To meet Waldo, a new product designed to make mobile testing faster and easier. With the New York-based startup, you can record tests in your browser by interacting with your app as usual. Every time you compile a new build, Waldo runs the same tests that you previously recorded for multiple software and hardware models to see if everything is working properly.
If you are an app developer, you currently have two options. You can keep a bunch of smartphones and run your current build on these devices to see if something is wrong, but it takes a lot of time. You can also develop test scripts that validate the core functions of your app. However, this requires additional development and causes a whole new headache when you need to update your scripts.
“It’s always a little strange that we can have incredible experiences with UX, but that the way we test these apps is out of date,” said co-founder and CEO Amine Bellakrid.
Waldo wants to lower the entry barrier and enables smaller mobile development teams to use automated function and UI tests. It’s part of a larger trend for startups without code – no technical knowledge required.
The company raised a $ 6.5 million round, led by First Round Capital (with Josh Kopelman), in which the existing investor Matrix Partners and Business Angels also participated.
Creating tests on Waldo is pretty easy. The product runs your app directly (.app / .ipa / .apk). This means that you don’t have to create a special version of your app to use the platform.
After uploading your app, your app will run in your browser window. Waldo records every screen and every action you take. For example, you can record the registration flow or a feature that allows you to upload content.
Credit: Waldo
When you have finished recording your tests, Waldo will keep them for future versions. Every time you have a new version of your mobile app, Waldo runs the same tests for that new version. In addition, Waldo can run these tests on other devices with different screen sizes, older versions of mobile operating systems and in different languages.
If a test fails, users are notified and can search the rerun of the test. You can see exactly what went wrong to help you identify the problematic step.
The idea is that you set up Waldo once and run it in the background. It can be integrated into common CI tools (Continuous Integration) such as Fastlane, Bitrise and CircleCI. You can receive notifications in Slack or view the status of your test results directly in GitHub.
“We have customers who run 500 tests simultaneously a week, or we have customers who run 10-15 tests several times a day,” said Bellakrid.
Waldo is launching a free plan to kick the tires today, and you can then pay a subscription to continue testing. Some companies such as Alltrails, Jumprope, KeepSafe and Elevate are already using Waldo. Waldo currently only works with iOS apps, but the team is already working on adding Android support in the future.
Credit: Waldo