Travel App Testing

The travel industry is all about being on the go. If website and mobile app developers want to keep up with their users, applications need to be spot on – no matter where in the world your user is.

Because of the nature of travel, developers in this industry face a unique set of challenges. In addition to apps working on-the-go, they also need to be properly localized so users understand the plans they’re making. Tight security is another vital factor, ensuring users’ personal information isn’t leaked. But those are just a few of the challenges facing travel app developers and testers.

With travelers drifting away from traditional travel agents and turning to the internet for planning and execution, websites and mobile apps are more important than ever. A Statista study found that in 2019 the global digital travel sales was at 564.87 billion, with mobile travel sales in the US at 65.01 billion. Their study declared travel apps as the second fastest growing app category.

If you want to get in on the trend – and build a base of recurring users – you need to please them the first time and every time. That means you can’t fall victim to any of these common travel app challenges.

Must Travel Well

The Problem – Whether a traveler makes plans sitting in front of a desktop or on a mobile device, they’re not going to be stationary for long. A mobile-optimized site or a native app is vital for continued user interaction.

Once your users are on-the-go, geo-location services need to work flawlessly and your app cannot encounter problems as it moves across towers or connectivity levels. If a GPS-based event fails, it can mean big problems for your user – and their trust in you. (We all remember the original Apple Maps.)

How In-the Wild Testing Helps – You simply cannot test motion and GPS-based functionality while sitting in a lab. The only way to ensure your app will work correctly while it’s on the-go in the real world is to test it on-the-go in the real world. In-the-wild testing does just that.

In-the-wild testing is the process of moving part of your QA out of the lab and into the real-world. Testing under real world conditions provides a better perspective of how apps will work in the hands of your users.

Applause Experience – A transportation company produced an app to help limo drivers and their passengers connect at pick-up points. To test this app, the company needed a pair of testers on-location at more than a dozen airports around the world to ensure the geo-location feature functioned properly. This type of testing is cost-prohibitive to perform with in-house teams.

Applause tapped into its global community to find vetted testers within the vicinity of the target airports. These testers went to the nearby airports and tested the app on-location.

By leveraging Applause’s in-the-wild testing services, the transportation company was able to test its app efficiently and cost effectively and ensure a consistent user experience around the world.