March 2020 Summaries

Apps face a significant challenge in becoming relevant and popular due to the vast number of available apps serving billions of users, making it impossible for every app to be successful. App stability is crucial as 88% of app users abandon apps based on bugs and glitches, which can guarantee an app's failure if not addressed. Stability refers to how reliable an app is, often associated with crashes, but a single crash does not mean the app is unstable if it happens infrequently. To measure stability, developers can use metrics such as crash-free sessions per session or recency metrics that consider time variables. Benchmarking stability by comparing crash-free rates to industry targets can help identify areas for improvement. Improving app stability involves managing resources efficiently, handling errors and interruptions effectively, testing on various devices and networks, addressing network issues, and conducting continuous testing and advanced crash reporting to detect stability issues in real-time.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey is a simple two-step survey that takes just a few seconds to complete, used to test app user loyalty. The survey consists of one numerical question and an open-ended text response, with the score calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. A higher score indicates better customer satisfaction and loyalty. NPS is considered more valuable than customer satisfaction surveys as it measures loyalty rather than just satisfaction. Industry benchmarks can be useful for comparisons, but should be taken with a grain of salt due to contextual variables. Analyzing verbatim responses and paying attention to common themes can provide actionable insights. Targeting the survey audience and choosing custom conditions for when users see the survey can increase response rates. Closing the loop by sending thank you messages and follow-up actions can make users feel heard and valued.

There is a growing need for better mobile app testing methods and tools, with companies willing to invest more in this area. The integration of AI and ML is a key trend in mobile app testing, aiming to ease the process by automating tasks considered tedious by testers. Several AI and ML-based mobile testing tools have emerged, such as Testim, Functionize, Appvance IQ, Applitools, Test.ai, and Bitbar's AI Testbot, which offer features like automated test authoring, execution, and maintenance, computer vision algorithms for visual testing, and real-time testing without the need for human oversight or scripts. These tools are designed to speed up the testing process, improve accuracy, and reduce costs, making them attractive options for mobile app developers and testers.

Delivering quality mobile apps is crucial, as users now have access to an extensive range of apps and are unlikely to tolerate a poorly designed or difficult-to-use app. Conducting usability testing on mobile apps is essential to discover how usable your product is, including its ease of use, UX, and ability to satisfy user needs. To test effectively, you need to know what metrics to optimize for and keep the users in mind. Key aspects to test include user-friendliness, the flow of critical path, onboarding, and accessibility. User feedback can be gathered through proactive and reactive methods, such as surveys and user reports, and is crucial for identifying usability issues. Setting up usability tests requires early planning and a strong user feedback tool, and tools like Instabug can help integrate in-app feedback reporting, in-app surveys, and seamless integration to get the best results from usability testing mobile apps.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey is a widely-used tool for gauging customer loyalty, particularly in mobile apps, by asking users how likely they are to recommend the app to others and seeking feedback on improvements. This simple yet strategic survey provides both quantitative and qualitative data, allowing companies to understand user satisfaction and loyalty better. The NPS score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from Promoters, with scores above zero considered good and above 70 exceptional. The survey's strength lies in its ability to capture user sentiment and uncover actionable insights for product improvement. It emphasizes the importance of interpreting both numerical scores and open-ended responses to identify areas for enhancement and foster user loyalty. Using platforms like Luciq can streamline the process by automating score calculations, segmenting users for targeted surveys, and facilitating follow-up actions to close the feedback loop. Understanding industry benchmarks can contextualize NPS scores, but a comprehensive analysis should consider various factors to ensure meaningful comparisons and improvements.

In the rapidly expanding mobile app market, there is a growing emphasis on improving testing methods, with companies increasingly investing in mobile app testing and expanding their tester workforce. Emerging trends focus on integrating AI and ML into testing processes to alleviate the burdens of manual testing and accelerate the testing cycle. Various AI and ML-powered tools, such as Testim, Functionize, Appvance IQ, Applitools, Test.ai, and AI Testbot, offer diverse functionalities ranging from automated test maintenance and adaptive event analysis to visual testing and autonomous error detection. These tools aim to enhance testing efficiency, support continuous testing, and accommodate frequent app updates, although detailed pricing information often requires direct contact with the respective companies.

Delivering a quality app is essential for developers, given the vast array of available apps and users' reluctance to tolerate usability issues. Usability testing, which evaluates how effectively users can achieve their goals with an app, is crucial for ensuring user-friendliness, optimizing the critical path, enhancing onboarding, and improving accessibility. Unlike UX testing, which gauges user perceptions and emotional responses, usability testing focuses on practical interaction and ease of use. Effective usability testing requires clear metrics, user feedback, and possibly employing tools like Luciq, which facilitates in-app feedback reporting and surveys. Luciq allows users to easily report issues directly from the app, providing developers with detailed technical data and user feedback through customizable surveys. This integration helps developers refine their apps by receiving both proactive and reactive feedback, ensuring that apps are intuitive, accessible, and user-friendly.

Mobile app stability is crucial for success, as most users will abandon apps plagued by bugs and glitches, making stability a key challenge amidst the vast number of available apps. Stability is defined by how consistently an app performs without crashing, and is measured by the crash-free session rate, calculated as the percentage of sessions or users unaffected by crashes. To maintain and improve app stability, developers should consider factors like resource management, error handling, device compatibility, network issues, and comprehensive testing across various environments. Effective strategies include continuous testing of the entire app experience and utilizing advanced crash reporting tools to monitor and address stability issues in real-time. By aiming for high crash-free rates and benchmarking against industry standards, developers can enhance the reliability and user satisfaction of their apps.

Testing is challenging due to the vast number of mobile apps and devices, making it difficult for developers to ensure their app works seamlessly on various devices. Emulators mimic the hardware and software of a target device, offering several benefits including cost-effectiveness, ease of use, speed, and parallel testing capabilities. However, real device testing provides more accurate results by simulating real-world conditions such as gestures, performance, network conditions, battery life, interruptions, and display validation. A balanced approach using both emulators and real devices is recommended to maximize benefits and minimize potential issues. Emulators are suitable for testing flows and UI, while real devices are ideal for testing gestures, general performance tests, and budget considerations.

Mobile app testing faces significant challenges due to the vast number of apps and the diverse range of devices available, each with different capabilities, screen sizes, and operating systems. To address this, two primary testing methods are employed: emulators and real device testing. Emulators, which are virtual representations of mobile devices, offer benefits such as cost-effectiveness, ease of use, speed, and availability, making them suitable for testing user interfaces and devices not readily accessible. However, real device testing remains crucial for accurately assessing user experiences, as it allows for the evaluation of performance factors like network conditions, battery usage, and device-specific features such as gestures and display quality, which cannot be fully replicated by emulators. A combined approach utilizing both emulators and real devices is recommended to optimize testing processes, with the choice between the two dependent on the specific requirements of the app and budget considerations.

Mobile app testing is crucial for releasing with confidence, but it requires significant resources and dedication. QA involvement with business and product teams earlier in development can help ensure alignment and efficient use of QA resources. Pre-planning OS versions to be supported and device testing strategies are essential to save time and manpower. Network connectivity testing, battery life testing, and security testing also require careful planning to identify potential issues before release. Automated testing can help maximize output and reduce time to delivery, but it should not replace manual testing entirely. Progressive rollout strategies, such as beta testing programs or rolling out to select regions first, can help detect issues before they reach the entire target audience. By adopting these top mobile app testing strategies, teams can improve their chances of releasing high-quality apps with minimal bugs and issues.

Flutter is an open-source UI SDK developed by Google that has gained popularity among developers due to its rapid iteration, expressive UI, and native performance on both iOS and Android. To get started with Flutter, it's recommended to check out quick start guides for various platforms such as Android, iOS, Web, React Native, and Xamarin.Forms, as well as Google's Codelabs tutorials that cover topics like basic layout concepts, writing the first app, building beautiful UIs, and learning the Dart language. The official Dart guides are also a great resource to get accustomed to using Flutter. For a more visual approach, there are numerous video resources available, including the Flutter in Focus series, The Boring Flutter Development Show, and the Flutter team's YouTube channel. Additionally, Instabug offers a comprehensive platform for testing new features, improving app performance, and gathering user feedback across the entire app lifecycle.

Testing and QA are critical for mobile teams, with 88% of users abandoning apps due to bugs and glitches. Maximizing test coverage is crucial, but it's not always possible to achieve 100%. Planning ahead, setting realistic goals, and prioritizing critical components can help increase test coverage. Focusing on code coverage and device/OS coverage can also improve test coverage. Test automation can be an effective tool for increasing test coverage while saving time, but manual testing is still essential for ensuring app quality. By following these strategies and utilizing tools like Instabug, mobile teams can maintain industry-leading apps with stability and performance monitoring.

Testing and quality assurance are crucial for mobile app teams, as a significant number of users are likely to abandon apps due to bugs and glitches. Maximizing test coverage is essential for ensuring a quality user experience, but it presents challenges such as determining the extent of coverage without delaying releases. Test coverage measures how much of an app has been tested, including device and OS variety, and while perfect coverage is unattainable, aiming for around 70% is a practical target. This involves careful planning, prioritizing critical components, and balancing test and code coverage. Device and OS coverage require strategic planning to accommodate different behaviors and capabilities, using tools like emulators to streamline the process. Test automation aids in efficiently covering repetitive tasks but should complement rather than replace manual testing. Manual testing, including "in the wild" testing through alpha and beta releases, is vital for identifying real-world issues and maintaining high-quality app performance across various conditions.

