It is quite challenging for teams to detect bugs in mobile applications. Unlike web apps, there is always an option to log in to the server and check logs to collect data to reproduce bugs. Mobile apps rely on devices that are owned by someone else and the developer has no way out to collect information from the device. There are different types of issue tracking tools that help in detecting bugs in mobile apps. They come in with built-in intelligence to identify all possible bugs that can appear in mobile apps. Additionally, these tools provide support to report issues that the developer can anticipate.

Let’s explore some of the factors that should be taken into consideration while selecting a tracking tool:

Types of Bugs A Tool can Detect

Most of the bugs in mobile apps are related to memory. HTTP API or function call flow related. These issues then predict crashes, delayed loading of screens, unexpected responses, UI elements, etc. Tools should be capable of handling such situations and reporting these bugs in real-time.  

Developers should have Relevant Data to Reproduce Bugs

Identifying bugs is one thing, and collecting enough data to assist developers to reproduce them is another. In order to successfully reproduce the bug, developers need to be provided with the necessary details if available, device information, activity trail of the user, stack trace including a detailed description of the bug. 

Protecting User Privacy 

It is important that the tool collects data in real-time and does not expose the identity of the user. Ideally, data that can uniquely identify the user should not be used with the issue tracking tools.

Smooth and Easy Integration

 When a team is selecting a third party SDK or framework for integrating with mobile apps, easy integration is an important success factor. Whether a developer is using Java or Kotlin for Android, they should be able to integrate with minimal changes in the code. 

Low Resource Utilization 

It is extremely critical that the tool’s SDK features do not consume more memory than they ideally should. In addition, such SDKs should not add the unreasonable size of APK and IPA. 

Grouping Similar Issues into Actionable Tickets

All the reported issues can be handled better and more efficiently if similar issues are grouped into tickets and can be moved to a proper bug tracking system can identify through using Issues Tracking Tools

Tools to be used in the Development Phase 

It is also important that the issue tracking tools should be good enough to be used in both, development and testing phases. QA teams can report much more bugs with such tools. 

Conclusion 

Although many times developers feel that they have tested an app properly and no bugs are expected to occur in production, this is not completely true. While testing, developers capture those bugs and in most scenarios, the number of bugs identified in the development and testing phase is proportional to the number of test cases that are actually run. Proper issue tracking tools help QA teams to report the issues effectively and ensure they work best for mobile apps.