Testing Mobile Apps Since 2019
We started because app launches kept failing for preventable reasons. Someone needed to catch the problems before users did.
Back in early 2019, I watched three promising apps crash and burn within their first month. Not because the ideas were bad—they weren't. The testing just wasn't thorough enough. Bugs slipped through. Performance lagged under real-world conditions. Users got frustrated and moved on.
That's when Morthex came together. A small group of us who'd seen enough preventable failures decided to focus exclusively on mobile app validation. We test apps the way actual people use them—not just following scripts, but genuinely trying to break things before launch.
How We Actually Work
Our office in Bowmanville isn't fancy, but it works. We've got shelves full of devices—old Androids, current iPhones, tablets of every generation. Because an app that runs beautifully on the latest flagship might struggle on the three-year-old phone that half your users actually own.
Every app gets tested on at least 15 different devices before we sign off. We check how it handles poor connectivity (because not everyone has perfect 5G). We see what happens when memory is low, when the battery hits 10%, when notifications pile up.
One client came to us in March 2025 after their fitness app kept crashing for users during workouts. Turned out it couldn't handle GPS tracking combined with music playback on older devices. We caught that in week one of testing—simpler issue than they thought, but it would've cost them thousands of frustrated users.
Testing isn't about following a checklist. It's about thinking like someone who just downloaded your app and expects it to work.
What Makes Our Testing Different
We don't just run automated tests and call it done. Real users don't behave like test scripts, so neither do we.
Real Device Testing
We maintain over 60 physical devices spanning five years of models. Emulators are useful, but they miss hardware-specific issues that only show up on actual phones and tablets in actual hands.
Context-Based Scenarios
Apps don't exist in isolation. We test while switching between apps, with background processes running, under different network conditions. The environment matters as much as the code.
Performance Under Stress
It's easy to build an app that works great with a single user on wifi. We see how it handles 50 concurrent processes, spotty LTE, and devices with limited RAM. That's where problems surface.
Who Runs This Operation
We're not a massive QA factory. Our team is deliberately small—eight testers, two developers who help with automation, and me handling the business side. Everyone here has broken at least a hundred apps. That experience shows up in the details we catch.
Most of our team came from app development backgrounds. They built products, saw them fail for fixable reasons, and decided testing deserved more serious attention. That perspective helps—we understand why certain bugs are critical and others are cosmetic.
We work out of Bowmanville because rent in Toronto was absurd and we didn't need the downtown address. Clients care about results, not zip codes. Plus, having space for all those testing devices without paying premium rates makes practical sense.
Leif Thorvaldsen
Founder & Testing Director
Started Morthex after spending six years in mobile development and watching too many good apps launch with preventable issues. Believes thorough testing before launch beats damage control after. Keeps a collection of phones from 2017 specifically for worst-case testing scenarios.