What is Beta Testing and how can you test your Alpha and Beta Apps with Updraft?

Do you know the feeling of stress just before a new productive release of your app? Do you want to minimize this feeling while also reducing the probability of bugs and bad reviews in a productive app?

We do! That’s why we created Updraft an App Distribution and Beta Testing Tool. In this blog post, I would like to show you how a few measures and a standardized testing process will help you improve the process of testing and the total quality of your apps. Furthermore, I will explain what the testing of mobile applications includes and what the differences between alpha and beta testings are.

Testing of Apps starts before the Development

Testing of apps begins even before the actual development starts. It is important to clarify the most important questions about responsibilities, risks, requirements, acceptance criteria and system connections of the apps already during an early phase of the project. This is necessary in order to plan all the quality assurance measures to prevent the occurrence of bugs within the system. 

The later such errors are discovered and corrected in the agile development phase, the higher the costs become. Fixing a bug in a productive app can cost up to 1000 times more than if it is recognized and fixed in the initial phase of a project. Imagine a conceptual bug you can eliminate in minutes at an early stage of your app project. If you find the same bug in an app that is already in the App Stores, it takes much longer to fix it.

This is due to the many steps you need to take when a bug occurs on a productive environment: 

1. The bug has to be analyzed and reproduced

2. The bug has to be estimated & maybe offered if you are developing an app for a client

3. If it’s a design issue you need to update your design files and update the specifications

4. Then the bug has to be fixed, deployed and tested on the development environment

5. Next, the bug has to be deployed and tested on the test/ staging environment

6. Then the bug has to be deployed and tested on a pre-production environment

7. Then the bug has to be deployed and tested on a production environment and be sent to the review process of the App Stores (The review process can take up to 5 days)

8. Lastly, you need to update the “What’s New” information for the App Stores before you publish the new version

Main Types of Testing

There are a few different types of software tests that we recommend before deploying new features and starting with beta testing. When testing or selecting test types for the apps, we recommend following the basic structure of the software testing pyramid.

• Unit testing (test a unit of the code)

• Component testing (Component tests or module tests are defined as the testing of an individual component without integrating with other components) 

• Integration testing (test different units together as an integration)

• API tests

• Functional Tests (GUI tests; functional testing of user journeys and happy user paths)

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list but there are a lot of other testing types that can be executed.

In addition to the listed types of testing, the entire testing should be documented in the form of a test documentation and test protocols in order to fully trace and reproduce the tests that will be performed.

It is important to discuss the testing process during the requirements phase and define all the necessary quality measures during the project together with the customer, the stakeholders and of course the development team. Based on the functional and non-functional requirements and the roadmap of the project, the test planning can then be derived.

What is Beta Testing?

The goal of beta testing is to test the developed application under real conditions with real users - it can be considered as a form of external user acceptance testing. Beta testing benefits from the fact that many different users with many different devices and configurations will test the application first.

During the beta testing process, applications are tested specifically before the public launch to detect latest bugs (bug finding with the help of the crowd) and to obtain early feedback from beta testers in order to improve the quality of the application. 

We distinguish between two types of beta testing:

• Internal beta testing

• External beta testing

Internal testing is carried out internally by the company's employees or by a service provider specifically commissioned for the project. If necessary, additional beta testers are acquired via the company's public social media channels, personal acquaintances or early adopters and stakeholders.

External beta testings are usually advertised publicly. Interested beta testers can register directly. Often, beta testers are rewarded for participating in larger beta testings. 

External beta testing has both advantages and disadvantages. The developed application should already be very stable and the implemented features should already work continuously, otherwise, the beta testers may not be able to test certain features in their completeness because of bugs or malfunctions. These bugs prevent beta testers from effective testing of the application features and the organization of the application from understanding if the developed features add real value to the users’ life. 

A big advantage of public beta testing is that early adopters can be won and convinced of the features and services of an application. For public beta testing, we recommend a fully functional app or an MVP of your app in order to keep the support effort and the defect management as low as possible.

What is the difference between Alpha and Beta Testing?

As soon as you start developing your app or software you can also start alpha testing. Alpha testing starts before beta testing and is usually performed in-house by the development team, the testers or quality assurance employees. 

During alpha testing, all kinds of software tests that are necessary to release qualitative apps are executed. In summary, in agile development 'alpha' is tested during a sprint or an iteration. Once it is decided that a developed feature should be released to the public, the transition to beta testing takes place. Alpha testing usually follows a White Box approach, which means that the tester knows the code and has access to it. 

Beta testing is usually done on a production environment and beta testing typically uses the Black Box approach. This means that the tester does not know the code and does not have access to it. The goal of beta testing is to test the application under real conditions, with real users, before the application is made available to the whole world via the public app stores.
Since alpha testing usually takes place under perfect conditions (so-called laboratory conditions), beta testing can also be called testing in the wild.

Phases of Testing

Now you know the difference between alpha and beta testing. We at Updraft, however, differ between a few more phases when it comes to the testing process. They are explained in the following.

Pre-Alpha Phase

The developed application is just a prototype. Individual features are developed separately from each other. UI of developed single features is almost ready. 

