This document discusses the importance of mobile app performance testing. It begins by defining the different types of mobile apps - native, web, and hybrid. It then outlines the objectives of performance testing like evaluating hardware usage and measuring performance under different conditions. The key factors that impact performance are discussed as the backend, network, and client. Specific metrics for each like response times, errors, and resource usage are provided. Finally, tips for improving performance like caching images, reducing requests, and using the right tools for analysis are presented. The overall message is that user experience and retention can suffer without adequate attention to performance.

1. The Curious Case of
Mobile App Performance Testing
Nithin SS

2. One of our past days, ignoring
client side performance
LET ME START WITH A STORY
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3. *Image credits: Codoid Innovations
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4. I’m Nithin.
HELLO
I believe in the power of communities & love investing my time for
people’s growth.
● A passionate tester, community builder, speaker & blogger.
● Born and brought up in “Gods own country (Kerala, India)”.
● Founder - Synapse QA.
● Engineering Manager, QA at Fave Malaysia.
● Mentor at The Mentoring Club.
● Advisory board member, AskUI.
I get my energy from the people around, relies on the power of EQ &
in “function in disaster, finish in style”(Katherine Graham)

5. Let’s Understand
The Basics First
Mobile Apps
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6. WHAT IS A MOBILE APP?
A mobile application, also referred to as a
mobile app or simply an app, is a computer
program or software application designed to run
on a mobile device.
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7. BASIC TYPES OF MOBILE APPS
Native apps Web apps Hybrid apps
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8. Native apps are
created for one
specific platform or
operating system.
NATIVE APPS
Web apps
Hybrid apps
Native apps
Technology Used: Native
apps are coded using a
variety of programming
languages. Some
examples include: Java,
Kotlin, Python, Swift,
Objective-C, C++, and
React.
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9. PROS & CONS
Pros
● Faster & Better performance
● Native UI for optimized UX
● Able to access device features
Cons
● Updates must be downloaded
● Higher maintenance cost
● Consumes device space
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10. Responsive versions of websites that can
work on any mobile device or OS because
they’re delivered using a mobile browser.
One kind of web app is the progressive
web app (PWA), which is basically a
native app running inside a browser.
WEB APPS
Native apps
Hybrid apps
Web apps
Technology Used: Web apps are
designed using HTML5, CSS, JavaScript,
Ruby, and similar programming
languages used for web work.
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11. PROS & CONS
Pros
● Web based : works on all devices
● Less maintenance & development costs
● Less space on your device memory
Cons
● Depends on browser
● Needs internet
● Device hardware integration depends on
app features
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12. Hybrid apps are combinations of both native
and web apps, but wrapped within a native
app, giving it the ability to have its own icon
or be downloaded from an app store.
They have home screen app icon, responsive
design, fast performance, even be able to
function offline, but they’re really web apps
made to look native.
HYBRID APPS
Native apps
Web apps
Hybrid apps
Technology Used: Hybrid apps use a
mixture of web technologies and native
APIs. They’re developed using: Ionic,
Objective C, Swift, HTML5, and others.
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13. PROS & CONS
Pros
● Quicker & economical
● Loads quickly
● Less code to maintain
Cons
● Might lack power and speed
● Slower than native app
● Certain features might not be usable on
devices
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14. DO WE REALLY NEED TO THINK OF
MOBILE APP PERFORMANCE?
Yes? No?
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15. HIGH PERFORMING APPS ARE
USER FAVORITES!
Mobile app performance refers to how
an app behaves on a mobile device
under various circumstances & loads.
It depends on three combined factors:
the backend, the network, and how the
app itself runs on the device.
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16. 1
Performance of the
application during big
workloads
2
Evaluate the hardware
usage
3
Determine the capacity of
the application
4
Measure and assess the
performance of the app on
the protocol level
5
Evaluate app’s
performance under critical
conditions.
OBJECTIVES
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17. STRATEGY
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18. ALIGN
● Align test objectives & business requirements
● Discuss about business expectations
● Understand the end user expectations
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19. IDENTIFY
● Identify the test KPIs
● Error rate
● Maximum response time
● Average response time
● Peak number of requests
● Average throughput & number of concurrent active
users per device and OS
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20. L.B.S
● Consider Latency & Bandwidth
● Simulate a real-life testing environment
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21. PRIORITY & COLLABORATION
● Prioritize scenarios
● Collaborate with developers & other stakeholders
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22. FACTORS
OF
IMPACT
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23. The
Backend
When the app is interacting with the server, the response time
becomes critical to performance.
Things to consider:
● Data to and from server
● Number of API Calls generated from App for a specific functionality
● Server down-time
● Implementation of escalation policies
Tools for Load Testing:
● Jmeter
● Gatling
● Blazemeter
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24. The
Network
The performance of the app can vary depending on different
networks and this may impact on the app response time.
Key factors to measure:
● Latency is the time that elapses when information is send through
the network (measured in milliseconds). Lower the latency better
performance.
● Bandwidth is the maximum capacity (the amount of data) that can be
transmitted through the network (measured in bits per second).
Higher the bandwidth is better.
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25. The
Client
Testing client-side performance allows to understand how the app
behaves on a device and how it uses the resources that is shared with
other apps.
Metrics to understand client side mobile app performance:
● Device resource usage
● Rendering
● Errors
● Response Times
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26. 1. DEVICE RESOURCE USAGE
● % CPU
● Memory(Mb)
● Data sent and received by the application(Kb)
● % Battery usage
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27. 2. RENDERING
● Measures how the app is drawn on the device
● Render time (ms)
● Frames per second (fps)
● Render lag (janks/slow rendering)
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28. 3. ERRORS
● Exceptions
● ANR (Application Not Responding) in Android
● Crashes
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29. 4. RESPONSE TIME
● Time taken to complete an action.
● Server response times
● Database response time
● Network latency
● Screen drawing time
● App startup
● App background
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30. WHAT PROBLEMS CAN WE DETECT?
Memory leaks Screen freezes Crashes
Start-up & transactional issues
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31. WHY?
Why all these matters?
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32. USERS ARE FICKLE
When a Mobile App’s performance doesn’t meet user
expectations, there is a very high chance they will
stop using it, resulting in a loss of revenue.
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33. CHANGE IN MOBILE APP LANDSCAPE
WITH ADVENT OF 5G
● It will bring more customers online.
● More business will go online.
● 5G will have a lower latency so it will deliver faster results for users
and ensure that a seamless interaction happens between the client
and server.
● More companies in the e-commerce landscape will start leveraging
AI/ML capabilities in their mobile apps.
● 5G will also help increase the amount of apps that people download.
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34. TIPS
&
TRICKS
*Source Apptim Blog Nithin_Synapse

