mobile apps do not
Most mobile apps do not fail in the big demo. They fail at 8:12am, on a spotty network, when the store opens.
If I had to give a PM a mobile app crash course, I would make them do these 5 tests before calling anything “ready”:
- Cold install to first value on 3G. Time it. If it is over 60 seconds, expect drop-off and tickets. - Kill and relaunch during checkout or form entry. If state is lost, you will leak revenue and trust in 48 hours. - Offline and retry behavior. One bad retry can create duplicate orders or double charges that take weeks to unwind. - Background interruptions: phone call, Face ID fail, OS update prompt. This is where “random” crashes hide. - Hotfix drill: can you actually ship a fix today. Apple App Store and Google Play compliance gates are getting tighter, and the worst moment to discover a blocked submission is during an incident.
It makes me wonder whether most teams test the app, but not the ability to recover when the app breaks.