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Mobile Operating Systems and does it matter for testing?

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Anu George

In our journey to learn mobile testing basics, we now know what type of applications are developed for the mobile device and what are the types of testing techniques along with a few other tips. All these things are like understanding the exterior of a vehicle and the features it offers. But to run that car, we need an engine too! The engine that runs these mobile applications is called an operating system and while the market is currently captured by two of those, every operating system counts. 

 

Android Operating System 

  • Developed By: Google 
  • Market Share: 72.48% 
  • Current Version: Android 11 
  • Source Model: Open-Source 
  • Extension: APK 
  • Kernel Type: Linux 

  

iOS Operating System

  • Developed By: Apple Inc. 
  • Market Share: 26.91% 
  • Current Version: 14.3 
  • Source Model: Closed 
  • Extension: IPA 
  • Kernel Type: Hybrid (XNU) 

 

Tizen Operating System

  • Developed By: Tizen 
  • Market Share: 0.23% 
  • Current Version: 6.0 
  • Source Model: Open-Source 
  • Extension: TPK 
  • Kernel Type: Monolithic (Linux) 

  

KaiOS 

  • Developed By: KaiOS Technologies 
  • Market Share: 0.13% 
  • Current Version: 2.5.3.1 
  • Source Model: Open-Source (Firefox OS project) 
  • Extension: None 
  • Kernel Type: Monolithic (Linux)  

 

The windows operating system for mobile devices has been discontinued now. The above stated operating system covers the majority of the devices in the market and hopefully, they are sufficient for the next five to ten years.

 

Does Operating System Matters as a Tester? 

A genuine question that might come to your mind at this point is, does the operating system matter for a tester? The short answer is “yes”. The knowledge of operating systems is extremely necessary for a tester as this knowledge will help you in successful testing. 

As a mobile tester, you should know the version history of the mobile operating system. This helps in calculating the target operating system share of your application. You should know what are the strengths of each operating system that we can take advantage of in the mobile application.

The same goes for the weaknesses. As a tester, you should know the difference in various operating systems to know how one thing can behave totally differently in two operating systems. Therefore, operating systems are extremely essential to become a complete tester.             

 

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