The latest articles on DEV Community by 서권혁 (@wandukong99). https://dev.to/wandukong99 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4060139%2Fce17c617-f905-4dfd-b475-9b8d86164827.jpg https://dev.to/wandukong99 en 서권혁 Mon, 03 Aug 2026 08:32:00 +0000 https://dev.to/wandukong99/why-i-still-test-manually-in-the-age-of-ai-1kjb https://dev.to/wandukong99/why-i-still-test-manually-in-the-age-of-ai-1kjb <p>I've been doing QA for over four years. I've shipped apps, caught bugs, <br> and watched releases go wrong in ways no automated tool predicted.</p> <p>So when people ask me why I still test manually when AI can generate <br> checklists in seconds — here's my honest answer.</p> <p>Because AI wasn't there when the checkout button stopped working <br> on an iPad in landscape mode. My finger was.</p> <h2> The bugs that actually make it to production </h2> <p>In my experience, the bugs that slip through aren't the obvious ones. <br> Automated tests catch those.</p> <p>The ones that hurt are quieter:</p> <p>A payment flow that completes successfully — but creates a duplicate <br> order when the network is slow. A push notification that lands correctly <br> but deep-links to the wrong screen after an OS update. A bug that was <br> fixed three releases ago, reappearing because nobody re-tested it <br> when something nearby changed.</p> <p>I've seen all of these. In real apps. Shipped by teams that thought <br> they had it covered.</p> <h2> What I actually do before every release </h2> <p>I'm not anti-AI. I use it every day.</p> <p>But before every release, I still open the app on a real device <br> and go through the same checklist. Not because I don't trust the <br> automated tests — but because I've learned what they miss.</p> <p>A few things I always check on mobile:</p> <ul> <li>Does the back button behave correctly on every key screen?</li> <li>Does the app recover properly when the network drops mid-payment?</li> <li>Does the layout hold up on a tablet, rotated to landscape?</li> <li>After the last bug fix — did anything nearby quietly break?</li> </ul> <p>None of these are exotic. But they're the ones that show up <br> in production reviews and one-star app store ratings.</p> <h2> Why I built a template for this </h2> <p>At some point I realized I was running the same checks before every <br> release — just from memory. So I turned it into a spreadsheet.</p> <p>If you're shipping a mobile app without a dedicated QA engineer, <br> you might find it useful:</p> <p>→ <a href="https://narong.gumroad.com/l/hnqru" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mobile App QA Checklist</a> — iOS &amp; Android<br> → <a href="https://narong.gumroad.com/l/ilodfn" rel="noopener noreferrer">QA Test Management System</a> — for managing test cases and bugs</p> <p>What's the most unexpected bug you've caught through manual testing <br> that your automated tests completely missed? </p> <p>I'm curious — drop it in the comments.</p> testing webdev mobile productivity