Is your application ready for. ios. A QA perspective to ensure a flawless user experience

Transcription

1 Is your application ready for ios A QA perspective to ensure a flawless user experience TM

2 ios, Apple s flagship mobile platform ecosystem has been at the cusp of mobile computing since the launch of the first iphone. Introduced in 2007, Apple s touch-enabled devices transformed the way enterprises perceived mobile as a gateway to reach end users. The launch of its latest operating system, ios 9, is likely to create similar impact, for the following reasons: THE BIG SHIFT 73% of the enterprise users will upgrade into the new operating system within one week of its launch. Apps will have to run seamlessly in the new operating system from Day 1. CHANGING DEVICE LANDSCAPE The ipad is gradually gnawing away at market shares of desktops / laptops with enterprise customers preferring to use it as their primary device. Elsewhere, the Apple watch is also making its mark. UNIFIED COMMUNICATION With Siri and Artificial Intelligence gaining more prominence, this release is bound to make headway in tailoring apps in accordance with user behavior.

3 MARKET SHARE IOS 8 & 7 MARKET SHARE Previous rollouts have proved that user adoption for ios is blindingly fast within a week, 40% of ios users hopped on to the new version. Currently 77% of active iphones, ipads, and ipods are running various versions of ios 8.x. Over 60% of ios 8.x users would upgrade to ios 9 within a week. 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% ADOPTION RATE Time in Months ios8 77% ios 7 88% ENTERPRISE ACTIVATION BY PLATFORM ios 73% Android 25% Windows 1% Others 1% Enterprise activations of ipads dominate other platform tablets which might go further up as the ios 9 launch draws near.

4 Top 5 new features in ios 9 Big changes made to the keypad on previous ios version has now been extended to ipad with its new split keyboard, making the user experience exciting. This feature allows the user to separate the device s onscreen keyboard into two sections for easier typing. Impact: The ipad experience leans towards creating a laptop experience with the implementation of the new keypad. Accidental fallback between multi-touch function and trackpad might become a common phenomenon for the users. TRACK PAD FOR THE IPAD What has changed? Apple is further differentiating the iphone and ipad user experience by adding a track pad feature to the ipad. This new gesture allows ios users to turn their keyboard into a trackpad by simply tapping it with two fingers. The ios 9 will also support keypad shortcuts which can help application switching shortcut similar to the Command-Tab functionality in OS X. Apple introduced multitasking to ios devices in ios 4 and it has largely remained the same since its first launch. The multitasking function has been optimized with the release of ios 9 to ensure minimal impact on battery life while at the same time preserving the apps users leave in the background. SPLIT-SCREEN APPS ON THE IPAD What has changed? This new functionality will take the ipad experience a notch closer towards the replacement of PC. Features such as Split View, Slide Over and Picture in Picture are most noteworthy that lets you run two apps side-by-side. On Split screen, both apps stay active and you can drag and drop data from one app to another, which will make sending photos much easier. Apps can be split on the ratio 50:50 or 70:30 on the screen. Impact: Running a high performance app on the foreground may affect the performance consistency of the other application running on split-view. Compatible devices: Slide Over and Picture in Picture will work on the ipad Air, ipad Air 2, ipad mini 2, and ipad mini 3 devices. Split View feature is limited to the ipad Air 2, which has a more powerful A8X processor and 2GB RAM.

5 PROACTIVE SIRI Siri has been an integral part of ios since ios 5. This intelligent voice assistant is a massive leap forward over the voice control on older ios versions, which could only perform basic tasks such as play music, make calls and open apps. Siri is showing continuous improvement with every OS release, it is becoming faster and more reliable. Siri is also one of the key ways of interacting with the Apple watch, and it is set to power the new proactive feature in the upcoming ios 9. What has changed? ios 9's significant focus is on proactive voice assistant, which continues to strengthen its predictive / artificial intelligence with its new look and features. Opening up relevant apps like Weather app and Transit maps based on the user s region. Suggestions on places the user might like, and guiding them through transit information using maps. Contextual reminders using calendars and by integration with mails. Search through photos and videos in new ways. Siri Suggestions put favorite contacts and apps right at your fingertips. Impact: ios devices will now be using the voice assistant to learn user habits and this will help Siri to perform faster by 40% over that in ios 8. Search capabilities are now based on ios native search engine. Results displayed using Siri and Spotlight may rely less on Google s searches. The current and previous versions of ios over-the-air updates required multiple gigabytes of free space, and installing it reduced the amount of free space available for app installation on 8 and 16GB devices. App Thinning, a new feature in ios 9 can reduce the size of installed apps thereby creating more space for users. What has changed? App Thinning will let the ios devices to have more free space by using less data to update. Each app will only download the parts it needs to run on your model of iphone by slicing the app into multiple app variants based on the handset of the user. APP THINNING An additional new feature called on-demand resources will hold the components of apps until they re opened by the user. Only when the user clicks and avails the respective component, it will dynamically download from the App Impact: User data that is associated with the apps may get affected.

