Why Beta Testing your APP is so Important
Today we are going to explain why Beta Testing your APP is so important. Honestly app testing is one of the critical steps during the app development process; however plenty of people either overlook or bypass this step.
Why?
Sometimes it has to do with cost, people don’t want to waste the time and assume they will catch everything themselves, or they might not be experienced enough to understand what you gain from testing outweighs everything else.
Case Study – Cheery
Currently we are developing an app called Cheery. As part of that process we are utilizing TestFlight for Beta Testing.
TestFlight Beta Testing is a developer option that Apple provides to ensure better, more complete products are launched from the App Store. Made for iOS, watchOS and tvOS apps, people can invite up to 2,000 testers to the fold just using an email address.
One aspect about TestFlight that we enjoy is that it allows internal testing by up to 25 team members before you invite external testers into the fray. After the initial team reviews and tests of the product, we utilized a social media campaign to find 50 beta testers for the next stage.
“The results of Beta Testing with TestFlight were fantastic,” said Ken Braun, CEO of Lounge Lizard. “We received tons of amazing feedback including improvement suggestions we didn’t even think of.”
That feedback is being included in the final stages of the development process which will then make the app even stronger upon official release, ensuring the best product possible is being brought to market.
Benefits of Beta Testing
Aside from what was discussed in the case study, here are our top benefits of beta testing an app:
• Buzz Generator – Beta testing can easily create buzz for your app from word of mouth. For example, the social media campaign we used to find testers got the idea of Cheery out there. Next, we used social media to thank all of the testers for their participation, in some cases tweeting directly at them, which then spreads the word about the app to their feed and possibly creates conversations where they can brag to their network about the app and their participation in its’ development. Buzz is important for any app prior to launch.
• Feedback – This is the most common reason to test; for feedback. You might have developed an app that has great features that you love, but perhaps the target audience only loves some of them. Or perhaps you overlooked a navigation and flow issue that wasn’t apparent while wearing the developer hat? Last but not least, new users will quickly point out additional things they wish the app had that you might have not thought about. That way you can either try and incorporate them to your current launch, or have them in mind for your first update. Either way you are aware of the ideas that users will find beneficial and are in a position to make changes.
• Bugs – Another great reason for betas is that users will find all sorts of bugs developers never will. You can check your code six ways from Sunday and test the app over and over, but 9 times out of 10 a new user will do something with the app you never thought of which might cause a crash.
• Devices – Testing also ensures that people are using a range of devices to test on. Some developers have made the mistake of only testing on a few, recent devices, which can be a shame if the target audience uses other devices that might have conflicts with your app. That can leave you scrambling to make updates to the app in the first few days of launch, which is not a good thing and can affect your app’s rating in the store.
• App Store – With so many apps out there, getting into an app store is not as easy as it used to be. Beta Testing, especially via TestFlight for the Apple Store, is viewed favorably as it shows you are doing proper due diligence before launching an app.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day if you are developing an APP most likely your goal is to produce a quality product that serves a purpose such as making money or enhancing relationships with customers. It is very doubtful that you want to put something sub-par in the App Store or on Google Play because that product has your name attached to it and becomes an immediate reflection of your brand.
Part of the app development cycle, at least for us, are the testing phases which we view as a key to overall quality. We feel that Beta Testing your APP is so important because at the end of the day you want your name attached to a quality product that exceeds user expectations which can only be assured with proper testing.
Test the private Beta version of “CHEERY” from your iPhone and iPad APP that promotes positivity and creates an inspirational social network of positive people that share positive experiences, quotes and life events.
DOWNLOAD iPHONE/iPAD BETA 
