Compatibility testing

Compatibility testing verifies your software works smoothly across different environments—from browsers and operating systems to devices and network conditions. It ensures users get a consistent experience whether they're on Chrome or Safari, Windows or Mac, iPhone or Android. 

Let's look at a typical web app compatibility check: 

Users access your software from countless different setups, and they expect it to "just work." 

A banking app that glitches on Safari or a website that breaks on mobile can instantly damage user trust and send customers to competitors. Thorough compatibility testing helps you deliver a reliable experience to every user, regardless of their setup. 

The explosion of devices and platforms makes comprehensive testing very difficult— just think about the combinations of browsers, versions, devices, and operating systems out there. 

Most teams tackle this by prioritizing the most common configurations and using cloud testing services that provide access to different environments. You'll also need to stay on top of new browser versions and OS updates that could break your carefully tested features. 

Compatibility Testing ensures that an application’s core components - such as rendering, API interactions and JavaScript execution work consistently across different browsers (XB) and environments. It focuses on identifying browser-specific issues like CSS inconsistencies, unsupported JavaScript features, and differences in Web API behaviors.

To make XB Testing efficient & reliable, shift focus toward isolating core rendering and execution paths rather than verifying complete user journeys.

Cross-browser testing should not be about re-running the entire test suite across multiple browsers. Instead, it should focus on: 1) running high-risk journeys only where necessary in a primary browser 2) using visual and component-based testing; 3) prioritising business-critical browsers; 4) validating rendering and execution consistency using targeted cross-browser tests for compatibility validation. By refining you can reduce flakiness and speed up execution without unnecessary overhead.