6 LOW POWER MODE Battery drain is a common complaint after every ios update. In the existing OS versions, suspended apps in the background will be fetching data off the network which is known to have an adverse impact on battery life. Currently, apps have to be force closed to prevent excessive battery drain. ios 9 will have new features that will keep the iphone and ipad battery running longer through Low-Power mode. What has changed? The Low-Power mode decreases the iphone s CPU speed. Once the device charge goes less than the 20% mark, the energy saving feature will turn itself on without any user action. In the Low-Power mode, the battery icon will transform to yellow color, instead of the typical red when under 20%. The device will also stop fetching new mail messages and stop refreshing apps in the background. Furthermore, motion effects and animated wallpapers will be disabled. Impact: The Low-Power mode will supposedly extend the battery life and the performance of ios devices. Enhancements to existing features S.NO. ios 9 FEATURES BENEFITS 1 Smaller OTA update size in ios 9 Devices with 8GB and 16GB can be upgraded to ios 9 without deleting user data. 2 Secured OS - Paired with 'Rootless' Security systems More secured by implementing a 6-digit passcode. This results in much safer ios 9 based devices. 3 Settings to Search Quicker way to reach sub-folders of a particular control in the settings. 4 icloud Drive Drive sub-folders will let the user access files stored in icloud and open them with apps on ios devices. 5 Object-oriented Contacts The operating system would be able to cross-reference numbers from various sources when users receive a call. 6 Reading view in Safari Reading View will increase the readability of an application by changing the default font type and size. 7 Handoff Handoff continuity which is limited to ios default app and mac devices will be extended to third party apps and Apple TV. 8 Spotlight search Search can bring up results like sports scores, videos, and content from third-party apps.

7 S.NO. ios 9 FEATURES BENEFITS 9 Siri Suggestions Suggestions will contain: 1) Frequently-used apps. 2) Suggested apps for users. 3) Nearby places. 4) Region-based news. 10 Recent App Screen Revised cascading design of recent apps screen makes it a lot easier to flip through your active apps. 11 CarPlay CarPlay will allow automobile manufacturers to design apps to control the vehicle features wirelessly. 12 "Back" button Navigational menu in the top left corner will let users to easily get back to the previous app. 13 Selfie album This app automatically pulls in relevant photos for quick access to all your selfies. 14 Shift Key for Keypad Shift key keyboard changes case of the letters with the shift key. APPS 15 Home app The Home app will allow users to remotely control Home Kit-compatible accessories using an ios device. Users can create checklist and folders Integration with device gallery to share photos and videos Formatting toolbar Draw sketches Safari links can be saved directly to notes Maps can be tagged to user notes 16 Notes 17 Wallet (Passbook renamed as Wallet) Support for store credit cards, rewards cards and membership cards. 18 News New flipboard format for news UI and integration with the third party news apps. 19 Maps Support for public transportation, including buses, subways and ferries, to directions in Maps. 20 Health New category called "Reproductive Health" focusing on women's health and specific data types can be tracked.

8 Getting Mobile Applications ready for ios 9 Unlike earlier versions of ios, ensuring application compatibility with ios 9 requires a varied combination of tests. The following three step approach will help you with the right QA Strategy: CONTEXTUALIZATION Define the context in which your application will fit and the intended use of the application such as those intended for information only, as opposed to enterprise view only and end-user centric. This is critical in evaluating the extensiveness of testing required. CHECKLIST MAPPING Identify ios features that impact the application. The different testing types to validate each feature are detailed in the subsequent section. COMPATIBILITY VALIDATION User profiling will establish the right combination of devices and browser combination to execute the tests. The documented test scenarios can be validated by using simulated data conditions and crowd-sourced user testing for real-life conditions.

9 ios 9 is better than ever and is coming this fall. With the high number of devices that this version supports, ensuring your application makes the most of new features and still functions at the same level of user experience on all devices is critical. Be sure your application is ios 9 ready from day 1!

10 Beyond the functionality of the application, to ensure an unparalleled end-user experience, apps will have to be validated across a wide variety of tests in a diverse combination of devices. The following table shows the various test conditions to which the app can be subjected to, based on the features. QA IMPACT TESTING TYPE TRACK PAD FOR THE ipad SPLIT-SCREEN APPS ON THE ipad Track pad Slide Over and form factors across devices APP THINNING LOW POWER MODE READING VIEW IN SAFARI Device compatibility Split view Compatibility across different compatibility Notification, Messages and Voice Calls Alarm, Calendar and Reminder alerts TEST SCENARIOS Interrupt Data consumption during the app updates download and deletion Network & Connectivity User Interface User experience to move cursor across the app fields and pages Connectivity check with wearable devices Web app UI and readability when font type and size changes To verify web app UI during the view port changes in split view Accessibility Ease of use in Split View Performance Performance Consistency when two applications are launched side by side Security Multi-App launches Secure data from third party interceptions App performance in low power mode User data associated with the dynamic memory of the application

11 To assist you in ensuring your ios apps are compatible with ios 9, Cognizant fastest has launched an exclusive service line in its platform with a 72 hour turnaround time for app validation. Visit to know more. REFERENCES FEATURES: MARKET SHARE: s-holds-88-share-of-enterprise-apps-ipad-9 0-of-tablets-in-goods-business-activations perating-systems/ios-9-what-we-want-to-se e index.action /good-technology-enterprise-activations-q 42014/ ption-rate-2/

12 TM R World Headquarters 500 Frank W. Burr Blvd. Teaneck, NJ USA Phone: Fax: Toll Free: inquiry@cognizant.com India Operations Headquarters #5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam Chennai, India Phone: +91 (0) Fax: +91 (0) inquiryindia@cognizant.com Copyright 2015, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners