Top 15 Automated Testing Tools for Mobile Apps

Published in

Intuz

7 min readMay 11, 2017

With each passing day, the word automation is growing as the meat of the matter for organizations. And why not? Ultimately, automation saves time and energy of humans by performing monotonous work as per the pre-defined standards. Undoubtedly, automation streamlines business operations and establishes smooth organizational processes. But along with other industries, IT is also leveraging automation to simplify the various technically complex activities.

Testing is one of the very crucial parts of Information Technology. The web or mobile application without testing is not considered as a reliable one. Users might encounter bugs, low system performance, malfunctioning of the features, etc. Eventually, it reduces the client base. So, accurate and appropriate testing is a primary need to launch a highly efficient system.

Market trends of Mobile App Testing Tools

Performance testing will be seen shifting to performance engineering in the coming time
It will offer great security testing for taking an uptrend
The demand for automated voice testing will boom
5G device integration testing will be going to lead the path
The need for m-commerce app testing will be on high demand
Cloud-based mobile app testing will boom
IoT testing will be on great demand
The involvement of AI and ML in mobile app testing will be seen on a large scale

A variety of automation testing tools is available in the market that enables developers to check out the quality and effectiveness of their web and mobile software or hardware with detailed analysis. Such automated testing software helps developers by saving time and reducing errors that occur due to human intervention. Have a quick overview of the 10 best-automated testing tools for mobile apps.

1. Appium

An open-source mobile test automation tool to test Android and iOS applications. Developers can test native, mobile web and Hybrid mobile apps on this software. To run the tests, Appium uses WebDriver interface. It supports C#, Java, Ruby, and many other programming languages that belong to WebDriver library.

Testers can test native apps that are written in Android and iOS SDKs, mobile web apps that can be accessible through mobile browser, and hybrid apps that contain web view. Being a cross-platform tool, it allows programmers to reuse the source code amongst Android and iOS.

2. Robotium

Again an open-source tool to test Android applications of all versions and sub-versions. It tests all Android hybrid and native apps. The tests of Robotium are written in Java. Using the tool, it is quite easy to write powerful automatic black box test cases for Android applications. It automates multiple Android activities and creates solid test cases in minimal time.

3. MonkeyRunner

MonkeyRunner is specifically designed for the testing of devices and applications at the framework/functional level. The tool contains amazing features such as multiple device control, regression testing, extensible automation, and functional testing to test Android apps and hardware. The tests of MonkeyRunner are written in Python. Developers need not to make changes in source code to automate the testing.

4. UI Automator

In order to test the user interface of an app, UI Automator creates functional Android UI test cases. It has been recently expanded by Google. The tool seamlessly interacts with all Android software and applications. It works with the all devices that support Android version 4.1 and others that are released after 4.1. In the previous version, testers need to use other testing tools. Additionally, UI Automator can lock and unlock a tablet or a smartphone.

5. Selendroid

Being one of the leading test automation software, Selendroid tests the UI of Androids based hybrid and native applications and mobile web. Client API tests are written using Selendroid 2. The tool supports plugging of hardware devices. Moreover, it holds exceptional capabilities to interact with multiple Android devices at the same time. Selendorid is highly compatible with the JSON wire protocol.

6. MonkeyTalk

MonkeyTalk automates the functional testing of Android and iOS apps. Non-technical person can also run the testing on this platform as it doesn’t require in depth knowledge of techie scripting and programming. The scripts of MonkeyTalk are quite understandable and simple. Testers can also create XML and HTML reports using this tool. Additionally, it also takes screenshots when failure happens. MonkeyTalk supports emulators, network devices, and tethered.

7. Testdroid

It’s a cloud based program for mobile app testing that helps developers in saving development cost, eliminating the unpredictable operational cost, and improving time-to-market. It is one of the best platforms to test your iOS and Android devices that are having different screen resolutions, OS versions, and HW platforms. Testdroid is a tool that reduces the risk with agile and real devices testing. It also improves the daily users of the app along with review rating.

8. Calabash

Calabash works efficiently with .NET, Ruby, Flex, Java and other programming languages. It tests native and hybrid mobile apps. Programmers can have APIs that enable native apps to run on touch screen devices. Calabash involves libraries that permit test-code to interact with hybrid and native apps programmatically. It also supports the framework Cucumber.

9. Frank

Frank allows to test only iOS applications and software. The framework combines JSON and Cucumber. The tool contains an app inspector “Symbioate” that enables developers to have detailed information about the running app. It is most suitable for web based apps and emulators. It can be integrated with CI and run the tests on the devices and simulators.

10. SeeTest

SeeTest Automation is a cross-platform solution. It allows to run the same scripts on different devices. It enables developers to run the test on several devices parallelly. Being a powerful test automation tool, it is capable of testing websites/mobile apps. It supports iOS, Android, Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. The most important features of this tool are phone testing, battery, browser testing, etc.

All these are great tools for automated testing of mobile apps and software. Being a leading mobile app development company, Intuz closely analyzes the current, popular and upcoming trends of the industry. I have shortlisted the above companies based on their prime visibility during my research. It doesn’t indicate inefficiency of any other similar automated testing tools providers. In case, you find any similar company, do share with me using comment section below. I will include that automated testing tool in my nest similar article for sure.

11. Kobiton

It is a mobile device testing software that assists users to build and deliver the best-in-class mobile experiences. The features of Kobiton covers real device testing, appium script generation, and device lab management. Every feature has a different capability that helps in the testing process.

Features of Kobiton

Capabilities that covers real devices, device lab management, and health check
Performance covers natural gestures, responsiveness and fast startup
Customizable test cloud includes rick test logs, flexible test cloud
Automatic capture, easy log access ad historical results
Agile test enabler, one platform and appium & selenium and automation
Smart app directory, testing in minutes, optimized efficiency
The secure platform, data center, dev center security and app-ray partnership

12. TestComplete

It is a functional automated testing platform that is developed by SmartBear Software and provides the best testing methods. With the use of this tool, testers will be able to build automated tests for Web, Android, iOS apps and Microsoft Windows.

Features of TestComplete Tool

HTML5 test automation
Creating automated UI tests
Keyword-driven testing
Automated test reporting and analysis
Object recognition engine with AI

13. Espresso

It is a kind of test automation framework specially designed for Android by Google. Being an open-source framework, it becomes very easy for developers to utilize and expand it in the working environment.

Features of Espresso

Easy-to-learn and simple API
Contains huge scalability and flexibility
Offers an independent module for testing the Android WebView component
Provides an individual module for valeting and mock Android Intents
Offers automatic syncing between your app and tests

14. Ranorex studio

It is a highly powerful tool when it comes to testing automation. Ranorex tool is a GUI test automation framework that is used for testing web-based, mobile and desktop apps. Ranorex does not have scripting language of its own for automating the app. Usually, it makes use of the standard programming languages like C# and VB.NET.

Top features of Ranorex Studio

Offers cross-platform testing
Offers user interface object recognition model
Provides a toolset for automating UI testing and recording UI actions without writing any single code
Can record test cars from the real mobile devices itself
Supports text validation of any textview that is present on the screen

15. Eggplant

Eggplant is an AI-assisted testing tool that ensures fast release of your apps, business continuity using the testing and keeping track of your business apps. As you grow and become modernized, you moved to the cloud for remote work and offer scalability for your online presence using the effecting load testing medium.

Features of Eggplant