Mobile app testing is a complex and resource-intensive process that requires careful planning and integration of quality assurance (QA) throughout the development lifecycle, rather than just during the testing phase. Effective mobile testing strategies involve early collaboration between QA, business, and product teams to align on test cases and requirements, as well as planning for operating system and device support. The use of both emulators and physical devices is recommended for comprehensive device testing, while network connectivity and battery life testing are crucial to ensure app performance in real-world conditions. Security testing is essential due to the high financial impact of data breaches, and automated testing can enhance efficiency by handling repetitive test cases, though it should complement rather than replace manual testing. Progressive rollout strategies, such as beta testing or phased regional launches, can help identify issues before reaching a broader audience, thus minimizing negative user experiences.

Flutter, an open-source UI SDK developed by Google, has become a prominent choice for mobile cross-platform development due to its rapid iteration, expressive UI, and native performance on both iOS and Android. To help developers, various resources are available, including Google's Codelabs for hands-on experience, official Dart guides for understanding the language used in Flutter, and a range of video tutorials such as the "Flutter in Focus" series. The App Brewery offers a comprehensive Flutter Development Bootcamp, while the official documentation and a style guide provide in-depth insights into advanced topics like state management and animations. Additionally, Luciq's Flutter SDK enhances app performance and user experience by offering tools for bug and crash reporting, app performance monitoring, and user feedback collection.

To generate the certificate necessary to send push notifications through an iOS app, first log in to the Apple Developer page and navigate to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. Then, create a Certificate Signing Request by clicking on the + button, selecting "Apple Push Notification service SSL (Production)" and continuing with the process. After generating the CSR file, upload it, click Generate, and follow through with the registration process. Finally, download the certificate, install it into Keychain Access, export the private key, and save it as a .p12 file. Once you have the .PEM file, you can send push notifications to your app users using Instabug.

The article analyzes the update trends in photo and video category apps, highlighting their average time between releases as 15.25 days, with most common updates occurring every six days. The data suggests that frequent updates are crucial for these apps to maintain a high app rating, with median ratings ranging from 4.5 to 4.7 across the top 10 apps in this category. The article also notes that older reviews are no longer counted equally to newer reviews on both the App Store and Google Play, providing an incentive for apps to update more frequently. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of a healthy weekly release schedule, monitoring customer feedback, planning major and minor updates, and adjusting to a mobile team's capacity as best practices for updating photo and video category apps. The article concludes by highlighting Instabug, a mobile-first platform that can help improve app stability, performance, and user experience throughout its life cycle.

Analyzing the update frequency of the top mobile apps, a study of the Top 100 Free, Paid, and Grossing apps as of August 2019 reveals that frequent updates are a common trend, with the median time between updates for top free apps being approximately 8.75 days. In the photo and video category, the median update interval is eight days, with apps that update more frequently generally achieving higher rankings. This pattern is supported by the fact that newer app reviews are now weighted more heavily than older ones in app store ratings, incentivizing frequent updates to maintain high app ratings. The study highlights the importance of addressing user feedback swiftly and iterating on new features to enhance user satisfaction and app success. Luciq, a mobile-first platform, is positioned as a solution to help apps maintain stability, performance, and user satisfaction through features like crash reporting, bug tracking, and release management.

Push notifications are crucial for enhancing user engagement in mobile apps, and implementing them in a nonintrusive manner can significantly boost an app's success. This tutorial guides users through the process of generating the necessary certificate to send push notifications via an iOS app, beginning with accessing the Apple Developer page and navigating to Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. It provides detailed steps on creating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) using Keychain Access on a Mac, generating and downloading a certificate, and exporting a .p12 file containing the certificate and private key. The final steps involve using the terminal to generate a .PEM file, which enables the sending of push notifications, while emphasizing the importance of removing the pushcert.p12 file from the desktop to prevent accidental uploads.

The study analyzed the update trends in music category apps, finding that the average time between releases is 15.25 days, with a median of 14 days and most common difference being 14 days. Music category apps strongly favor a bi-weekly update schedule, while top paid apps tend to update monthly or bi-monthly. The study also found that frequent updates help developers address user needs quicker and can contain MVPs of new features to gather customer feedback. Additionally, Instabug, a mobile-first platform, offers tools such as Crash Reporting, Bug Reporting, App Performance Monitoring, In-App Surveys, and Release Management to help apps maintain stability, performance, and user experience throughout their life cycle.

