FAQs on Device Farm for Mobile App Testing
Find answers to some of the frequently asked questions.
1. What is a device farm?
A device farm is a testing environment created by adding a fleet of real devices to the cloud, ensuring remote accessibility to geographically distributed testing, QA, and DevOps teams. This eliminates the need to purchase multiple devices for every location and also shipping devices from one location to the other. A device farm can be used to test an app’s compatibility with different device parameters such as screen sizes, device-types, and versions of operating systems. Testers can run tests on multiple devices, located in multiple locations at the same time.
2. What are the benefits of a device farm?
With a device farm, you can test your apps on the same device-models that your prospects are using, debug errors quickly, use different devices for testing purposes at anytime, from anywhere, test apps on different browsers, run tests on real user conditions, reduce the time to run and complete tests, and reduce the time to market.
3. How do I set up a device farm?
The steps to set up a device farm may vary from one solution to another. However, some steps are common in most solutions. For example, IT admins need to first enroll devices into a device farm solution to create a device farm. Then they need to give access to the farm and its devices to specific teams. Teams should then use the login credentials to access the solution’s console, where they can see the available devices and choose specific devices based on requirements. For more information about how to set up a device farm, contact 42Gears.
4. How does a device farm work?
With a device farm in place, you can make all your existing devices available for mobile app testing purposes on one platform. You can check which devices are available at a given point in time and include them in your ongoing software testing projects. Contributors can add real devices via USB Hub to the Office Device Rack or even use their local machines to enroll devices to AstroFarm's cloud infrastructure. Testers can simply log in to the console and access devices anytime, anywhere.
5. What is the best device farm solution to test your iOS and Android applications?
Picking the right device farm solution depends on specific requirements, but, in general, a good device farm solution should be compatible with different operating systems, secure, support various testing methodologies, and integrate with different testing frameworks such as Selenium, Appium, Cucumber, etc. Write to us at af_sales@42gears.com to learn more about 42Gears’ private device farm solution, AstroFarm.
6. How do I build my own mobile device farm?
When you sign up for AstroFarm, you’ll get access to a web console that serves as your AstroFarm hub. You and your teammates can remotely add any device to the hub through an easy enrollment process and set up a testing environment. All the enrolled devices in the mobile device farm are immediately available for use remotely by members of the QA and DevOps teams.
7. How many devices can I add to my device farm?
You can scale your device farm for mobile application testing to any size. AstroFarm has no upper limit to the number of devices you can enroll for app testing, but there is a per-device add-on fee that you’ll need to pay.
8. What devices can I integrate into my AstroFarm device farm?
AstroFarm currently supports any Android device running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and the latest versions of iOS/iPadOS devices. So you can create a diversified private device farm by including different types of mobile devices running different operating systems.
9. Why do I need AstroFarm? Where and how can I use it?
AstroFarm is all about convenience, efficiency, and optimal asset utilization. With AstroFarm, you can build your own private device farm, and leverage your own devices for mobile application testing, optimize device usage, maximize device ROI, and boost team productivity with device access across geographies. Sign up here and check out our documentation to get started.
10. Can I use AstroFarm for Automation and API testing?
Yes, AstroFarm supports both automation and API testing. Increase your test coverage with the Appium and Selenium automation frameworks. For a list of complete integrations, check here.
11. Does AstroFarm ensure data privacy?
AstroFarm complies with all global standards of security, including SOC Type 2, ISO 270001, and HIPAA. Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as usernames and passwords are encrypted and protected.
12. How long does it take for initial enrollment of devices?
Users can enroll Android and iOS/iPadOS on AstroFarm within minutes and set up their mobile app testing platform. Check out the documentation on how to enroll devices in AstroFarm.
13. Can AstroFarm reduce operation and maintenance costs?
By utilizing company-owned devices, businesses can reduce their investment costs by up to 68%. With AstroFarm, our customer Transact Technologies obtained 200% ROI just on direct equipment & transportation costs in their first few months of use. Read the case study here.
14. What is the difference between a Simulator and AstroFarm?
Simulators only allow you to test on virtual devices with predefined settings. But AstroFarm allows you to test on real devices under real-world conditions. View the execution of tests on multiple devices and track their performance in real time. This will assist you in accurately identifying errors and ensuring a well-developed product.
15. What are the different user roles supported by AstroFarm?
Two types of users can access the AstroFarm console.
Users - Users with admin privileges can manage other users, while those without them can only access devices assigned to the groups they are a part of.
Contributors - Contributors are users who can enroll devices in the AstroFarm console through the host machine. Users having admin privileges can add and manage Contributors.
Users - Users with admin privileges can manage other users, while those without them can only access devices assigned to the groups they are a part of.
Contributors - Contributors are users who can enroll devices in the AstroFarm console through the host machine. Users having admin privileges can add and manage Contributors.
16. What devices does AstroFarm support?
AstroFarm supports Android, Android WearOS, and iOS/iPadOS devices.
17. Is it possible to access the terminal on Android devices?
Yes, you can access the terminal and execute ADB shell commands on Android devices.