Debugging and Testing Techniques to Ensure Stability of iOS Apps

Bugs and errors are a crucial part of programming in general. Developing a bug-free app for iOS can be a herculean feat to accomplish. Even the best developers in the world would struggle to maintain inerrancy in their programs. These errors can lead to some serious malfunctions that can affect the regular functioning of the app delivering a faulty user experience.

This is why debugging is equally important in reducing the risk of a gnarly user experience and eliminating the issues of potential runtime errors in the code. However, developing a bug-free program for seamless function is not significant to just iOS but other kinds of apps too. With much experience and effort from software developers, this blog will provide you with a quick rundown on multiple debugging and testing strategies for iOS. 

Differences between Debugging and Testing

Although many might think in theory, debugging and testing are synchronous to each other, that however, is not the case. Before learning about the tools and strategies implemented in these processes, it is significant to learn the differences between the two.

Common Bugs and Issues

1. Display Errors

There are legions of display types when it comes to iOS apps. While testing the iOS app, you need to consider the visual functionality of your app on a varied number of screens. Conducting intricate compatibility tests across different kinds of devices is a smart way to detect any display bugs appearing on the screen.

Other issues can also appear when the user switches the screen orientation. In particular cases, screen elements tend to crash when the user turns from horizontal to vertical display. Both landscape and portrait testing are necessary to analyze the display functionality of these apps.

2. Inconsistent Performance

Users tend to favor instant response times on their devices. This is also true for their app usage. Tests such as load and stress ensure that your app displays peak performance. A delay in the launch time of the application of 5-10 seconds would imply to the user that it is not quick enough. Sometimes, the users might not even consider giving the app a second chance if it is delayed for a while and uninstall it immediately.

3. Battery Longevity

When it comes to heavy processing apps such as Candy Crush, Netflix, TikTok, etc., the battery life diminishes quickly. However, these apps are also the reasons why people love to use mobile phones. People spend time on these apps until they receive a notification denoting ‘Low Battery’. However, these apps are the exceptions and any other app with the same power consumption will immediately be rejected by the user. 

These apps are great references to test other apps against and analyze their power consumption. There are multiple sources from where the battery drainage issue might arrive hence, it is necessary to access any active permissions from the device. These permissions include notifications, location, network, etc.

4. Interruptions Alert

Multiple apps on our smartphones alert us during an ongoing task. These alerts can be random notifications, reminders, alarms, etc., competing against other apps. Whenever this happens, make sure that your app can handle such interruptions since it can crash poorly otherwise which affects the user experience. Hence, during iOS app testing, it is necessary to review your app’s ability to handle alerts and interruptions. 

5. Unnecessary Permissions

Many mobile apps incorporate user-granted permissions within them. These include the user’s location, microphone, camera, and other capabilities of the device. When the user allows your app to access data from their phone, make sure your app restricts itself from accessing the sensitive data. The app must pick the significant data and leave behind any sensitive information while running. Your audience is intolerant when it comes to their private data being accessed. 

Benefits of Debugging an iOS app

1. Have an error-free final product

The primary focus of an iOS app developer is to deliver a bug-free product so that the app runs seamlessly and smoothly. The functionality of the app depends on how many bugs have been curtailed from the original program to provide an efficient user experience. 

2. Positive User Reviews

 A functioning product means a happy customer. Creating error-free and seamless apps will please the target audience which in return gives credibility to the apps designed by the iOS developer.

3. Budget-Friendly

Debugging helps you cut back your expenses on additional services. Your post-deployment charges are saved by a mile if you are focusing on debugging which reduces the overall iOS app development cost.

Tools helpful in Debugging your iOS app

For a budding iOS application development company, debugging can be quite a hassle. Apple’s official IDE Xcode includes some of the most advanced debugging tools available for someone new to providing his/her iOS app development services. Although helpful, these tools can be a little too overwhelming for novice iOS developers. 

1. Hierarchy Debugger

This tool allows you to visualize your views along with the UI hierarchy. You are allowed to rotate the screen, pick any view, and analyze the children along with their view classes. The auto layout constraints are also available there for you to analyze or to find the memory addresses of the objects beneath the views. 