Mobile apps require frequent updates to maintain user satisfaction and app performance, with the frequency often varying by category and app type. An analysis of top free, paid, and grossing apps shows that while the median update frequency for free apps is approximately every 8.75 days, music category apps tend to update bi-weekly, reflecting a median of 14 days between updates. Frequent updates are crucial for addressing user needs quickly, fixing bugs, and incorporating new features, which can improve app ratings that are increasingly influenced by recent reviews rather than historical ones. In the competitive app landscape, maintaining high app ratings is vital, as apps with higher update frequencies generally achieve better rankings. Tools like Luciq support app developers by offering services such as crash reporting, bug tracking, and user feedback mechanisms, enhancing app stability and performance across the app life cycle.

The article analyzes the update trends in entertainment category apps, comparing them with other categories such as free and paid apps. The median time between updates for top entertainment category apps is seven days, with most frequent updates occurring weekly or bi-weekly. In contrast, top paid apps tend to update monthly or bi-monthly. The data also shows that more frequent updates are associated with higher app rankings. The article provides four best practices for updating entertainment category apps: sticking to a healthy but not strict weekly release schedule, monitoring releases and customer feedback, planning major and minor updates, and adjusting to the mobile team's capacity. Additionally, it highlights Instabug as a platform that can help improve app stability, performance, and user experience by providing tools such as crash reporting, bug reporting, and in-app surveys.

Analyzing the update trends of the top 100 free, paid, and grossing mobile apps as of August 2019 reveals that frequent updates are a common strategy among successful applications, especially in the entertainment category where the median time between updates is seven days. This frequency allows developers to swiftly address user needs, fix critical issues, and gather feedback on new features. The data indicates that while free and entertainment apps generally follow a weekly update schedule, paid apps update less frequently, typically on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. The importance of regular updates is underscored by their correlation with higher app rankings, and best practices include maintaining a flexible weekly release schedule, monitoring user feedback, and planning updates according to team capacity. Luciq, a mobile-first platform, aids app developers by enhancing app stability and performance through tools like Crash Reporting, Bug Reporting, and App Performance Monitoring, thereby supporting the demanding process of frequent updates.

It's a challenge for every mobile team to get their app noticed in the middle of the vast number of apps available on Google Play and App Store, with 88% of users abandoning apps due to bugs and glitches. To stay ahead of issues, top load testing tools such as WebLOAD, LoadUI Pro, Apica LoadTest, CloudTest, LoadRunner, and WAPT are used for mobile applications, helping to deliver quality that users deserve while managing performance under simulated real-world conditions.

With millions of apps competing for attention on platforms like Google Play and the App Store, ensuring high performance and user retention has become crucial, as 88% of users abandon apps due to bugs and glitches. To address this, various load testing tools are available to help mobile developers maintain app quality under stress. WebLOAD, primarily for web platforms, integrates with Perfecto Mobile for realistic mobile testing, while LoadUI Pro enables rapid API performance testing. Apica LoadTest ensures scalability for apps and IoT by identifying bottlenecks before they impact users. CloudTest offers stress testing for handling sudden traffic spikes, and LoadRunner provides continuous testing with real-time performance monitoring. WAPT is user-friendly for those with limited QA experience, offering both standard and Pro versions, whereas NeoLoad caters to mobile and IoT testing with options for real user simulation across different network conditions and devices. Pricing for these tools varies, with some offering free trials or versions and others requiring subscriptions based on usage or features.

Targeting techniques are essential for survey success, and with Instabug, you can already choose user groups for your surveys with ease. User targeting is a piece of cake, allowing you to set conditions for who sees the survey using attributes like app version, OS, country, last seen, email address, and more. Advanced targeting options include defining custom events down to the most granular detail, enabling you to send surveys at the exact moment you want them to see it. Instabug's auto-targeting default settings optimize for survey views by showing surveys 10 seconds into a user's first session after publishing. This approach is best for collecting general feedback. Custom events make it easy to time surveys for strategic moments, aligning user behaviors with survey triggers to catch their thoughts at the most relevant occasions. Examples of custom events include sending surveys right after completing a purchase or a service interaction, and after an experience is completed or abandoned. Pro tip: Drive five-star reviews by timing app rating prompts with rewarding moments, such as when a user completes a task or receives a prize. Instabug helps you keep critical feedback private while making public positive feedback to improve your app's reputation.

Targeting techniques are crucial for the success of mobile surveys, and Luciq provides tools to optimize this process by allowing surveys to be sent to the right users at the right time. Luciq's platform enables easy user targeting through attributes like app version or location and advanced targeting using custom events to trigger surveys precisely when desired. Surveys can be automatically sent at the start of a user's session to collect general feedback, or strategically timed after specific user actions, such as completing a purchase or service interaction, to gather contextual insights. This approach ensures feedback is relevant and timely, capturing user emotions when they are most fresh. Additionally, Luciq's features help manage app ratings by prompting users to leave reviews during rewarding moments and keeping negative feedback private for internal improvement.