Compatibility Testing: Why Is It Crucial for Your Software?

What Is Compatibility Testing?

When Apple releases a new iOS version, they conduct rigorous testing to ensure that the update works well on all gadgets (iPhones, iPads, Apple watches), device configurations (e.g. the most recent update may only support models from iPhone 6 onwards), carrier networks, etc. This is one example of compatibility testing.

Compatibility testing is an umbrella term for cross-platform, cross-device, and other cross-configuration and similar types of QA checkups. It helps validate the correct behavior of software across different mobile devices, web browsers and their versions, operating systems and their versions, hardware configurations, platforms, and so on, ensuring availability for a vast range of users.

Is Compatibility Testing Essential?

The short answer is “yes,” but here’s a brief explanation of why. Compatibility testing gives you confidence in the end product. It is a way to verify that a platform remains functional on various devices. Surely, 100% test coverage – testing on all existing devices and software combinations – is neither feasible nor necessary. However, selecting at least several smartphones, laptops, and PCs popular in a target region with several latest versions of operating systems and browsers installed will cover the majority of scenarios.

How to Choose the Right Devices for Compatibility Testing?

A product that is stable and high in quality helps in improving the reputation of the company. What is more important, a stable digital platform that looks and works as intended on a variety of devices is what supports business continuity the most.

What Does Compatibility Testing Cover?

Here are a few types of compatibility testing a QA company usually runs for a product:

• Browser testing. It ensures compatibility with all widely used browsers – Google Chrome and Safari, to mention a few.
• Operating system testing. It checks compatibility with operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS).
• Network testing. It is carried out to check the software working in different networks – WiFi, 5G, 4G, 3G, EDGE, and switching between the networks.
• Device testing. QA specialists check software that requires access to Bluetooth, USB, SD Card, etc. on different devices.

What Are the Examples of Compatibility Issues?

Since we test various kinds of digital products for compatibility, each will come with some niche-specific issues. Nevertheless, there are some bugs that occur pretty frequently. Among the other issues:

• Incorrect screen size adaptation.
• Misplacement of key buttons.
• Broken navigation interface.
• Scroll bar issues.
• Incorrect text alignment.
• Problems with installation and updates.
• modifications in CSS style and colors.
• Broken tables, frames, input fields.

Frequent updates to operating systems and a launch of new device models add to the difficulty of compatibility testing. Tight deadlines, lack of real devices or testing expertise are also among the main challenges. That’s why it makes sense to delegate compatibility testing to an outsourced QA company. With that, the chances of overlooking something important are minimal.

What are the Benefits of Compatibility Testing??

Compatibility testing is a way to see how your software looks and behaves on a variety of devices. That’s how you know if the software will be available for your target audience and a vast group of users in general. But there is more to it.

#1. Real devices show you the picture.

The manual check of display accuracy and built-in device-specific features on real devices is significant. Using real devices, QA engineers can see how the network connectivity and various interactions with hardware work in practice. If there is a lack of a particular physical device, a QA team can employ a cloud testing service, such as Browserstack.

#2. You get to find errors before the launch.

Compatibility testing timely determines defects in software. Since QA engineers find and report bugs before production, a development team gets enough time to fix at least critical bugs before the release.

#3. You get to know the risk zones.

It is significant to be aware of the potential risks. This information is helpful for maintenance and valuable for scaling. In both cases, this information will help you save time and costs and spend less effort on support and development in the future. When you know what parts are risk-prone, you can set the priorities correctly. And that’s especially important when the deadlines are tight.

How Does the Compatibility Testing Process Go?

Compatibility testing can be a tedious process given the vast array of devices and software options to analyze. Hence, a QA team starts the procedure by planning not to miss a thing. Basically, the whole process involves the following stages:

1. A QA team gets familiar with the product – its requirement specification or designs.
2. If you don’t have a specific list of devices to check your product on, a QA specialist prepares it.
3. Then comes testing documentation: a QA engineer writes a checklist or test cases that cover the functionality to examine.
4. If several specialists are involved in the testing, a Team Lead assigns each a specific set of checks.
5. A development team receives the promised deliverables (checklist, bug report, etc.) with detailed descriptions of every bug.

Test Case – Booking Platform: Compatibility and Functional Tests

Final Thoughts

Businesses are working hard to create user-friendly software that can run on any platform, operating system, or device. To make it happen, it is crucial to run compatibility testing before the release. It can strengthen your customer satisfaction many times.