The Challenges of Visual Testing [With Solutions] [2026]

Visual Testing Challenges

In this section, we will discover the visual testing challenges specific to mobile applications and web applications, along with the solutions.

Visual Testing Challenges with Mobile Applications [With Solutions]

The number of mobile users is increasing daily; every individual uses mobiles, and having a consistent look and feel of any application viewed by users on any device is challenging. This section will discuss visual testing challenges with mobile applications and their solutions. You can learn more about it through this blog on visual testing for mobile apps.

Challenge 1: Device Fragmentation

Ensuring the application UI is rendered across various mobile devices (iOS and Android) with multiple screen sizes and resolutions.

Real-time Scenario: Consider testing an e-commerce app on an iPhone 12 and a Samsung Galaxy S21 simultaneously to ensure the product’s images and details are consistently displayed and well-organized on different screen sizes and resolutions.

Solution: For simultaneously testing an e-commerce app on an iPhone 12 and a Samsung Galaxy S21, it is essential to utilize automated visual testing tools. These efficient tools can replicate numerous devices, precisely mimicking their unique screen sizes and resolutions. By using this approach, we can ensure thorough testing and code coverage, verifying that all product images and information are uniformly displayed and well-organized on various devices.

Through this, we enhance the application’s reliability and ultimately improve the user experience. Many other platforms allow you to perform visual testing to verify the consistency of your application. One such platform is TestMu AI. It is an AI-native test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated visual tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.

For automated visual testing, TestMu AI offers Smart UI to run visual tests across desktop and mobile environments, providing several advanced features, including a smart crop tool specifically for mobile app testing, the capability to compare PDF files, a command-line interface for conducting visual regression testing, and the option to perform visual tests on a real device cloud. It also includes DOM comparisons, smart baseline branching for efficient version control, and test analytics that provide actionable insights, among other functionalities.

This platform also facilitates mobile app testing by offering access to its mobile testing lab, which allows you to address device fragmentation comprehensively by providing real device testing, parallel testing, and smooth integration with CI/CD, ensuring consistent user experiences.

Challenge 2: Search Functionality Design Inconsistency Between iOS and Android

Creating smooth and visually appealing search functionality is a unique challenge when developing mobile applications for both iOS and Android platforms. The design guidelines and expectations of users for search elements differ between these operating systems, which leads to potential inconsistencies in user experience.

Real-time Scenario: Consider an e-commerce app with a search bar at the top of the screen. iOS typically features a search bar with rounded corners, while Android has a more rectangular design. The challenge is to ensure that the search bar aligns with the design expectations of each platform, providing a smooth and familiar experience for users.

Solution: Develop visual tests focusing on the search bar’s design elements, considering the shape, size, and placement differences that iOS and Android design guidelines recited. Use an automated visual testing tool to capture screenshots of the search functionality on both iOS and Android devices, comparing them against the platform-specific design standards. This approach guarantees that users on each platform encounter a visually consistent and platform-specific search experience.

Challenge 3: Touch Gestures and Interactions

Ensuring smooth visual responses to touch interactions.

Real-time Scenario: Testing a gaming app to ensure that the swipe gestures for in-game actions are visually responsive and work smoothly across various devices, maintaining a consistent gaming experience.

Solution: To handle touch simulation, you can leverage the automation capabilities of various automated visual testing tools available. You can follow a manual testing approach to ensure consistent touch interactions on various devices.

Below, we will look at implementing automated testing for touch simulation and manual testing for touch interaction on some common devices.

Automated Testing with Touch Simulation

The implementation of automated testing for touch simulation utilizes specialized tools to replicate the exact behavior on devices. This technique guarantees both efficiency and precision in verifying the mobile functionality, responsiveness, and overall user experience by automating touch-based gestures such as taps, swipes, and gestures.

• Choose an Automated Testing Tool
  First and foremost, select an automation testing tool that allows you to perform touch simulation. Some examples are Appium, Selenium with TouchActions, and platform-specific tools like XCUITest (iOS) or Espresso (Android).

If you want to learn how to perform mobile app testing using Appium, follow the video tutorial below and enhance your testing experience. You can also perform testing on other automation testing tools like XCUITest, Espresso, and more.

• Develop Automated Test Scripts
  Create automated test scripts that simulate various touch interactions, such as tapping, swiping, pinching, and scrolling. Make these scripts adaptable to handle different screen sizes and resolutions.
• Include Visual Validation Checks
  Integrate visual validation checks into your automated scripts for added assurance. This will capture any changes in the visual presentation of the application. Following these steps, you can effectively implement touch simulation in automation testing and ensure visually cohesive touch interactions for a seamless user experience.
• Parameterize for Device Variability
  Ensure your test scripts can handle device specifications, screen sizes, and resolution variations. This guarantees that your automated tests will function effectively on various devices.

