Prodscape.net is a free online tool that you could use to automatically create a Flow Map of your mobile app. It helps app developers and designers to detect issues in the flow and functionality of the application.
Mobile application testing is a very important step for your app to be entirely useful and user friendly for customers. Every app has to undergo a series of functional tests before it is actually released.
Manual testing invariably takes a lot of time and there is always that human element of error. Automatic testing tools do a wonderful job at this, but they are able test issues in as much as they have been designed to do so. They are also pretty expensive at times. Prodscape offers a go-between the two. It creates a sort of a map of the functioning of your mobile app. This map aids you to visually spot-check for high-level issues and regressions and finally debug them.
Prodscape currently supports only IoS apps. You require a developer-signed .ipa file to generate the flow map. We tested this with a small IoS app and found that it works satisfactorily. The following are the very simple steps that you need to follow
1. Navigate to Prodscape.net
2. Specify your email address and upload the requisite .ipa file. There is a guide available for you to create the .ipa file.
3. In case your app contains a login function, set the toggle switch to ‘yes’ and specify the username and password.
4. Click on ‘Upload’
5. In a few hours a flow map of your just uploaded app will be emailed to you at the address that you specified.
Sometimes developers are so busy in coding their apps, that they forget the complexity it offers to the users in terms of the number of pages to be navigated. Prodscape flow maps provide you with the visual clues to understand this complexity and make apps simpler.
You can add a version number to Prodscape flow maps and store them to record the history of the evolution of the app from scratch. You could also display the latest map on your dashboard for reference.
Downside:
- Prodscape currently supports only IoS apps. The developers should provide support for Android based apps too.
- A lot of developers and companies will have issues in uploading their .ipa files for a variety of reasons.
Verdict:
If you are genuinely interested in understanding the flow of your app from numerous perspectives, then Prodscape is a great product for you. The flow map that it provides offers a neat insight into the working and functioning of your Mobile app. Teams could research and collaborate on it to offer simple yet high quality apps to the masses.
Check out the website here.