35. 1. CACHE IMAGES
Downloading external resources takes time, so
make sure to cache images.
2. COMPRESS AND RESIZE IMAGES
Make sure images are adequately sized
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36. 3. RE-USE DATA TEMPLATES
To make the app faster, load fewer templates by
reusing them.
4. REDUCE HTTP REQUESTS
Use fewer HTTP requests required to fetch the
resources for each page in order to simplify
things for your app.
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37. 5. USE LOADING VALIDATIONS
Provide some visible, instant feedback as the
application waits for the background response.
6. LOAD DATA AS YOU NEED
If your app requires a large amount of data, it’s
useful to only load it as you need it.
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38. 7. CREATE AN OFFLINE MODE
Give users an option to save the data for later, so they can
resume the activity once the connection has been
re-established.
8. USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR TUNING
Pick the right tool that gives insights on all the metrics
we need to capture for analysing performance of the app.
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39. 9. APM (APPLICATION PERFORMANCE MONITORING) SYSTEM
APM helps detect and diagnose deep-level application
performance problems to maintain an expected level of
service across the board.
10. DEVICE CHOICE FOR TESTING PERFORMANCE
It is recommended to test mobile app performance on real
devices. That's how you could get the actual performance of
the app based on the real resource usages.
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40. YOU GOT IT RIGHT!!
“If an end user perceives bad performance from your
website, his/her next click will likely be on
your-competition.com”
— Ian Molyneaux
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41. “Just as athletes can’t win without a sophisticated mixture of
strategy, form, attitude, tactics, and speed;
performance engineering requires
a good collection of metrics and tools
to deliver the desired business results.”
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42. ● Apptim Blog.
● AppDynamics Blog
● Apptim Youtube.
● STET Session on Apptim.
● SauceCon 2022 Talk & Demo
REFERENCES & FURTHER READS
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43. THANKS!
Do you have any questions? I would be happy
to connect:
nithin-ss Nithin_Synapse hello@nithinss.com
nithinss.com / synapse-qa.com