Our Insights Post 5 mins Dave Thorpe Your app works today. But will it still work tomorrow? Another release. Another new device to worry about. You’ve just pushed a solid update. Everything’s passed. And then someone in the team says, “Has anyone checked this on the Pixel Fold?”. Or the Galaxy Flip. Or the new iOS beta. Or a smartwatch. It doesn’t take long for the doubt to creep in. We’re not just designing for phones anymore. With new foldables, wearables and hybrids entering the market every month, ensuring your app plays nicely with them isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between staying stable and falling behind. These aren’t edge cases anymore. They’re your users’ reality. Every new device brings its own quirks. Different screen sizes. Novel resolutions. Rotating form factors. Hardware limitations you didn’t plan for. Your app might be fast and clean on the latest iPhone. But what about on a new mid-range foldable? Or a watchOS update that changes permissions overnight? Without the right approach, these changes slip through the cracks. And that creates risk. The result? Bugs that don’t show up in standard QA. Features that work fine until someone tries to use them one-handed on a split screen. Quiet failures that knock your app off course and damage user trust before you even realise they’re there. The fix starts with a shift in mindset. You don’t need to test everything. You need to focus on what’s changing, and how it could impact your users. A modern mobile assurance strategy gives you that clarity. It flags emerging risks early, helps you stay ready for hardware evolution, and brings stability to a landscape that’s anything but. When done right, it helps your app stay compatible, responsive and resilient – no matter what new tech lands in your users’ hands. What mobile assurance looks like in practice We’re not talking about bloating your test cycle or investing in racks of niche devices. Mobile assurance is a focused, lightweight way to stay ahead. It includes: Proactive testing against new and upcoming devices Acquire and test early on release hardware, or simulate new devices and OS versions in staging to catch quirks before your users do. Flexible, responsive design principles Build layouts that adapt gracefully to screen shifts, orientation changes and dynamic resizing — especially on foldables. Prioritise user feedback Use controlled beta programmes and UAT to gather input from actual users navigating new form factors. Continuous performance monitoring Track how your app behaves post-release across different environments, and get early alerts when something breaks. Responsive update scheduling Match your app’s release cycle to major OS and hardware updates to avoid breakage from sudden changes. Still relying on standard QA? If you’re depending on the same processes you used five years ago, it’s no wonder these devices are catching you out. The tech landscape has moved on – and so have your users’ expectations. You don’t need a massive team or expensive test suites to keep up. You just need a smarter, forward-thinking approach that targets where the real risks lie. If you’re seeing cracks now, what happens when the next device drops? The sooner you get ahead of this, the less time you’ll spend patching it up later. Let’s take a look at how your app is holding up – and what needs tightening before the next device hits the shelves. arran@indiespring.com
