Software Compatibility testing
Software, Technology

Software Compatibility testing: an in-depth guide

Compatibility refers to the capabilities to live or exist together. Compatibility testing contributes to being the kind of software testing, which is useful in checking whether the specific app can run on various operating systems, hardware, network environments, applications, and mobile phones.

What is compatibility testing?

Compatibility testing is regarded as the kind of mobile QA services, which assures application and system compatibility. It is developed with different objects, like hardware platforms, web browsers, users, to name a few. Such testing plays an integral role in finding the system’s performance under the specific environment, which includes the operating system, network, hardware, and different types of software.

This kind of testing involves testing the product or app developed with the prerequisite computing environment. Through this kind of testing, you can find whether the specific software and app have compatibility with the database, operating system, hardware, and different system software.

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Kinds of compatibility testing

There are different kinds of compatibility testing, which are enlisted below.

Operating Systems

Through this kind of testing, you can check whether the specific system has compatibility with various operating systems, such as Unix, Windows, Mac OS, to name a few.

Hardware

With the execution of this type of testing, you can check whether the application has compatibility with various hardware configurations.

Network

During this kind of testing, you can check the system performance evaluation in the specific network, with different parameters, like capacity, operating speed, and bandwidth. This kind of software testing involves checking the app in various networks with a variety of parameters.

Software

Through this type of testing, you can check whether the developed software has compatibility with different software. The MS Word app needs to have compatibility with different software, such as MS Excel, MS Outlook, VBA, to name a few.

Devices

This kind of compatibility testing involves checking the website compatibility with various browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer, to name a few.

Browsers

In this type of testing, you can check the website compatibility with various browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Firefox, to name a few.

Mobile

This kind of testing ensures that the software has compatibility with different mobile platforms, such as iOS, Android, to name a few.

The software version

In this kind of testing, you should ensure that the software app has compatibility with various software versions.

There are two different kinds of version checking in compatibility testing: forward compatibility testing and backward compatibility testing. Forward compatibility testing contributes to the process that involves the verification and validation of the developed software and hardware compatibility and behavior with the latest software and hardware versions.

It is a bit challenging to predict the compatibility testing, as the changes which should be made in the latest versions are still unknown. The backward compatibility testing contributes to being the technique, which involves verifying and validating the developed software and hardware’s compatibility and behavior with the latest software and hardware versions. It is possible to predict the backward compatibility testing, as the chances from the latest versions are familiar.

Tools to execute software compatibility testing

There are different tools, which are beneficial in the execution of the compatibility testing, which include the Virtual Desktops, BrowserStack. The virtual desktops compatibility testing is beneficial in checking whether the app can run on different operating systems as the virtual machines.

To execute such kind of testing, you can connect n Number of systems, thereby comparing the results.  Browser compatibility testing helps in checking whether the app can be executed in various browsers.

Advantages of software compatibility testing

Compatibility testing plays an integral role in decreasing future help desk costs. It offers the prerequisite customer support for different compatibility problems. During the execution of compatibility testing, software development is increased through the compatibility testing stage feedback. During the execution of the compatibility testing, different kinds of compatibility tests are executed on the app. It helps in accomplishing the user and business needs.

This kind of testing gets optimized for the prerequisite quality. It ensures improved customer satisfaction in the well-tested product. Besides this, it assures that the customers and users can enjoy a similar kind of experience during the use of the software, irrespective of the computing environment. It stands out of the ordinary in delivering positive business results through different recommendations and referrals. It plays an integral role in earning goodwill and reputation.

Steps to execute compatibility testing

In the primary stage of the compatibility testing, you require defining the set of different platforms and environments. The tester should have the prerequisite knowledge of the hardware, software and platforms, which help in gaining an understanding of whether the software is showcasing the expected app behavior under various kinds of configurations.

In this kind of testing, the environment should be set up to testing with various networks, devices, platforms. It is useful in checking if the app is running under various configurations perfectly. The latest step involves reporting the bugs, errors, and glitches, followed by fixing the detects. After this, it involves re-testing the application for confirming the defect fixing.

With the execution of this kind of testing, you can be ensured that the software app is working perfectly well in different aspects of networks, mobile devices, operating systems, hardware, database, and browsers. This kind of compatibility testing helps determine whether the overall system operating works with the prerequisite software. It ensures that the variances in the operating systems, resolution, and screen size do not corrupt the specific application.

Summary

Such kind of software testing assures that the software is working on various operating systems versions, various network environments, and various kins of software programs and computers. It assures that the user is executing the software on various kinds of user configurations without any glitches. You can be ensured that the software is working perfectly for various platforms.