technologies for app testing and allow unlimited device and browser concurrency, so your developers can choose which devices and browsers to run their tests on.

Easier said than done, right?

Setting up and maintaining such an infrastructure can cost a lot of money and resources that you want to invest elsewhere. A cloud-based testing service may be the right choice, offering you the environment you and your team need while saving resources.

Usually, running your tests in the cloud allows you to benefit from limited concurrent test runs right out of the box. However, at Bitbar, we use a unique technology that lets you test your mobile applications on any number of devices without encountering speed or efficiency bottlenecks. Our solution boosts your productivity and lets you ship apps to your customers quickly.

Realize the Full Potential of Test Automation

Run your automated tests on multiple devices or browsers at once and gain benefits from faster and more frequent deployments. Whether you’re working on small or large projects, test automation is a no-brainer to get tests done faster than manual testing. Yet, an enabler of unlimited concurrency can definitely help to advance your automated app testing to a maximum and deliver excellent ROI.

Want to give unlimited device concurrency for your mobile applications a shot? Bitbar’s device cloud offers you hundreds of different device models. Simultaneously run your automated tests on any number of devices and accelerate test efficiency for faster deployment.

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