Introduction
From a user’s perspective, mobile applications can be grouped into various categories such as educational, informational, gaming, entertainment, communication, and e-commerce apps. From a developer’s point of view, mobile applications are typically distinguished based on the technologies that power them:
- Mobile web applications: Responsive versions of websites that work on any mobile device or operating system.
- Native applications: Apps developed specifically for a given operating system or platform (e.g., Android or iOS).
- Hybrid applications: A blend of native and web apps, displaying web content in the format of a mobile application.
- Progressive Web Applications (PWAs): A type of modern web application that feels like a website but works like a native app.
In this article, we will take a closer look at native mobile applications, examining their advantages and disadvantages.
These applications are faster and provide excellent performance due to their optimized user interface and the direct interaction between hardware and software. Since native apps are designed specifically for a given platform, they can directly leverage the services made available by the device’s architecture.
The most widely used programming languages are typically employed in native app development.
- Apple iOS apps are built using Swift or Objective-C,
- while Google Android apps are usually developed in Java (or increasingly, Kotlin).
Native apps are built separately for each operating system to ensure top-notch performance on every device.
Advantages of Native Applications
- Best performance: Native apps are optimized for a specific platform, making them extremely efficient and capable of leveraging the full potential of the operating system.
- Excellent platform support: Native applications benefit from robust support by the platforms they’re built for, such as the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
- Full access to device capabilities: Native apps can easily access device features like the camera, GPS, sensors, and other hardware components.
- Single codebase per platform: During development, native apps tend to have fewer bugs due to their dedicated codebase tailored to one platform.
- High stability and consistency: Built with native SDKs, these apps offer a robust and consistent user interface.
- Offline functionality: Native apps can function even without an internet connection.
- Advanced user experience: The UI is smoother and more responsive, thanks to platform-specific design standards.
- Push notifications: Native apps can utilize system-level notifications to keep users informed and engaged.
Disadvantages of Native Applications
- Requires expert developers: Developing native apps requires specialized knowledge of platform-specific programming languages and tools.
- Time-consuming and costly: Since each platform requires its own app version, development takes longer and incurs higher costs.
- Frequent updates required: Native apps must be regularly updated in line with changes to the operating system, which can significantly increase maintenance efforts and expenses.
Testing Native Applications
When testing native applications, the following aspects should be carefully considered:
- Installation testing: Ensure the app installs and launches correctly.
- Functional testing: Verify access to device resources such as the camera, GPS, microphone, and sensors.
- Compatibility testing: Check whether the application works correctly on all major devices and OS versions.
- Network testing: Test the app’s behavior across different network conditions (Wi-Fi, 4G/5G, offline).
- Interrupt testing: Assess how the app behaves when interrupted by incoming calls, messages, or notifications.
- Performance testing: Evaluate speed, responsiveness, and stability under various conditions.
- Notification testing: Ensure the app correctly handles and displays system notifications.
- Gesture testing: Verify how smoothly the app supports common gestures such as tapping, swiping, and pinching.
- Memory leak testing: Detect whether the app consumes memory unnecessarily or fails to release it.
- Screen orientation: Test the layout and functionality in both landscape and portrait modes.
Summary
One of the biggest challenges in testing native applications lies in their use of device-specific features such as sensors, calls, and orientation handling. Later in the series, we’ll also see how test automation for native apps introduces its own unique set of difficulties.
In the next part of this series, we will examine the characteristics of hybrid applications and how to approach testing them effectively.
Until then, happy testing!