Alpha Phase

The features developed during the sprint are already testable and fully developed by the end of the sprint. Features are already tested with White Box and Black Box methods during the development and the Product Owner or Project Manager can accept fully functional features at the end of the sprint.

Beta Phase

Single or combined features (integration) work stable and without bugs. The application can be released to internal or external beta testers to get first feedbacks. The feedback of the beta testers is continuously collected, analyzed and implemented in the further development of the application.

Release Candidate

Based on the feedback of the beta testers you adapt the last bugs in your application. Basically no more radical changes to the functionality are made in this phase - it's just a matter of fine-tuning. 

Release

Now it is time to publicly release your app or new features of your app.

Benefits of beta testing 

Unfortunately, the benefits of targeted beta testing are ignored frequently. All too often project teams are under high pressure and do not take the time to beta test their applications. If you are a developer and your boss is pressuring you to release your app, we provide you with a list of convincing arguments why you should definitely beta test before releasing your app to the stores:

• Beta Testing reduces the occurrence of bugs

• Few bugs minimize the rejection of your product by the users

• It helps to avoid bad App Store reviews and increases customer satisfaction in an early project phase

• Beta Testing improves the total quality of your product and the involvement of early adopters helps with the development of your product

• It reduces the cost of correcting bugs that would otherwise occur later, on the production environment

• It gives you the possibility to test your application under real conditions with real users

• It increases device and OS Coverage with external beta testers

• With Beta Testing you can analyze the behaviour of your users: how they use your app and your features

• You can get early feedback with the help of qualitative feedbacks or surveys and increase the value of the developed features

• The marketing team can start communication at an early stage of the project, adapt the communication of the campaign through the gained feedback and optimize the campaign strategy

• Receive reviews and testimonials from early adopters with the aim that they talk about your product (Evangelist) and promote your app as soon it will be released

Guide for Beta Testing your Apps 

Before you start beta testing you need to develop a clear strategy and concept. You need to know what the goal of your beta testing is in order to get as many insights as possible. The following points should be considered and addressed in your beta testing strategy:

1. Find out who your beta testers should be

   1. analyze your target market

   2. analyze your target group 

   3. define your personas (beta testers)

   4. define the devices & OS-platforms you want to cover with the beta testers

2. Define how many beta testers you will need. This depends on who your target audience will be.

3. Think about how you can get access to beta testers. There are several paid services that provide you with beta testers. Here’s a list of some of them:

   1. Test.io

   2. Utest

   3. Ubertesters

   4. Betafamily

   5. Testingtime

   6. Testlio

4. Define and plan beta testing early enough so that the gained insights can still be implemented before the release date of your app

5. Define the onboarding process for your beta testers

6. Analyze and configure an app distribution tool with an easy download option for which no technical knowledge is needed

7. Set up all the Analytics tools you need to analyze the beta tester’s data (Google Analytics, Firebase, crash reporting SDKs, heatmaps and so on)

8. Set up a feedback or bug reporting possibility so that feedbacks and bugs can be reported easily

9. Think about how to make new app versions easily available to your beta testers

10. Define how you communicate with your beta testers during the beta testing phase

11. Define how you can reward or pay your beta testers for their testing effort

12. Think about how you can keep the beta testers engaged and happy during the testing

These are a few important points that belong in every beta testing strategy. Depending on the target group (internal or external) there are of course other points you should consider.

Why you should use Updraft for Beta Testing your Apps

Updraft is a top tool for easy App Distribution and Beta Testing. Updraft offers you the possibility to distribute Android and iOS apps to your alpha and beta testers via e-mail and provides testers with a simple feedback function. 

Bug and Feedback Reporting

With Updraft, your beta testers can easily send you feedback on the app or individual features. To do so, your beta testers simply need to take a screenshot within the app and add all relevant notes. You can then view and analyze all the received feedback in the Updraft Dashboard. For each feedback, you will also receive some information on the used device that will help you to fix issues and bugs quickly.

App Distribution

Updraft allows you to easily distribute iOS and Android apps to your beta testers. If a new app is available during beta testing and you want to distribute it to the beta testers, you can automatically inform them about the new version of your app. Your beta testers receive an e-mail with the information that a new version of the app is available or they receive a direct message in the app, telling them to download the latest version.

Tester & Groups

Within Updraft you can manage your testers and beta test groups. Just add the e-mail addresses of your testers to your app. You also have the possibility to add whole groups of testers to your app via bulk upload.

Summary

With this blog post we have now shown you the most important measures you can take to improve the quality of your apps with beta testing. 

With the help of beta testing, you will increase the overall quality of your apps, the satisfaction of your end users and ultimately the reputation of your product in the market. You also reduce the probability of bugs in productive apps and save high development costs over the product life cycle.

In the future you should keep the following points in mind when developing your apps and performing beta tests:

• Plan all your testing activities before you start developing your apps

• Plan which types of testing you need to perform with the help of the testing pyramid

• Know the difference between Alpha and Beta Testing

• Know the right time to perform your beta tests to achieve the greatest added value

• Know all the advantages of beta testing so you can easily convince your product team that beta testing is necessary

If you start alpha and beta testing, consider using Updraft. It offers you an easy solution to start testing at an early stage in your project and presents the perfect combination between simple app distribution and beta testing within a single tool.