Common Types of Mobile App Testing for Quality Assurance

When figuring out how to build a mobile app, testing may not be the first thing that crosses your mind. And why would it? When you build an excellent product, your first thought isn't "Hmm, I wonder how soon it'll crash?!"

But here's why it should cross your mind…

Testing Matters!

The stakes for app quality have never been higher. App crashes are responsible for 71% of app uninstalls, and 70% of users abandon an app that takes too long to load. Beyond user experience, testing protects user data from fraud, leaks, and hacks—and helps your apps pass the review process required for app store publishing.

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. With its AI-powered features and 2026 overhaul, Adalo 3.0 delivers 3-4x faster app speeds and modular infrastructure that scales with your app's needs. This means fewer performance issues to catch during testing—though testing remains essential for validating functionality and user experience.

If you're new to software development, we'll introduce three key concepts: testing, quality assurance (QA), and quality control (QC). They sound intimidating, but by the time we're done, you'll know how to make sure your app runs smoothly and consistently.

Understanding QA and QC

These two terms are often confused and used interchangeably. Both processes improve the quality of your mobile app, but they serve different purposes.

Quality Assurance (QA) makes sure that all the necessary techniques, procedures, standards, and methodologies have been followed to guarantee that you have an app without any big issues. It's proactive—focused on preventing defects during development.

Quality Control (QC) validates all these processes and ensures that your mobile app meets all the techniques, procedures, and standards. It's reactive—focused on identifying defects in the finished product.

Think of it like an exam you need to pass before you graduate—QA is like marking your attendance for the exam, and QC is making sure you get a good passing mark.

Five Common Types of App Testing

1. Functional Testing

Functional testing is the first and probably the most essential type of testing you should perform for your mobile app. The idea is to make sure your app functions like it's supposed to and does what it's intended to do.

Keep a list of all the different functions your app performs, and use that as a checklist to get started. For example, if you're testing an app for gym workouts, its key functionalities will likely be user registration, a calendar, creating and editing user profiles, and messaging.

Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description, while Magic Add adds features through natural language.

With Adalo's AI-assisted building features, you can iterate quickly when functional testing reveals issues. Magic Add lets you describe new features in natural language, making it faster to implement fixes and improvements discovered during testing.

2. Usability Testing

Mobile app usability testing helps make sure your application is easy to use and understandable for your target audience. It also helps uncover ways to improve the UI and UX. It's quite similar to user research, which we discussed in this blog.

Surveys, focus groups, and A/B testing are great ways to test usability for your mobile app, but keep in mind that your findings may be quite subjective. The goal is to identify friction points before your users encounter them in production.

3. Performance Testing

Users have really high standards when it comes to speed of mobile apps and websites—and if you think about it, so do you! They expect apps to load quickly and won't have much patience if things move slowly.

Testing your app's performance allows you to make sure the app performs well on different devices and under different conditions. Performance testing includes checking your mobile app on different devices, servers, battery levels, and networks.

Adalo's X-Ray feature identifies performance issues before they affect users, helping you catch bottlenecks during development rather than after launch. The platform's purpose-built architecture maintains performance at scale—apps can serve 1 million+ monthly active users without hitting infrastructure ceilings.

4. Security Testing

Since almost every mobile app requires some kind of personal data to serve its purpose, it's important to do regular testing to ensure that this data remains secure and confidential. This type of testing is usually performed by security specialists—it helps make sure that sensitive data is kept secure and away from the possibility of fraudulent activity.

Here are some things that common security tests help identify:

5. Compatibility Testing

It'd be near impossible to test the compatibility of your mobile app on every type of mobile device because of differences in operating systems, hardware, screen sizes, and resolutions. This is why it helps to know what type of devices your users prefer—you can then focus all your testing efforts on those types of devices.

Here are two simple ways to figure out the types of devices you need to focus your testing on:

  1. Do some research on the types of smartphones commonly used in your target area or region
  2. Use tools like Google Analytics to get data on the mobile devices that your audience uses

One advantage of building with Adalo is that a single codebase publishes to web, iOS App Store, and Android Play Store. Unlike platforms that wrap web apps for mobile distribution, Adalo compiles true native iOS and Android apps. This reduces compatibility testing complexity since you're not dealing with WebView inconsistencies across devices.

Building Quality Into Your App From the Start

As the number of mobile app users continues to rise, the quality of your app becomes that much more important. Testing isn't just about finding bugs—it's about ensuring your users have a seamless experience that keeps them coming back.

The platform you choose affects how much testing you'll need to do. Adalo's infrastructure handles many performance concerns automatically—no record limits on paid plans means you won't hit database ceilings as your user base grows, and the absence of usage-based charges means no unexpected costs when your app gains traction.

If you're wondering how to build an app that is secure, efficient, and serves its purpose, regular quality testing is essential. Find out more about mobile app security on Adalo's blog.

FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store—handling the hardest part of launching an app automatically.

What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?

Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building features like Magic Start lets you generate complete app foundations from a description. The platform handles the App Store submission process, so you can go from idea to published app without managing complex deployment pipelines.

Can I easily test my mobile app for functionality and performance?

Yes, Adalo allows you to preview and test your app across different platforms before publishing. The X-Ray feature identifies performance issues proactively, helping you catch problems during development rather than after launch.

What is the difference between Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)?

Quality Assurance (QA) ensures that all necessary techniques, procedures, and standards have been followed during app development to prevent major issues. Quality Control (QC) validates these processes and confirms that your mobile app actually meets all established standards—think of QA as showing up for the exam, and QC as making sure you pass with a good mark.

Why is app testing so important before launching?

App testing is crucial because app crashes are responsible for 71% of app uninstalls, and 70% of users abandon apps that take too long to load. Testing helps ensure a seamless user experience, protects user data from security threats, and increases your chances of getting approved on app stores during their review process.

What are the main types of mobile app testing I should perform?

The five main types are functional testing (ensuring your app works as intended), usability testing (checking ease of use), performance testing (evaluating speed across devices), security testing (protecting user data), and compatibility testing (ensuring your app works on various devices and operating systems).

How do I know which devices to focus on for compatibility testing?

Since testing on every device is impossible, focus your efforts by researching the types of smartphones commonly used in your target region. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to gather data on the specific mobile devices your audience uses, allowing you to prioritize testing on those platforms.

How much does it cost to build and test an app with Adalo?

Adalo's web and native mobile builder starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. Unlike platforms with usage-based charges or record limits, Adalo's paid plans include unlimited database records and unlimited app updates once published—no surprise bills as your app scales.