Testing dating apps is not easy. And with Valentine’s day quickly approaching, you want to make sure that the testing process is as thorough as possible ✅ So what are the most important aspects to look for?
1️⃣ Downloading and installing
There are some dating apps that run directly in the browser, so if that’s the case for your project, just skip this part. However, if it’s a mobile app, like most popular dating apps, testing the download and install is an important part of the QA process. Some things to keep in mind are:
- Validate that the application is correctly displayed in the app store for all available platforms.
- If there are regional limitations, make sure that the users in the allowed areas can find it in the list.
- The download and installation work well on the expected devices and operating systems (using real devices is ideal, but consider emulators and simulators as well to cover more ground).
- Check how the app behaves when there are interruptions during the download or the installation (for example, incoming calls or messages, low battery warnings, notifications from other applications).
2️⃣ Registration
Registration is usually done through one of two ways:
- Using a personal email address and a password.
- Through a social media API.
Here are a few test cases to consider when testing the registration:
- Creating a new account with valid credentials.
- Validating all the registration steps and mandatory fields.
- Connecting with a social media account – check out Facebook’s extensive guide to testing this type of integration.
3️⃣ Uploading
An important feature of a dating application is the upload. Users will create their own profiles, where they can upload pictures and videos of themselves. This means that testing should include various file formats (jpeg, png, etc.) and sizes.
Apart from this, some dating apps offer the option to take a picture in real-time 🤳 This means you need to test the camera integrations. Don’t forget to check both front and back cameras when verifying that taking pictures works in either case.
4️⃣ Matching algorithm
This is the bread and butter of any dating app. A bad matching algorithm will surely make users run away and switch to a competitor. The match is usually done based on hobbies, favorite music, movies, books, and so on.
To make sure it works well, perform a matching criteria test. Also check what happens if a user updates their preferences – do the matches update too? And don’t ignore the test cases when the user rejects a match.
5️⃣ Private messaging
The next step after a match is done is the private chats. People can send messages to their matches. Common test cases you should include:
- Sending and receiving text messages.
- Messages containing file attachments – and any size limit.
- The user’s status (if the app offers the option to appear online or offline).
- Sending and receiving text messages while one of the accounts is offline.
- Using emojis.
6️⃣ Localization
Localization plays an important part in dating apps testing. First of all, matches and suggestions are done based on geography. This means that the users can enter their location manually, or even use the device’s location to update their profile.
If the application is available in multiple countries, then it should be available in multiple languages. When testing different languages, it’s not enough to check that the UI is displayed in the correct language.
Verify that the time and date formats, measurements, phone formats, etc. are in the selected culture. Keep an eye out for text alignment as well (not all languages are left-to-right) and that special characters are allowed.
Conclusions
Valentine’s day or not, if you have or work for a dating app, you need to ensure that it works as expected.
Of course, you should never ignore the non-functional aspects of testing – performance, usability & security. But if you want to automate the functional part of the testing process, why not look into an easy-to-use, complete tool like TestProject? I promise it will be love at first sight!
Have a great Valentine’s day! 💘