Applause Reviews and Ratings

Name: Applause
Rating: 9.7 (19 reviews)

Rating: 9.7 out of 10

Score

9.7 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Applause are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Wide range of devices and OS versions covered: Many users have found that the in-the-wild testing provided by Applause is essential as it allows for a wide range of devices and operating system versions to be covered. This type of testing provides better coverage of the product, as different minds approach workflows differently.

Helpful test lead support: Users appreciate the care provided by the test lead at Applause, as they are helpful in bug triage and transferring bugs to internal systems. This support saves time and improves efficiency.

Excellent platform, device, and OS coverage: The excellent platform, device, and operating system coverage provided by Applause eliminate the need for purchasing a large number of devices for in-house testing. This not only saves money but also provides a better return on investment.

Reviews

12 Reviews

Applause helps us better meet our users' needs

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

January 5, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The mobile app test group uses it to test our apps across many different mobile phone models in many different languages and this gives us the confidence we need to launch quality global apps. I specifically use the Mobile Beta Management tools for pre-launch app development in order to get user feedback.

Pros

Applause is great for testing our iPhone/Android app across many different mobile phone models including different versions of the operating systems and helps us find those obscure bugs and eliminate them before launch.
Applause is great for testing our iPhone/Android app across many different languages and user groups from around the world and helps us find those obscure language bugs such as cropped text or poor translations and eliminate them before launch.
The Mobile Beta Management tools for pre-launch app development are particularly excellent in order to get user feedback. It allows the user to shake the phone and add a comment about what they like or do not like or to report a bug. The platform allows me and the developers to see the screen where this occurs as well as what was happening in the SW code leading up to the incident. It also allows for surveys to get specific feedback with statistics.

Cons

In using MBM (Mobile Beta Management), it would be better to have the surveys be based on completion of a specific task instead of time or number of app access. This might be a little more complex to set up, but would be well worth it.
A "stakeholder management" view would be nice to allow those not normally using the tool to get a quick status of testing.
A "stakeholder management" view for MBM would be nice to allow those not normally using the tool to get a quick status of progress and user feedback.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have a global mobile app with many countries, phones and languages, using the extensive Applause tester network is a must.

Also, if you want to do pre-launch app research without the restrictions of the appstores (only need the email of users who you want to try the product and no time limit for using the build), then Applause MBM is great!

Verified User

Program Manager in Product Management (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

A solution to mobile diversity and fragmentation

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

October 29, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Launching a mobile app in today's landscape presents a challenging problem: There are so many platforms, devices, and OS permutations that running these comprehensively in-house is an exhaustive and expensive approach. Applause solves this testing problem with their In-The-Wild service; by having a large managed resource of global testers that can effectively simulate real-world testing. It's as close to the real-world happy path as you can get.

Applause helps us launch our mobile apps quickly and frequently by augmenting classic testing approaches with real-world testing. Risk of a failed launch is greatly reduced because we have the happy path coverage locked down on each and every release.

Pros

Provides excellent platform, device, and OS coverage across the board. We don't have to worry about purchasing a barrage of devices for in-house testing. It's expensive and doesn't provide a good return for the money.
Your Project Manager actively manages your project. They are available almost 100% of the time during business hours to ensure your test needs and concerns are being handled.
Applause's test management software is rapidly advancing. It's fairly feature packed and provides good visibility into what's going on with your testing.

Cons

Though Applause effectively manages their testers, there can be a gap at times between lining up the testers and getting the results you want. It's a fine balance between fresh eyes gleaning new or glossed over bugs but running the risk of being product ignorant vs. returning testers generating more in-depth issues and risking test exhaustion and jaded perspectives.
Applause's Test Management software really needs backward integration with Jira. Currently they support forward integration, but if you're managing your issues internally, all that information (state, comments, etc.) cannot be conveyed back to Applause.

Likelihood to Recommend

Tester skill and experience is varied so it's important for the project manager to properly understand your requirements. The better they can build a team to suit your needs, the better your results will be. This will require a number of test cycles and fine tuning to get it right. It also fares better with consumer applications which are designed for the "common" user. For example, if you have a niche product designed for businesses, this type of testing may not be a good fit.

Daniel Kwok

Project Manager in Product Management at airG Inc. (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Love for the Applause, Applause

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

September 25, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Applause is used by the engineering and product teams to aid us in testing new products and new versions of existing products. They are a great supplement to our own internal QA team, which would not be able to conduct all the testing required just on our own.