2. Advanced Breakpoints

Breakpoints are used to infiltrate a method and cease its action at a particular line to review the current application code. However, they can be utilized in a better way. Next time you edit a breakpoint, try to explore the variety of options available. Xcode allows the developer to enter conditional breakpoints, sets the number of times to stop before every breakpoint, and takes actions according to when an advanced breakpoint hits. This includes executing a shell command, logging it, running an Apple script, or playing a sound.

When it comes to debugging multithreaded environments, advanced breakpoints are extremely useful. 

3. Generic Breakpoints

These are utilized to restrict the execution of an application before a test case fails or an exception is thrown out. This is quite a robust debugging technique to make your code error-free.  

4. Debug Navigator

There are quite a few tools that allow the developer to track how much memory, CPU, network, and disk your current app is utilizing. Debug Navigator lets you access information on all of them. It also contains an interactive call stack navigator that lists all the threads with the grand central dispatch queues active in your app’s sandbox along with their current call stack. 

You are allowed to view each method’s signature and analyze the object graph along with the app state code at all the steps of execution. This is quite efficient as it helps in not just debugging code but also increasing large codebases as it points from where all the methods are being called chronologically.

5. Location Simulator

As the name suggests, this tool helps you in simulating your app to the exact locations where you want it to be seen. It can be found next to the ‘Debug View Hierarchy’ button. This tool ensures your app’s behavior in a particular location effectively.

6. Debugging Slow Animations

This tool supports simulation techniques when it comes to debugging animations. It is widely helpful to the community of iOS developers. Its general focus is to reduce the speed of UI animations and make them visible to the human eye. This way you can spot any glitches or bugs in your animations and identify their source.

7. Color Blended Layers

This tool is restricted to debugging layout performance for your iOS app. This option is available on the simulator. The feature highlights particular areas of your UI’s layout with red that take up much time to render impacting the overall performance of the app. Your app’s performance can adversely degrade due to activities such as blurring effects or unwise opacity settings. To know if things are going the right way, all the highlighted layers would turn green on the screen.

8. Quick Look

This option lets you view the in-memory instances of your classes when you are entering a breakpoint. Depending on the classes, this can mean different things. Just like how you can see the actual image which is stored in the UIImage object. 

9. Simulate Background Fetch

While using background fetch API, this tool comes in handy to debug your iOS app. It allows the user to manually trigger an operation which is generally executed by the operating system considering a production environment.

10. LLDB Advanced Debugging-

 This tool allows the more advanced developers to spread their wings and help them out in the best way possible. You are allowed to execute complicated commands exactly on the objects that exist in the app’s sandbox. 

Strategies for Effective iOS app testing

To reach the desired final destination, effective strategies and roadmaps must be designed to adapt to the necessary techniques required to reach it. Hence, devising a crucial yet effective iOS app testing strategy is the fundamental element of building a successful iOS app.

1. Analyze the application

Before the testing phase, understand the app’s intention and purpose on how it serves the audience. Its functionality, features, target audience, and usage scenarios are some of the elements you need to consider to structure the testing process.

2. Determine the elements to test

Before starting the testing phase, the scope of the test needs to be decided. This implies determining the things to be tested, the ones to be left out along with the types of testing required such as performance, usability, functionality, security, and others.

3. Picking the right device and OS

You also need to include the devices and OS versions your app will function on and support as there are multiple devices in the market to choose from.

4. Automated or manual testing

Both kinds of testing methods have their pros and cons. Hence, you need to pick the ones common in the advantages of both and also filter out the ones that do not fit your budget, timeline, and complexity of the app. 

5. Real device and simulator testing

Both simulation and real-time devices are needed to test at the initial and final stages of the app respectively. A symphony of both these testing stages makes the final product functional and seamless.

6. Performance Metrics

Key performance indicators (KPIs) of your app are important in the testing phase as they help in analyzing your app’s performance.

Conclusion

These are a few strategies for you to make your code error-free while developing an iOS app. Although all of them are equally important to incorporate into your program, you must pick the one most suitable and applicable to your style and the nature of the app. This is because debugging and testing can be quite a meticulous and draining process. 

Besides the strategies, make sure to understand the benefits of iOS app debugging and testing along with the differences they harbor. Understanding those merits can go a long way in your development process making the app worthwhile and high-quality for your audience to use. Make sure to hire iOS developers who are well-versed in their field of expertise and understand what the best course of action is when it comes to your company’s principles and vision with the app you want to design.