How to Test a Messenger App

by Anastasia Kizilo | April 14, 2021 12:03 pm

How does testing a messenger differ from testing other types of apps? How would a comprehensive checklist for QA of a messaging app look like? What types of testing are particularly important for these apps? Read further to find out.

Our article provides a detailed checklist for testing a messenger divided by testing types for your convenience.

Installation Testing of a Messenger App

• Check if the messaging app can be installed and uninstalled without any issues.
• Verify the registration and authentication processes.
• Check if proper error messages are displayed when someone is trying to register or login with invalid information.
• Verify that registering or logging in with incorrect information is impossible.
• If the app requires entering a phone number during registration, check if only valid phone numbers are accepted.
• If a verification code is sent during installation, check how many times a user can enter an incorrect verification code before being blocked.

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Usability Testing[2] of a Messenger App

• Check if the app is intuitive and easy to use.
• Evaluate how smooth the navigation of the app is.
• The app’s interface should follow the standard colors, icons, and icon locations for well-established features in a messenger to avoid confusion.
• The colors of letters and background, letters’ size, and font should allow users to easily read messages.
• The app should be convenient for people with different vision, motor, and technical abilities.

Functional Testing[3] of a Messenger App

• Check if the user can send and receive messages.
• Verify that the message delivery time and any other expected information about the message are displaying correctly for the user.
• Check if the app properly identifies the message status when the message is delivered, read, and/or not delivered.
• The user should be able to see the “typing” status when the message recipient is typing a reply.
• Check if the app allows to send pictures, video and audio files, and documents without any issues. Different types of file formats should be supported.
• Verify that the links, emoticons, and GIFs are displaying and working correctly in the messenger.
• Check if the user can copy and paste messages and their parts.
• Verify that the user can edit and delete messages.
• Check if the chat history is displaying correctly for the user.
• The user should be able to upload a profile picture and edit the profile information.
• Verify that the user can change the status in the app to Available, Away, Do not disturb, etc.
• Check if the voice and video calls are working correctly in the messenger.
• If this functionality is present, check if the user can send audio messages without any issues.
• Test the possibility of creating group chats in the messenger and their proper work.
• When a user joins or leaves a group chat, a proper notification about it should display for all the group chat participants.
• Verify that the user can block contacts in the messenger and that the blocked contacts can no longer interact with the user.
• Check if it is possible to mute conversations in the app.
• If this functionality is present, check if all the phone contacts synchronize with the messenger with no issues.
• Verify that the app’s push notifications are working correctly.
• Check if the user can change settings of notifications (turning the notifications sound on and off, choosing what type of notifications to display, etc.).
• Verify that the app responds correctly in case of an incoming phone call or other interruptions.

Performance Testing[4] of a Messenger App

• Check if the messaging app works correctly with different types of network connection (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi), during switches between them, and when messenger users with different types of network connection communicate with each other.
• Assess how fast messages are delivered ― it should be instant.
• Verify that the images and video files which users send in the app load reasonably fast and with no quality issues.
• Check the quality of voice and video calls, including really long ones (2+ hours).
• Perform load testing to assess how many users can use the messenger app at once. Such automated testing tools[5] as JMeter can be a good choice for this type of testing.
• Check how many users can be active in a group chat at once so that it can still work with no issues.

Compatibility Testing[6] of a Messenger App

• Verify that the app works properly on different types, models, and versions of devices.
• Check if the messenger works correctly with different operating systems.
• If there is a web version of the app, verify its proper work in different browsers and their versions.

Security Testing[7] of a Messenger App

• Check if the content of the message is secured against interception when it’s stored on the user’s device, is being sent to the recipient’s device, and is stored on the recipient’s device.
• If security is the top priority of the messaging app, there would also usually be an option of automatic message destruction in some time. Check if it functions correctly.
• In messengers prioritizing security, the options of copying and forwarding messages are disabled. If this is the case with the app you are testing, verify that this functionality is not available for the users.

And of course, whenever any bugs in the messaging app are fixed, thorough regression testing[8] is necessary.

Conclusion

As any particular type of an app, a messaging app has its own specifics, requirements, and challenges when testing. We hope that our article helped you to clarify them and made planning and executing QA of a messenger easier. We wish you many successful testing projects, including those with messaging apps. And if you have any questions or need any assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us anytime.

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Source URL: https://blog.qatestlab.com/2021/04/14/how-to-test-a-messenger-app/

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