Enterprise apps must deliver flawless user experiences despite real-world interruptions—whether it be a trader executing a high-value transaction, a healthcare provider accessing a patient portal, or a shopper completing a mobile checkout. A single app crash or lost session due to an interruption can cost companies millions in lost transactions, SLA breaches, and brand damage.
According to research, 90% of users have stopped using an app due to poor performance, and 86% have uninstalled at least one app because of performance issues. For enterprises, this leads to lost revenue, increased customer churn, and diminished app store ratings, hindering new user acquisition.
This is where interruption testing comes in. Interruption testing ensures your mobile application can handle disruptions effectively, keeping users happy and engaged.
This guide dives deep into the concept of interruption testing, its importance, and how to get started.
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What is Interruption Testing?
Interruption testing measures an app’s ability to recover seamlessly from real-world disruptions—like incoming calls, network drops, or OS notifications—without data loss, crashes, or degraded performance. This ensures consistent user experience and business continuity for enterprise applications.
Why Interruption Testing Is Crucial
Imagine you are watching a tutorial in an educational app when a low-battery notification interrupts you. After charging your phone and resuming the app, you would ideally expect the video to pick up where you left off. If it does not, the app has failed interruption testing.
The goal of interruption testing is to ensure consistency and reliability, providing users with a smooth, uninterrupted experience while maintaining data integrity.
Interruptions are inevitable, and real-world app usage involves various interactions between devices, networks, and other apps. Without proper testing, interruptions can lead to app crashes, unsaved progress, degraded functionality, and a poor user experience.
Here are three key reasons why interruption testing is essential for your mobile app's success:
- Improved User Retention: Users are more likely to abandon an app if interruptions disrupt their experience.
- Data Integrity: Ensures users do not lose data or progress due to unexpected interruptions.
- Competitive Edge: A well-tested app that handles disruptions gracefully builds positive brand reputation and stands out in the marketplace.
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Common Types of Mobile Interruption Testing
To effectively test for interruptions, you need to consider various scenarios that can cause an interruption. Here are the most common types of interruptions that occur while using mobile apps:
Device-Dependent Interruptions:
Device-dependent interruptions test an app's ability to handle interruptions originating from the device itself. Some examples include:
- Incoming phone calls or texts
- Alarm notifications
- Low-battery warnings
- Full-battery notifications
- Device shutdowns or restarts
Network-Dependent Interruptions:
Network-dependent interruption testing ensures the app recovers on network changes (e.g., losing the internet, switching between 4G and Wi-Fi). Some examples include:
- Network disconnection (Wi-Fi or mobile data)
- Switching between networks (e.g., 3G to 4G, or Wi-Fi to cellular)
- Network restoration
- Changing service providers
Functionality-Dependent Interruptions:
Functionality-dependent interruption testing checks how interruptions from other apps or system notifications impact your app's functionality. Some examples include:
- Switching to another app (e.g., messaging apps or browsers)
- Clicking on an external link
- Notifications from other apps
- Video calls or media playbacks in the background
By addressing these interruptions, you can ensure your app performs reliably across different scenarios.
Related Reading: Why Performance Testing Is Non-Negotiable
How to Perform Interruption Testing
The following is a brief step-by-step guide to conduct interruption testing effectively:
1. Define Scenarios
Outline the types of interruptions you expect your app to encounter. These will be unique to your app and industry. For instance, banks, healthcare companies, telecom companies, retailers, and automotive companies will all have unique scenarios to test.
Use the categories above to identify possible scenarios. Include both frequent and uncommon interruptions for thorough testing.
2. Prioritize Testing Based on Real User Analytics & High-Risk Interruption Points
Identify the top 5 device models used by your customer base.
Simulate network conditions ranging from 5G to weak LTE for global consistency.
3. Automate Interruption Tests Across Diverse Real-World Environments With AI-Driven Test Validation
Related Reading: Perfecto by Perforce Announces AI Validation—A Paradigm Shift In Testing
Automating Interruption Testing
Manually testing interruptions takes significant time and effort. Thankfully, automation tools can streamline the process by simulating interruption scenarios across different devices.
Benefits of automating interruption testing include:
- Increased test coverage for various interruption types
- Faster execution of repeatable test cases
- Reduced chances of human error
Best Practices for Interruption Testing
- Test across multiple devices, OS versions, and networks (Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G).
- Simulate real-world scenarios, including low-battery warnings, app switching, and notifications.
- Include network-related interruptions, such as signal drops or provider changes.
- Automate repetitive test cases to improve efficiency and test coverage.
- Don’t forget edge cases—unexpected interruptions can reveal hidden vulnerabilities.
Streamline Interruption Testing With AI Validation
Perfecto’s AI Validation can be a major complement to interruption testing because it transforms the way teams approach testing by intelligently analyzing test scenarios, visually validating applications, and adapting to changes—all without manual intervention.
With AI Validation, you can:
- Simplify Testing with Plain Language: Enable your team to contribute to testing with simple, plain-language scripts—eliminating complex scripting.
- Comprehensive Validations for Better Coverage: Validate functional, visual, and contextual elements to ensure improved coverage across all application layers.
- Reduce Maintenance, Focus on Strategy: Automate script creation and updates to eliminate repetitive tasks and enable your team to prioritize high-value strategic initiatives.
- Maximize Testing ROI: Increase efficiency, reduce manual effort, and deliver tangible value with advanced AI-driven solutions that optimize testing processes.
Perfecto enables enterprise teams to automate real-world interruption scenarios across thousands of real devices and OS versions—eliminating manual effort and accelerating test coverage.
Benefits of interruption testing with Perfecto’s AI-powered platform:
AI-powered test validation detects UI/UX disruptions automatically.
Simulate interruptions across global networks with real-user data.
Reduce manual testing while increasing release velocity.
Related Viewing: Simplify, Scale & Succeed: Perfecto AI Validation In Action
Bottom Line
Interruption testing is an essential step in ensuring your mobile app offers a seamless user experience—regardless of external interruptions. From safeguarding data integrity to enhancing user retention, well-executed interruption testing ensures your app is not only functional but also reliable.
Streamline your interruption testing process to save time and achieve higher accuracy with Perfecto. When you test with Perfecto, you will experience:
- AI-powered testing tools and capabilities.
- Unified testing for web and mobile apps.
- Advanced automation.
- Full toolchain integration.
- All results in one place.
- Shift left testing.
- And more!
Eliminate costly app failures and ensure seamless enterprise mobile performance with Perfecto’s AI-powered testing platform. Start your free 14-day trial today and experience enterprise-grade automation at scale.