Software application testers are always in search of new tools that can be helpful in their daily activities. One of them is a proxy server. With the proxy’s advantages and features, application testers can reduce the testing time and get more accurate results.
While you might have used them to access geo-blocked websites or surf the web anonymously, they can offer a lot more when it comes to application testing.
Why Use a Proxy Server for Application Testing
Most software testers use proxies when performing localization testing. While this may be the most common usage of proxies in application testing, it’s certainly not the only one. Before we explain all the ways a good proxy can help and speed up the software testing process, let’s give you a brief overview of proxies and application testing.
What Are Proxy Servers?
A proxy server or proxy is an intermediary server between your computer, smartphone, or any other endpoint device and the server you want to connect to. Since it has its own IP address, yours get to stay hidden from the servers or sites you’re visiting.
The best proxies are considered paid or premium proxies as they are private, making them extremely secure and reliable. But there are also free proxies that can come in handy in certain situations. Click here if you need one.
What Is Application Testing?
Application testing is included in the Software Application Development process that’s performed to ensure the application being developed functions properly. It helps testers identify defects or bugs in the application’s early stages of development when they are easier to fix.
The two main types of application testing are manual and automated testing. The most important benefits of software application testing are improving performance, reducing development costs, and preventing bugs.
Reasons to Use Proxies in Application Testing
Proxies help in executing tests in the application or software in a way that makes certain aspects of the testing process easier and faster while ensuring accurate results.
Here are a few good reasons why you should use a proxy in application testing:
- Supporting Localization Testing
If the localized content of an application or software is not displaying correctly, the app owner risks losing millions of potential customers, users, or sales every day. Basically, it’s how testers verify the app’s accuracy, behavior, and suitability for specific regions and locations. Hence the importance of localization testing.
Now the role of proxies in localization testing is to allow testers to see how the app works in each supported location as a real user from that location. All they have to do is choose a proxy or IP address from the required location and use it to connect to the app they are testing.
That way, they can test the app’s availability and performance in different locations, and be sure the results they get are accurate. This is especially useful when testing an app dependent on cloud storage.
- Limiting Testing to One app to Save Time
With a proxy, you can avoid wasting too much time on testing by preventing unnecessary delays. You can do this by configuring only the targeted application to use the proxy server and not the entire system.
This means that only the specific application will connect to a proxy in a location of your choice while the rest connect to the corresponding services.
- Allowing Parallel Testing
You can use one proxy for each application you open and rest assured they won’t interfere with each other. This way, you can run a series of tests and reduce the time for testing all applications.
- Allowing Bandwidth Throttling Testing
Most sites and apps today consume lots of data, so it’s important to simulate low bandwidth situations when testing them. A proxy server can help you adjust the bandwidth of the internet connection as needed. To test the speed of your proxy, you can use the best proxy tester for free.
Conclusion
A proxy can be a valuable asset to any professional software application tester. It helps them to perform certain tasks such as localization testing easily and quickly and get accurate results.
Other benefits of using a proxy for testing include reducing the time for testing by allowing parallel testing and limiting testing to one app.
