Power to Move: An Ultimate Guide to Test GPS Apps

GPS trackers have remained an inevitable part of thousands of applications for years. What is more, the number of apps that contain a GPS tracking module continues to grow. But how do tracking devices work? What are the main challenges most professional testers usually face during the QA processes of these digital solutions? Ubertesters is ready to provide you with the most relevant information about GPS tracking technologies and testing. 

GPS Tracking Applications: Top Facts

According to recent statistics, the market for GPS tracking devices will continue to grow in the upcoming future. Most experts believe that the industry will reach up to $4.92 billion by 2028. 

Moreover, the technology will likely become even more precise and top-notch, offering an opportunity to establish a location of a particular object or person with brilliant precision. The solution will still be used in various industries and devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, vehicles, as well as agricultural and mining equipment. 

Another reason for such a whopping demand for professional GPS trackers is a rapidly growing IoT industry and the rise in using digital maps for both private and commercial purposes. 

Geolocation App Use Cases 

• Delivery tracking – GPS trackers can solve countless logistics issues, reduce transportation costs, and allow tracking of parcels and cargo. 
• Employee tracking apps – these trackers are used to see the exact location of each employee, websites they’ve visited, and places they’re headed while on the clock.
• Manufacturing management – many IoT solutions with embedded GPS trackers are currently used in manufacturing. 
• Physical activity tracking – trackers are ready to help analyze the level of physical activities for fitness and sports enthusiasts. 
• Rental services – most cars, bikes, electric scooters, and other vehicles for rent use built-in GPS trackers.  
• Pet tech – using a long distance tracker might help you find your four-legged friend if it tends to run away.
• Geofence applications – if you don’t want a particular object to get moved from a chosen area, it’s easy to set up geofence protection based on GPS and get notifications if the situation takes place. 

GPS Tracking Testing Flow

Any GPS tracking device app is a complex solution that requires precise and advanced testing. So, what steps should a common testing flow include? 

Finding Address

This is a basic function of any modern geo tracking app. It is crucial to make sure that the built-in GPS system can find the needed address in a correct and accurate way. This is about checking the address at all levels, including the country, city, and street. The more exact the solution is, the more trust it will likely gain from the customers. 

The truth is that most modern QA solutions can’t help you test this type of digital product in real-life conditions. Fortunately, crowdtesting services might provide you with the one and only opportunity to get your app tested on as many devices and locations as needed. And yes, testers can actually drive their car, or use other means, to test your app ‘in-the-wild’.  

You can specify the countries and locations for your application, as well as devices, operating systems, and other additional parameters to be tested in. QA professionals will help you test your app exactly in these environments in real life. 

Ease Of Use 

Not only should any GPS tracker provide up-to-date and clockwork information about the location, but also it should be understandable for most customers. The fact is that smooth and user-friendly design is a must for any successful digital product. The digital tracking system is not an exception to this rule. 

It is important to test your application with QA experts who have a deep understanding of the usability principles and know your industry from the inside. Ubertesters has impressive experience in testing GPS apps in various fields, so you can entrust the entire quality assurance process to our testers. 

Verbal Instructions

Most applications with built-in trackers can boast of having a feature of verbal instructions. The reason is that thousands of customers prefer giving verbal instructions to their tracking apps rather than typing the needed information. 

Consequently, it is necessary to make sure the verbal instructions are working in a flawless way. However, there is one challenge here. People might have different accents, voice peculiarities, speed of speech, and tone. Will your GPS tracking solution recognize all these voices? The most effective way to test this feature is to use crowdtesting services, where real testers, with a variety of spoken languages and accents, will check your app with human, not robotic voices.
Moreover, since these are expert QAs, we can provide them with specific test cases to allow you to test different scenarios and ask the testers to use a variation of voice commands. This allows you to get a true picture of the effectiveness of the verbal instruction. 

Heavy Battery Usage

Many applications dry out the device battery too fast. As a result, the users delete these apps giving them no chance of further usage. It is necessary to make sure a GPS tracking app doesn’t consume too much device power, even in the case, it is actively used. Testing the battery usage and consumption level is a must as part of any effective testing process.  

Speed Of Map Refresh 

There is nothing new that app users don’t like to wait until an app or particular type of data successfully refreshes. This is surely true for map refresh in all GPS tracking products. Consequently, make sure the maps can be updated within the shortest terms. Moreover, double-check whether the other apps and device settings impact your application. 

Fitness Apps Uniqueness 

As a rule, fitness and sports applications include not only a GPS tracker but also a bunch of useful functions, including the functionality for organizing daily routes, planning various activities, and tracking the number of steps along with burned calories. It is crucial to test all the functions of any fitness and sports app to make sure it has top-notch performance. 

How to Test a GPS Tracker? 

• Usability Testing. Make sure the application correctly responds to various actions of the users. All the app’s functions and extra options should perform as expected. 
• Location Testing. This testing is about checking the app’s performance in different locations and includes testing geofencing and location-specific notifications functions. 
• Functional Testing. Double-check whether the digital product meets the software requirements. 
• Localization testing. Verify that when adapting the product to a certain language and country, it will still respond in the same perfect manner. 
• User Experience Testing. QA professionals complete various test cases and user journeys, as well as check software navigation.
• Testing On Real Devices. GPS tracking apps should be tested in real-life conditions on multiple types of real devices. 

How Can Ubertesters Benefit GPS Tracking Apps Testing?

Any digital product should be tested with its unique features and specific requirements in mind. Consequently, it is better to choose a service that has experience in testing your type of application. 

Location-based apps, including sports and fitness digital products, require testing in real environments. Only crowdtesting services can offer to test your application with the help of professionals who are ready to use their smartphones, smartwatches, and other devices for QA purposes. Moreover, these experts can also use their cars to test GPS tracking apps, as well as perform sports activities to test all functions of your application in a complex way. 

Another common challenge of device fragmentation can also be solved by crowdtesting services. The fact is that each QA expert uses a different type of GPS receiver and has different accuracy. Furthermore, crowdtesting allows checking whether a GPS tracker works seamlessly in different geographies. Ubertesters can test your application in over 120 countries, so it becomes possible to get your digital product checked on a global scale. 

Recommended Tools For Testing GPS Tracking Apps

Not only Ubertesters is ready to help you benefit from using the power of the crowd but we have the most up-to-date tools to ensure a complete and comprehensive test cycle. These are specially designed utilities that test the GPS signal (SNR) bar chart (showing the signal strength, as well as the accuracy and status of the GPS), the current speed while testing, the accuracy of the current time read from the GPS and the local time in the current timezone, and many more.

As for the GPS tracking apps, Ubertesters has a proven record of testing applications with GPS tracking modules. Among our happy clients are:

• Duel – a solid technological vocation that offers original solutions for intelligent and safe mobility.
• RockMyWorld – a company that offers a modern music and activity tracking app developed specifically for runners.

We are happy to have hundreds of satisfied customers. Want to discover even more about our advantages? Contact us sales@ubertesters.com for more information.