In Today's Mobile world, Push notifications are playing a major role. Mobile users are expecting more from these Push Notifications. That's why Samsung released a phone called "Samsung Galaxy Edge". It has a special notification bar.
Mobile App testers need to concentrate on these push notifications testing. We mostly concentrate on functional testing. We also need to concentrate on Usability testing.
Consider the Application, Device and OS
Each OS provides their own built-in libraries to use this push notifications features. Developers use these libraries in their code when an application requires sending a notification. Notification behaviour would have depended on OS and Device.
QA team need to make sure that each notification behaves similarly on all the supported OS and Devices. It is important that app should have a consistent behaviour on all devices. It helps to grow the business.
Application is in background (not in opened state)
When an application is not opened, notification should be displayed on the notification area. If that application has a new message then it is good to display the sender info and possible message content (may be the first line). This helps the user to decide whether he/she needs to open the application or not.
When the application has more new messages then it is good to show the number of messages count with sender's info.
The notification also can be displayed on the app icon. E.g New unread messages count.
Application is in opened state
When an application is in opened state if any new messages are received then notifications shouldn't be displayed. If displayed user may feel uncomfortable. The application should be updated with new messages. If the application requires any manual interaction to load the new messages then the application should display a notification on the application UI with an option to do the refresh operation. In this case, device notification area shouldn't be used.
When the device is locked
This is one more area where notifications are displayed. These notifications help the user to decide whether the user needs to unlock the device or not. This option has more space to display the notifications.
When multiple applications have notifications in this place, it is good to display app name, sender name & possible content..etc. If only one application has a new message then it is good to display the entire message content, so that, the user can read the entire message without unlocking the device. Maybe some privacy concerns will be there.
Mobile App testers need to concentrate on these push notifications testing. We mostly concentrate on functional testing. We also need to concentrate on Usability testing.
Consider the Application, Device and OS
Each OS provides their own built-in libraries to use this push notifications features. Developers use these libraries in their code when an application requires sending a notification. Notification behaviour would have depended on OS and Device.
QA team need to make sure that each notification behaves similarly on all the supported OS and Devices. It is important that app should have a consistent behaviour on all devices. It helps to grow the business.
Application is in background (not in opened state)
When an application is not opened, notification should be displayed on the notification area. If that application has a new message then it is good to display the sender info and possible message content (may be the first line). This helps the user to decide whether he/she needs to open the application or not.
When the application has more new messages then it is good to show the number of messages count with sender's info.
The notification also can be displayed on the app icon. E.g New unread messages count.
Application is in opened state
When an application is in opened state if any new messages are received then notifications shouldn't be displayed. If displayed user may feel uncomfortable. The application should be updated with new messages. If the application requires any manual interaction to load the new messages then the application should display a notification on the application UI with an option to do the refresh operation. In this case, device notification area shouldn't be used.
When the device is locked
This is one more area where notifications are displayed. These notifications help the user to decide whether the user needs to unlock the device or not. This option has more space to display the notifications.
When multiple applications have notifications in this place, it is good to display app name, sender name & possible content..etc. If only one application has a new message then it is good to display the entire message content, so that, the user can read the entire message without unlocking the device. Maybe some privacy concerns will be there.
