The idea behind Social Security was designed in 19th century Europe. Workers would give a small portion of their wages to the government. Once they reached 65 they could stop working, and the government would provide them with a paycheck for the rest of their lives.
It was all a scam.
In 1880 the life expectancy of someone who lived to 16, or working age, was 60 years old. Less than 5% of the population lived past 65. A massive part portion of the population contributed for decades and never saw a cent. Nations became enormously rich from poor health care.
Technology has changed all of that. Today the age we are expected to live has doubled. Once the applications being developed in the field of medicine reaches their potential, an additional decade will be added to our lives.
Examples of these medical apps range from fitness wearables which track our every step, to health insurance companies who collect this information and offer reduced premiums to anybody who maintains a certain number of steps each day.
Smart diabetes monitors connect directly to the body, measuring glucose levels and alerting someone when they get too high. An alert on a smartphone or tablet will ask permission from the user and the monitor will release the exact amount of glucose into the recipient’s body. In some cases the process is automated where doses are administered without any action required.
Even pillboxes are becoming smart. Sensors attached to pill cases now communicate with phones, tablets, and related mobile devices to determine if someone has taken their medicine on time. If they forget, an alert will go out to a family member, doctor, or caretaker. This newest addition to the "Internet of Things" even alerts the local pharmacy when the final pill in the box has been taken.
But is this all safe
As we transfer control of our own physical survival to machines, the need arises to make sure these machines are in full working. Quality assurance literally becomes a matter of life and death.
Enter mobile testing.
“Mobile testing, and the tools we use to accomplish it, makes sure that your mobile applications are working all of the time, in any place on earth. As apps are always offering more features, it is vital that everything is repeatedly tested to make sure everything remains in full working order.” Says Tal Barmeir, CEO of Experitest.
Mobility is a bigger process than web, or even desktop applications. You have to test over 4 major operating systems. You have to test for thousands of mobile devices of varying sizes, and even shapes. You also have to test the speed of the application for the 400 different local networks a mobile device can operate on.
The biggest challenges are function and regression testing. Every function of a health app, from authenticating the login to taking accurate measurements of what is going on inside your body must be tested thoroughly. If a smart pillbox registers a dose being taken when in fact it wasn’t, or if a mobile app registers that someone walked 10,000 steps when they in fact, ingested 10,000 calories, it could be a disaster.
At the same time testers are making sure that every current function is working well, the devices, operating systems, and local carrier networks they operate on are all constantly improving. As a result, new features are being developed on all of these applications. The challenge is twofold: a tester needs to make sure the new features are working, and that they didn’t disrupt the other functions that have been working fine so far.
Performance is also a big challenge.
In the case of high glucose levels, elevated blood pressure, or early signs of a heart attack, every moment is critical. A mobile health application must act immediately to provide treatment or contact a doctor or paramedic. The app must also be working over multiple locations with different carriers.
We are living in an era of greater longevity. We can spend more time on this earth with our family, friends, and in pursuit of our dreams. Mobility and quality assurance play an essential role: enhancing the vitality of these resources to enhance the vitality of our future.
By David Fink/Marketing associate for Experitest
