Welcome to the App Quality Alliance (AQuA): a non-profit group headed by volunteers and knowledge contributors since AQuA's inception, working with the industry to improve the quality of mobile apps.
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2020/21 - Covid 19
Across the world, the pandemic is causing disruption and tragic loss of life and health. Many countries are using apps to aid in the tracing of contacts to help control the spread of the disease. At this time app quality becomes even more important. AQuA hopes that our resources may be of assistance to people testing their apps.
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2019 - New phase for AQuA
After a couple of years when the AQuA team members were diverted off to other roles (often involving GDPR and privacy) it has become time to move AQuA to a new phase.
From 2019 AQuA will no longer be a membership organisation, but will switch to a voluntary run basis. The knowledge base that has been gathered over the years will be maintained, and added to on an occasional basis. We have a major piece of work on App security testing close to publication.
The AQuA resources will be remain available for download, the test criteria still on offer for testers to use, but the Quality App Directory will be de-commissioned.
In the years since the organisation started, the App industry has changed and evolved very rapidly, as has the capabilities of the mobile devices. The AQuA team are proud to have been part of this journey, and thank everyone who has supported the mission of helping to improve the quality of Apps in the market. We look forward to see where things go next with great interest.
November 2017 - mHeath at Health:code Berlin
AQuA are pleased to be hosting a round table discussion at the Health:code event in Berlin on November 27-28.
We will be discussing the merits of the idea of the privacy and security code of conduct being developed by industry and the European Commission.
November 2017 - mHeath Privacy and Security Code of Conduct
For nearly two years AQuA has been working with a group of industry experts and the European commission on a code of conduct for developers creating mHelath apps.
This will apply to apps that deal with personal information relating to health and wellness - apps that dont go as far as needing to be certified as a medical device.
To have a code of conduct approved, it must go before the EU's Article 29 Working party of regulators from each European country. We are hoping that may happen in the next few months, and will post new information as we get it.
Privacy Law and Data Protection is set to be the topic of the day as the new General Data Protection regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018.
October 2017 - AQuA Round Table
On Thursday 12th October 2017 we hosted our fifth AQuA Round Table. We will be publishing a report of the day of lively debate, but in the meanwhile More information to follow, take a look at what happened during the last Round Table.
The App Quality Alliance (AQuA) Network Performance Testing Criteria were created to be used in conjunction with AT&T’s Application Resource Optimizer tool (ARO). Since then, AT&T has significantly enhanced the capabilities of the tool, including the ability to analyse streaming video usage, and simulate the effect of changing network reception conditions on-the-fly.
Because the new tool’s output is different and more sophisticated, we have temporarily withdrawn the Testing Criteria for rewriting, but in the meantime urge all developers and testers to make use of the new Video Optimizer tool (https://developer.att.com/video-optimizer) without waiting for new testing criteria. Don’t be misled by the name change – it still delivers an extraordinary level of detail on data usage and power efficiency for any app, whether handling video or not, and enables you to easily see if your app is using more of your customers’ data allowance or battery power than it needs to. We recommend it.
Join AQuA and help contribute to App Quality
By joining AQuA, individuals and organizations will have opportunity to become involved and support the quality app initiatives that they care about.
The work that AQuA produces with its members is a collaborative effort, delivering what the industry wants, at any specific time.
In fact, all of AQuA's resources are open source (published under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License), which means that anyone is free to share or adapt the work that AQuA produces, for any purpose. We simply ask that they give appropriate credit do AQuA when doing so.
If you're interested in becoming an AQuA Member, you can do so here