Editor’s note: Frequent crashes quickly turn into uninstalls, so app stability must be built and tested before launch. Specializing in software testing for demanding industries, including healthcare, insurance and investment, ScienceSoft helps mobile apps remain stable across devices and network conditions.
It’s no surprise that app crashes can cause burnout of any app developer. Even the top apps can be victims of this monster. Add to the fact that the instability of the app makes unexpected: the growing number of uninstalls.
To avoid repeated app crashes, it is crucial that your app delivers consistent performance to users. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to help your app achieve stability. It all starts with discovering the causes of app crashes and the ways to avoid high crash rates.
Let’s explore in detail.
Monitor errors as they occur
Picture this: Your app users have uninstalled the app. The reason? According to them, “the app has bugs.” You recognize it and say,“I apologize.” But to retain users while guaranteeing a high user experience and keeping them hidden in your app, you need to go beyond just acknowledging the accidents and bugs.
Instead of apologizing, you should identify errors and fix them, so that there is no way for the user to think of a reason to install the app.
As you monitor IIS (Internet Information Server) performance, also look for possible errors. While you do, you may come across several. You can, however, have control over some of these. For example, if a user loses access to their Wi-Fi while the file transfer is in progress, you can inform them about this issue by building a communication channel.
However, if errors arise from unexpected app behavior, you need to use app monitoring tools to identify the behavior that leads to app crashes. Once identified, you can fix the errors.
Work on memory management
Lack of memory is one of the main causes of app crashes. That’s because not all users have high-end tablets and mobile phones. Therefore, you should come up with an app that serves its purpose without excluding memory management.
Curious to know how?
Consider these useful points:
- Within the app, identify the areas that take up the most data. Once identified, analyze whether such data structures are necessary to be added to the app. Based on the analysis, remove those that are not necessary.
- Organize the network requests while making sure they are small enough to not overload the device. If there is no way to save memory, practice priority. Do this by removing features that don’t add value to the app.
Improve user experience
Overall user experience is one of the most important factors that determine the fate of your app: whether it succeeds or not. Prompt response and immediate feedback play a critical role in the stability of your app.
The OS declares apps missing the UI thread as “unresponsive” – resulting in ANR crashes. To maintain high consistency in your app’s UI, move heavy processing tasks (for example, image loading, file system access, and network maintenance) to background threads. However, don’t overdo the switch. The key is to maintain a balance while ensuring a consistent UI experience.
Test compatibility with the app
Let’s face it: each of your target users can install your app on a different mobile device. If the app only offers some mobile device compatibility, this may affect the number of installations. This is not something you should ignore.
The best bet is to make sure your app is compatible with almost all devices. But let’s not forget that you can face limitations, because it is simply impossible to test all smartphones and tablets. Plus, some users also have devices that technically do not align well with all apps (due to slow operation, insufficient memory, broken screens, and other factors).
Comprehensive mobile app testing will ensure your app is compatible with a range of mobile devices and help you identify and fix bugs before you launch the app.
Check if the app remains functional in poor networks
Some mobile devices rely heavily on a strong internet connection. This also includes the use of news apps, games, and apps related to social media. To access additional services, users may often require a high-speed Internet connection. Otherwise, bad networks can lead to app instability and poor performance, causing app crashes.
Most developers test mobile apps on fast internet connections that are far from all users. If running later in slow networks, the app has a higher probability of facing a crash.
Testing apps on slow networks can reveal problem areas early, so the software doesn’t lose functionality when running on all types of networks.