Pros

Fast ramp-up - minutes after activating a test cycle I will see testers jumping in, starting discussions in chat, and logging defects found.
Able to test on every device we've ever asked for.
Expertise in areas like scripting and test automation, accessibility, and more.
Good integration with our JIRA defect tracking system.
A great test team lead assigned to a test cycle to vet and approve bugs entered by test team members.
Videos attached to defect reports when screenshots don't cut it.

Cons

Defect reports can at times be confusing or not quite up to the standards we have internally but video attachments almost always clear up any confusion.
At times I'll find a limitation with the platform but so far I've always found a workaround, and they are making continual improvements to the platform.

Likelihood to Recommend

There is a process to get test cycles set up and activated, so I would not advise it for a very short test. For longer test cycles it makes more sense, and it becomes quicker to set up test cycles over time. Tools like the ability to clone an earlier test cycle really help too.

Justin McSweeney

Sr. Development & QA Manager in Engineering at EverFi (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Applauding Applause

Rating: 8 out of 10

September 22, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Applause to help with our functional testing on a variety of web applications we were developing and updating. We had a large initiative which resulted in many deliverables all arriving at nearly the same time and each with very short turnaround periods. We looked at using Applause to supplement our internal testing efforts by having them provide the initial wide spread high level review of the applications to flush out the most significant/obvious issues. This allowed our internal QA team more flexibility for the in-depth review for which more detailed product/business knowledge was required.

Pros

They are able to spin up skilled QA resources quickly and effectively.
They provide an elegant, intuitive interface to interact with testers and the defect reports.

Cons

The main disconnect we encountered had to do with our development process and types of applications. The provided testers were great for the initial functional pass and for regression validation. But for in-depth analysis of features in subsequent deliverables, we passed a point of diminishing returns due to general stability and lack of time for the testers to discover the underlying nuances and complexities of the applications.
Even with lengthier cycles, testers were not easily motivated to dig deeply beyond the high level stability to investigate the depths of the programs. This could be helped on our company's part by creating more detailed requirements and test cases but the "out of the box" model from Applause doesn't seem to have good "in-depth" review beyond the top level exploratory.

Likelihood to Recommend

I am very intrigued by their mobile application testing model. This seems to be a great way to gather better feedback from the variety of hardware and software options. I also hear good things about their teams that write automation and/or manual test cases.

Key things for a company to consider as you engage Applause would be to make sure you have clear direction and understanding of what you hope to accomplish. You can just set the Applause team loose at the product and you'll get some defect reports. But you'll have much better results if you can provide good information and instructions to the team.

You should also plan on having a person dedicate some time (exact amount will vary by project) to the Applause project in terms of answering questions at the start of and during the test cycle as well as time to review, rate and comment on the submitted tickets at the end of the project.

Verified User

Manager in Quality Assurance (501-1000 employees)

Vetted Review

Applause - way to save time on regression testing

Rating: 9 out of 10

September 22, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Applause in the quality engineering department for functional in-the-wild testing and localization testing. We started utilizing the service back in 2011 and the relationship evolved during time. Currently we have couple of test leads handling everything within the Applause platform, the testers and bug triage that come from the crowd source testing. The test leads also transfer valid tickets to our internal bug tracking system, which makes the collaboration between our companies seamless. Applause is utilized for multiple, mostly mobile, apps testing.

Pros

In-the-wild testing - it cannot be done internally. It's impossible to cover the wide matrix of devices and OS versions.
Exploratory testing - more eyes see more. Every mind is unique and thinks of a workflow differently - provides better coverage of the product.
Care provided by test lead is essential - they help a lot with initial bug triage and bug transfer to our internal systems.
Retest of found tickets once they are fixed - saves time!
Applause people make a good effort to create a relationship, it's not just business.

Cons

The service is quite expensive.
The first year of using the service is about finding the right balance. It can initially be more time consuming then the previous model without Applause service.
The model motivates the testers to not go very deep during testing - they are paid by bugs found. Means there are cases when they go for only the low hanging fruit.

Likelihood to Recommend

The key value of Applause lays in exploratory testing and in-the-wild testing. Besides these, it's impossible to cover all combinations of devices and OS versions internally. That's where Applause comes in really handy! Also localization testing is really easy since native speakers can be brought in. However - for more complex applications, training is necessary and building the test community as well.

MŠ

Martin Štefan

SW Test Engineer Senior in Quality Assurance at Concur (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

Applause crowdsource testing

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

September 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Applause addresses our need as small company to ramp up our QA resources in a more cost efficient manner than having an entire QA team in house.

Pros

Great interface for reporting bugs and interacting with testers. The platform integrates with JIRA so issues can be pushed directly to our project.
Project manager was very helpful and responsive. Once I sent him all the scope details, he was very quick about getting a test cycle up and running, even at 6pm on a Friday.