Manual Testing on Representative Devices

Manual testing on representative devices is an interactive approach where testers use various devices to assess a software application’s functionality and user experience. This method helps identify any potential issues that may arise in real-world usage scenarios. Some scenarios are mentioned below.

• Key Representative Devices
  Choose representative devices with varying screen sizes, resolutions, and operating systems to ensure comprehensive coverage. Be sure to include devices that are popular among your target audience.
• Create Manual Test Scenarios
  Develop a set of manual test scenarios that heavily focus on touch interactions. Consider incorporating diverse gestures and interactions that users will likely engage in during real-life scenarios.
• Perform Visual Consistency Checks
  Conduct manual tests on all relevant devices and carefully examine touch interactions to ensure visual consistency. Confirm the uniformity of UI elements, responsiveness, and overall visual display.
• Documentation
  Once testing is complete, carefully record any observed inconsistencies or problems in the visual presentation. Include specific details about the device, the issue detected, and steps to replicate it.

One of the biggest challenges during manual testing is ensuring consistent and responsive visuals across different devices, particularly touch interactions. Identifying and recording any inconsistencies in UI elements and the overall visual presentation is critical.

Actively engaging in touch interactions during live sessions to validate visual consistency and responsiveness by performing manual testing can be challenging. Using real-time testing offered by the TestMu AI can be beneficial. This approach helps improve the efficiency of manual testing, ensuring visual integrity is maintained across diverse devices.

Watch the video tutorial for a detailed guide on performing real-time testing using the TestMu AI platform.

Subscribe to the TestMu AI YouTube Channel and get the latest tutorials on Selenium visual regression testing, Playwright visual regression testing, Appium visual testing, and more.

Challenge 4: Orientation Changes

Ensuring a seamless visual experience when the device orientation shifts.

Real-time Scenario: Social media apps effortlessly accommodate portrait and landscape orientations, flawlessly maintaining the legibility and proper alignment of all images and text.

Solution: Conduct thorough visual inspections to assess UI changes when adjusting orientation, utilizing emulators and physical devices to ensure visual consistency in multiple orientations.

Now that we have seen the real-time challenges faced during visual testing for mobile, let us discover some challenges faced during visual testing for web applications in the following section.

Visual Testing Challenges with Web Apps/Applications [With Solutions]

Testing web applications for visual elements presents a series of hurdles, including compatibility with different browsers, fine-tuning for responsive design, and handling dynamic content display. Achieving perfect user interfaces is the goal for developers; thus, it is crucial to overcome these challenges to ensure a flawless and balanced visual experience on various platforms. Some of the visual testing challenges on web applications are mentioned below.

Challenge 1: Responsive Design Across Viewports

Ensuring a smooth visual transition across diverse screen sizes.

Real-time Scenario: Ensuring that the online shopping site UI is perfect on desktop and mobile devices involves inspecting product grids to adjust well for an excellent and easy-to-use layout that customers need.

Solution: Adding responsive design principles and visual testing tools helps UI elements adapt smoothly to different screen sizes.

Challenge 2: Dynamic Content Loading

Content loaded dynamically may cause visual inconsistency.

Real-time Scenario: The team ensures a smooth and engaging reading experience when users explore the news website. Thorough tests are conducted on the dynamic loading of articles and images. The main objective is to fix any visual inconsistency or glitches, aiming for a smooth and visually appealing browsing experience in real time.

Solution: Integrating visual testing into the continuous integration pipelines and creating test scenarios that cover dynamic content loading. This approach helps ensure the early detection of visible defects during the development process.

Challenge 3: Browser Extensions and Plugins

Possible issues arise from third-party browser extensions that may affect visual elements.

Real-time Scenario: In the dynamic environment of an e-learning platform, it is critical to maintain the consistency and functionality of visual components. It includes scenarios where users have browser extensions installed, like ad blockers or screen readers.

Solution: To address this concern, the team systematically evaluates the effects of activating and deactivating commonly used browser extensions on visual displays. Following this assessment, clear guidelines are provided to users, assisting them in navigating any conflicts that may arise. The goal is to ensure users’ seamless and functional visual experience on the e-learning platform.

Challenge 4: Cross-Browser Compatibility

Different browsers can inconsistently interpret visual elements.

Real-time Scenario: In a web-based financial application’s testing phase, ensure that interactive charts and graphs are visually consistent and accurately displayed on all significant internet browsers. It includes thorough assessment using Chrome, Firefox, and Safari to guarantee a fluid and precise user experience.

Solution: Enhance your testing process by leveraging powerful tools like TestMu AI to automate visual tests across various browsers. It enables you to identify and address rendering inconsistencies by implementing CSS adjustments adapted to specific browsers.

Now that we are aware of the challenges faced along with their solutions, let us look into some best practices that we need to remember when performing visual testing.