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You can test an app's code until every unit test passes and still ship something nobody needs. That gap, between "it works" and "it helps," is where most app testing advice goes quiet. So I asked developers on Setapp how they actually test what they build. Here is how to test an app the right way, start to finish.
You test an app by combining three things:
Most app testing guides are written for QA teams, so they focus on one half of the problem: does the software behave correctly? However, validating the idea behind the app with real users is just as important. And you need to do this as soon as possible, even at the MVP stage, to avoid wasting time and money on developing an app that the market doesn't need.
Test type | What it checks | Who cares most |
Functional | Each feature does what it should: sign-in, search, payments, notifications | Everyone |
Performance | Speed and stability under load, weak networks, and background activity | Users on older hardware |
Compatibility | Behavior across OS versions, devices, and screen sizes | Cross-platform apps |
Security | Encryption, sessions, access controls, privacy compliance | Apps handling sensitive data |
Usability | Whether people can finish tasks without guessing | Every product |
Validation | Whether the app solves a real problem people will pay attention to | You, most of all |
Here are the most effective options for testing an iOS or Mac app. The last row is the one competitors leave out, and it is the one the developers surveyed talked about first. So that is where we will start.
The cheapest, fastest test is whether the app fixes a problem you have. Build for a need you feel, and you become tester number one before you write a single test case. This came up again and again in our survey.
Sindre Sorhus, the solo developer behind Supercharge, Dato, and Lungo, put his whole method in five words:
"Scratching my own itches and making macOS better."
Marcin Krzywonos of Apptorium (SideNotes, Workspaces, TeaCode) described the same starting point: increasing his own productivity and making computers better.
Zac Cohan built Soulver out of his own wish for a more elegant calculator for computers. When you are the user, every session you spend in the app is a test, and you notice friction long before a stranger would report it.
This is also a quality filter. As Sorhus noted about the current flood of new software, taste and judgment are the edge. Building from a real need keeps you honest in a way synthetic test plans cannot.
To user test an app, watch a real person try to complete a task in it without your help, and note every place they hesitate, tap the wrong thing, or ask a question. You are testing the experience, not the code. The goal is to find friction you have gone blind to.
You do not need a lab. Martin Höller's app In Your Face started as a weekend prototype he installed on one colleague's Mac, the coworker who was always late to meetings:
"Over the next weekend I've created the first simple prototype, installed it on his computer on Monday, and indeed he wasn't late anymore to our meetings. This is when I realized I've got something here."
One user, one real task, one clear result. That single install told Höller more than a survey of a hundred strangers would have. When you run your own user tests, keep them small and specific:
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Beta testing means giving a feature-complete, reasonably stable app to a group of real users who run it on their own devices and networks before public launch, then report bugs and reactions. It is the first time your app meets conditions you do not control, and it catches what controlled testing cannot.
A few practical guidelines that hold up across most launches:
The part developers underrate is the feedback channel itself. For Valerijs Boguckis, whose app TextSniper has been on Setapp for five years, the bottleneck was conversation, not bug counts:
"Currently, resolving a technical issue within a single comment is a challenge, and a more robust messaging thread would significantly improve our ability to help."
Good beta feedback is a back-and-forth. Reviews and emails from real users become the roadmap. TextSniper, Soulver, and In Your Face all credited user messages with shaping what they built next, which is exactly what a beta is for.
Testing produces a pile of requests and complaints. The skill is deciding which ones to act on. Carmen Huidobro, who has kept Archiver and Renamer alive for fifteen years, framed the discipline bluntly:
"Every feature you ship is a feature you commit to maintaining through every platform change for the rest of the product's life. The features you don't ship matter more than the ones you do, and the discipline to leave good ideas on the table is harder to develop than the discipline to build them."
Feedback can also redirect the whole product. The team behind ByDesign tested their way through several pivots before landing on the right one, then grew about 50% month over month for their first year once the direction was right. Testing is not only about catching bugs; it is about catching the wrong bet early.
Shipping is not the finish line. Operating systems change, hardware changes, and an app that passed every test last year can break on the next macOS release. The longest-lived apps treat testing as maintenance.
Soulver passed its 20th birthday; MindNode has been shipping for roughly 18 years; Renamer is on version 7. Markus Müller-Simhofer of MindNode described what keeps an app alive through that span:
"Great apps start with an unique idea, have a strong foundation they build on, and have a great user experience."
Each of those is something you can only verify by testing, over and over, as the ground shifts under the product. The work is unglamorous, as Huidobro put it: rework that does not earn applause, just continued existence. That is the real shape of app testing.
Run the technical checks, functional, performance, compatibility, and security, so the app works. Then run the human ones, user testing and beta testing, so you know it helps. The developers who shipped apps that lasted a decade or more did both, and they listened hardest to real users.
If you build an iOS or Mac app, you can fold distribution and feedback into one step. Setapp puts your app in front of subscribers who try new tools and leave honest reviews, with a direct channel to the team. Apply to become a Setapp developer to reach users who will actually tell you what to fix.
Combine functional testing (each feature works), real-device testing (it behaves across operating systems and screens), and real-user feedback through alpha and beta stages. Technical correctness and user validation are separate goals, and a launch-ready app needs both.
Around 100 to 300 is a common target. That range gives you a spread of devices, networks, and usage habits while keeping the volume of feedback manageable. Larger apps sometimes go higher, but more testers also means more noise to sort through.
Alpha testing happens in a controlled setting, usually with your own team checking that features work as designed. Beta testing puts a feature-complete app in the hands of real users on their own devices to see whether it solves their problem in everyday conditions.
Give one real person a single concrete task, then watch without helping. Note every hesitation, wrong tap, or question. Fix the biggest friction point, then repeat with someone new. Small, focused sessions reveal more than long questionnaires.
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