Manual testing is inevitable when it comes to mobile app testing. In this age of rapid digital transition, mobile apps have become the most favorable mode of business. The changing scenario has influenced the testing space too. Automation is applied where it is possible as it saves time and money when it comes to iteration. But the need for manual testing is still growing with the changes in the mobile app development technology. Let’s have a look at the importance of manual testing.
1. What is Manual Testing?
Manual testing is when a tester is assigned to test the application to find bugs before releasing the app. There are different types of manual testing like performance, network, scalability, unit, integration, etc. It depends on the type of application to choose which testing needs to be done. Most of the functional testing can be done manually.
2. The need for Human Inspection
Humans testers can detect the issue while going through the code or while performing a test. The automated script will not deviate from the task that it is programmed to perform and will not pick up the visual issue. Most of the functional testing should be carried out manually by testers to avoid errors.
3. Exploratory Testing
It is done in a random manner to check out for issues that might still be there even after automation testing. This can be done manually as there is no predefined script. It the tester who will decide which feature need to be tested in what manner from the users perspective. The testers critical freestyle thinking and observation is essential to do exploratory testing.
4. Descriptive Reports
Manual testing helps us understand the issue in detail both in context and concept. Automation cannot provide this type of detailed insights through which we could find the root cause easily as they are objective. Manual testers are subjective and in the reports, they also elaborate on the ways to optimize the process.
5. In Some Scenarios, Automation is Not Feasible
There some instances where human intervention is required like while testing an app where tap and swipe gestures are required. It will be inaccurate and costly to do such a thing. It will take more time to automate this case and manual testing will be completed in much less time.
6. Initial investment and time
It will take more time to automate the test cases and write the scripts compared to manual testing. The tester can directly start testing the application without creating any test cases. This is why automation can only be used for repetitive tests.
7. Road Ahead for Manual Testing
Although Automation is evolving with the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, the need for manual testing still remains. There will always be scenarios where the human testers will be needed to do the testing manually. In automation, the algorithms will work according to the test scripts and will not go out of the way to imagine new ways to find the bugs. At least not in the near future, but maybe when AI becomes too smart to be creative as well.
