In 2021, total spending on mobile apps worldwide is estimated to be $170 billion, a 19% increase over 2020. There were nearly 230 billion downloads of new apps. And it's not about to stop when we see that the time spent on our smartphones on average keeps increasing, reaching 4 hours and 48 minutes in 2021, 30% more than in 2019. According to the latest estimatesthe mobile application market revenue could even reach $613 billion by 2025. In short, if you want to grow your business, this is the market to target.
But consumers' needs are also changing. And today, what they want most of all is an optimal user experience. This means that the mobile applications they are browsing need to work perfectly, be smooth and secure. This demand creates new requirements in terms of functional testing and we will see below what are the latest trends to follow in this field.
Codeless automated testing is becoming a popular option for functional testing of mobile applications, as it allows non-technical profiles to design and automate their own test suites.
By allowing those who know your customers best to implement the right end-to-end tests, your technical teams can get more effective feedback on user experience issues.
The increasing volume of traffic on mobile applications requires new testing solutions and cloud testing is well on its way to becoming THE testing method of choice. And for good reason, it allows you to test a mobile application on a variety of platforms and devices, without having to manage a lot of hardware or virtual machines. What's more, mobile application testing strategies that leverage the cloud are easy to implement, maintain and scale, which is why they are becoming increasingly popular. These cloud solutions can also be linked to automation solutions for greater efficiency.
And above all, the costs are lower and optimized compared to a farm of real mobiles, which requires a lot of maintenance and renewal to keep real physical devices up to date.
With the pesky threat of cyberattacks, users are increasingly reluctant to share their personal information, let alone what a leak of confidential data can do to a business. And unfortunately, these cyberattacks will continue to increase as the years go by. So it becomes imperative to invest in security features at every stage of the user experience, such as biometric recognition (facial, voice or digital), multi-factor authentication, and increase the share of security testing at the same time.
When you consider that 15% of the world's population, or 1.3 billion people, live with a disability according to the WHO, making mobile (and web) applications accessible to all becomes a real priority. Beyond being a legal responsibility, accessibility improves the experience for all users, builds an inclusive brand image and broadens market penetration.
The development of accessible web and mobile applications is becoming more and more necessary and accessibility testing is therefore more important than ever.
What do you think about these trends? Have you already adopted them in your functional testing strategies? Do you think more will emerge from them and if so, which ones? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments!