Signs it is time to revisit device testing

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. A few signals that device testing is due some attention.

You do not control the device, the network, or the operating system version, and the design has to accept that. Budget a little time for it every quarter and it never becomes a project of its own.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• The newest phone is not the phone your customers own
• Test on mid-range hardware and poor networks

Where to start

Automate the regression path, test the rest by hand. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.

How to tell if yours is fine

The version of the app your customers are running is rarely the one you just shipped. Three things worth confirming about device testing before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Test on mid-range hardware and poor networks — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.