FAQ for and during testing on iOS and macOS

The beginner testers, who don’t have any experience in working with iOS and MacOS, are faced with scope of questions about the way of execution of one or another action. In this article we’ve gathered the most common ones and tried to answer them.

How to duplicate the iPad or iPhone screen to Mac or PC?

The screen may be duplicated with the help of Reflector. It’s a tool for cross platform graphics, which helps to display the iPad or iPhone screen to Mac or PC. Reflector broadcasts the iOS device screen content to the desktop. Analogic technology is used for Apple TV and setted up pretty easily. This function is especially useful to people who watch a lot of online content or play games on iOS which are more interesting to play on the big screen.

How to make a screenshot on the mobile device?

Following steps should be performed for devices without the «Home» button:

1. Press simultaneously the power button and the volume button, afterwards release both buttons.
2. The screenshot miniature will be displayed in the lower left corner. The miniature can be tapped to edit it with the help of the «Markup» tool.

Following steps should be performed for devices with the «Home» button:

1. Press simultaneously the power button and the Home button and release both buttons afterwards;
2. The miniature can be tapped to edit it with the help of the «Markup» tool.

Screenshots are placed in the «Photo» → «Albums» → «Screenshots» folder.

There is an function to record a screen video with the audio on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with iOS 11. To do it you must follow these steps:

1. Check that option is activated on the device. The user should move to the «Settings»  → «Control Point» → «Customize Controls» menu and tap the Plus sign near the «Screen recording» parameter.
2. Using the unblocked device open Control Point - swipe up for the devices with a physical button on the screen. Swipe down on the upper right screen corner for iPhone X or later models or iPad with iOS 12.
3. Tap the «Record» icon and wait until 3-second countdown to end.
4. To stop the record tap the red status bar in the upper part of the screen and tap the «Stop» button.
5. Screen record can be viewed in the «Photos» program.

How to activate Task Manager?

Task Manager itself is absent in the Apple environment, but there is its analogue. It’s «Force quitting programs» with the help of which programs and processes can be closed forcely.

The cmd+alt+esc buttons combination should be used to open the «Force quitting programs» window on MacOS.

The app closing method depends on device on the iOS devices:

1. For devices with a physical button - press quickly 2 times the «Home» button. For the devices without a physical home button - perform the swipe up on the lower edge to the center of the screen. 
2. Swipe the app which should be forcefully shut down.

How to clear cache on the mobile device?

The method that will be described below is the most usable because it allows to effectively  delete cache from the device. Saving the data is a peculiarity of the iPhone and iPad. For example, attachments from the messengers remain available. This method also can be used  to reduce the «Other» section size of the iPhone or iPad storage.

To perform the clearing procedure the PC (Windows or Mac) will be required and the Lightning cable.

You need to follow the steps below:

1. Turn off the «Find iPhone» function in the «Settings» menu. The user should enter the «Device name» section, choose the «iCloud» section, move to «Find iPhone» section. It’s required for restoring the data later from the backup.
2. Connect the device to the computer.
3. Choose the device in the iTunes.
4. Head over to the «Overview» section, create a password for backup and click «Create a backup now» button.
5. Wait for creating the backup.
6. Restore the device contents from the backup by clickinging the corresponding button and entering password.
7. Move to the «Settings» → «Main» → «iPhone storage» menu on the iPhone or iPad and pay attention to the cleared device cache.

How to discover the Safari version?

Follow the next steps:

1. Launch the browser.
2. Press the «Safari» button in the upper left app corner and choose the «About Safari» section.

The browser version is the same as the iOS version on the smartphones. To discover it, it’s required to open the device settings, choose «Main» → «About this device» menu item. Required value can be viewed in the «OS version» line.

How to change screen resolution in the MacOS?

To set up main monitor resolution the following steps should be performed:

1. Choose the Apple menu.
2. Head over to the «System settings» category.
3. Click the «Monitors» category.
4. Click  the «Monitor» button.
5. Choose the «Scaled» section.
6. Choose required from the suggested variants.

To set up the connected monitor resolution the following steps should be performed:

1. Connect the monitor, choose the «Apple» menu item.
2. Move to «System settings» category.
3. Click the «Monitors» category.
4. Click the «Monitor» button.
5. Holding the «Option» key, click on  the «Scaled» section for viewing other resolution variants for the second monitor.
6. Choose the scaled resolution variant for the second monitor.

What program to use to record a video on MacOS?

To display control elements which are needed for recording a video and screenshot capturing from the screen in MacOS Mojave or newer the Shift-Command (⌘)-5 keys should be pressed on the keyboard. The capture area can be chosen in the appeared window, afterwards click the «Record» button.

For completing the video record  click the «Stop to record» button in the menu bar or press the Command-Control-Escape keys.

If the OS isn’t updated to the Mojave version, the screen can be captured using the QuickTime Player.

How to use QuickTime Player? 

1. Launch the QuickTime Player in the «Programs» folder.
2. Choose the «File» → «New screen record» menu item. The screen recording window is opened.
3. Click  the «Record» button for record to start

Afterwards one of the further actions should be performed:

1. Click anywhere on the screen to record the whole screen. To record the screen area move the cursor for highlighting the required area and  click the «Start record» button inside this area.
2. To stop the record click the «Stop» button in the menu bar or the Command-Control-Esc key combination.

The program automatically will open the created video after stopping the recording. Now the video can be played, edited or shared.

If recording parameters are needed to be changed before the recording starts, the «Arrow» button can be clicked near the «Start» button.

For audio recording with the screen the appropriate microphone should be chosen. The volume slider is needed for volume regulation during the recording.

One more useful function is to display the black circle around the cursor during clicking. For its activation the «Show mouse clicking in the record» menu item should be chosen in advance.

How to get logs on MacOS?

It can be done with the help of the X-Code program. The following steps should be followed:

1. Connect the mobile device to the PC.
2. Launch the X-Code program.
3. Find the device in the list and open it.
4. Press the «Device logs» button and the data window will open.
5. Pay attention to the crash files.

Also it can be done using the Finder program:

1. Find the «Library» → «Logs» → «CrashReporter» → Device name.
2. Pay attention to the crash files.

How to install the app on iOS not from the Store?

The .ipa file is required, to install the test version of the app on the mobile device  It includes a unique ID of the mobile device (UDID).

Unique ID is needed for launching the test version of the app for certain mobile device. This way, this app might be installed on certain mobile device (or several certain mobile devices) as a test version.

Also to install  the  apps before launching at the store some of the beta-testing services are used (ex., TestFlight), through which application builds are distributed.

How to enquire  the device UDID?

Perform the following steps to enquire the Serial number/Identifier (UDID)

1. Launch the iTunes program.
2. Connect the device.
3. Choose the connected device in the «Devices» section.
4. Click the «Serial number» line in the «Overview» tab. Line will change to the «Identifier (UDID)» line.

The pieces of advices and instructions, gathered here, will help the beginner Apple device users to figure out how to use different functions that are needed during the testing process. Additionally about these and other functions you may learn in the 6 lecture of the «Software Testing Basics» course and also in the article based on the materials of this lecture.