App lifecycle
Also called: Application lifecycle
The states an app moves through: not running, foreground, background, suspended and terminated.
Definition
Mobile operating systems pause, suspend and kill apps to save battery and memory. Each change of state is a chance for bugs: lost form data, frozen timers, duplicate requests. Testers move apps between states on purpose and check that nothing breaks.
In practice
You start filling in a long delivery form, switch to WhatsApp for two minutes, and come back. The form should still be filled in.
Learn it in context
Lessons that use this term.