5 simple steps to relieve the pre-release panic

Ever feel a mild hint of panic before hitting that release button for your app? You’ve run through your test scripts, but you feel you might have missed something important.

While it’s inevitable that some small issues won’t be discovered until after users have your app, we’ve developed a checklist to help ensure that you catch major issues before you get that dreaded 1-star review.   

Test on a device

A common mistake is to only look at apps on emulators. No matter how small the update, it is crucial that you download your app to a device and check it there. An app that works perfectly on an emulator can crash at launch on a device. 

Test on the devices your users are using

It’s important to understand your users and what sort of devices they have. If they are primarily iOS users, focus your attention there. If many use old Android devices, it might be worth acquiring one to ensure the app runs smoothly. 

Test a fresh install and an upgrade

For every release post launch you will have two user types, those updating the app from an older version and those installing the app for the first time. It is important to consider both cases, so take the time to download an older version of the app and then install the new version over the top. Not only will this highlight potential crashes, you will also be able to see if your existing data – favourites, settings, whatever – made the journey into the new version intact. 

Check for crashes

Many test scripts just follow the happy paths – a good network connection, a successful login, a valid credit card. It’s important to do exploratory testing of problematic paths and edge cases also, as when apps hit the unexpected they have a habit of crashing.

Run the app in the production environment

Having a development environment for testing is a fantastic first step, but it is also important to run the production version of your app prior to releasing it. Production systems contain different data to your dev environment, and potentially connect to different third-party services. And sometimes these differences can expose problems in your app.

Once you’ve covered these items you’ll be able to hit that release button with greater assurance that you’ve taken steps to ensure a successful release.