Cons

I felt like I still spent a lot of time validating bugs that were reported by testers. I understand that testers are paid based on the number and importance of bugs they find, so superfluous bugs were reported fairly often.
Backwards integration with JIRA would be helpful, so the bugs in the Applause platform are always in sync with the bug statuses in JIRA.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think Applause is great if you want to get a large number of eyes looking at your product and testing on many different devices/browsers/OS. Where it falls a bit short, like any crowdsourced QA resource, is on in depth testing since testers obviously do not have as deep an understanding of the product and an in-house QA tester would have.

Verified User

Team Lead in Quality Assurance (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

Excellent service and customer portal!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

September 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our Information Technology Department uses Applause to test our mobile application. Applause provides usability testing to ensure our application is released without issues.

Pros

Excellent customer service
Easy-to-use customer portal
Fast, thorough results that can easily be obtained and reported on from our end

Cons

Repeated issues (duplicates) reported
Some areas of their admin portal are tricky or confusing

Likelihood to Recommend

How often will you need to be in contact with us during our collaboration? What communication channel/method works best?

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

Great Service.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

September 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I like that Applause can help me test my apps using multiple devices and increase the quality of my apps; usually it saves me a lot of time and money; the results are really great, and you can choose the people and select exactly on what devices you would like to run your tests.

We use it in our company as Quality Assurance. We have a team of Android\IOS developers and basically not so many QA's and using the site we are able to run our tests, receive and fix bugs and much more even with no QA people.

Pros

Providing help and support for their customers.

Cons

I think that they can improve their UI and response times.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think they are very good and I did not find any issue with that.

Verified User

Administrator in Engineering (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

Applause for Applause

Rating: 10 out of 10

September 21, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Applause provides an efficient model of testing that will allow a startup access to thousands of professional testers. A company can directly use a team of testers from Applause as opposed to hiring a whole QA team of full-time employees. This can significantly reduce the overall cost of development by using already established QA experts from Applause.

Pros

Applause was able to accomplish what our internal test team could not. We had an international issue that was occurring with customers in Colombia that we could not reproduce or simulate through a VPN. Calling in Applause, they were able to quickly find testers in that country with the specific cell phone carrier that we needed. The testers there quickly replicated the problem and from there we were soon able to create a fix.
Finding testers through the Applause ecosystem in International areas and throughout a variety of demographics allows for us to more effectively simulate real world usage as we load test against our applications.
Applause was able to find many more authentic localization issues that a third party localization company missed. Having real-world testers from Applause that really understand the language from a native speaker perspective, helped us to find many additional issues after our initial localization builds were handed off.

Cons

Some testers are not well versed in the platform. This is the exception.

Likelihood to Recommend

Applause has helped improve the overall quality of our software applications.

Todd Miller

Project Manager in Test in Information Technology at Boeing (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

The Amazing Applause!

Rating: 10 out of 10

September 19, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Applause is used by our company to submit our product and have it tested by the professional testers at Applause. It is used by our QA Department and will address all the bugs in our product before it releases. After feedback is received from the testers our company goes through and carefully inspects the issues before proceeding.

Pros

They are always quick to answer your questions and are helpful whenever you need something.
They have great testers that follow the guidelines and make it easier for clients to manage their issues.
They will always keep in contact and ask for your feedback to make their services even better!

Cons

One feature that I can see so far that needs to be improved is the way that the video submissions are handled. Because every time you try to open up a video on a bug submission you either need to download a big file or sometimes it does not open up.

Likelihood to Recommend

They have great testing service and professional well experienced testers!

David Hambardzumyan

Director of Quality Assurance in Quality Assurance at ROK Mobile (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

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Applauding Applause

Rating: 8 out of 10

September 22, 2015

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

They are able to spin up skilled QA resources quickly and effectively.
They provide an elegant, intuitive interface to interact with testers and the defect reports.

Cons

The main disconnect we encountered had to do with our development process and types of applications. The provided testers were great for the initial functional pass and for regression validation. But for in-depth analysis of features in subsequent deliverables, we passed a point of diminishing returns due to general stability and lack of time for the testers to discover the underlying nuances and complexities of the applications.
Even with lengthier cycles, testers were not easily motivated to dig deeply beyond the high level stability to investigate the depths of the programs. This could be helped on our company's part by creating more detailed requirements and test cases but the "out of the box" model from Applause doesn't seem to have good "in-depth" review beyond the top level exploratory.

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Manager in Quality Assurance (501-1000 employees)

Vetted Review