Dogfooding Emu by Building an Android App in 10 Days
What happens when you build a developer tool and then use it to build a real app? Bugs, revelations, and 30 screens across 4 form factors.
Blog
Engineering insights, product updates, and guides from the Marathon Labs team.
How to Migrate from Firebase Test Lab to Marathon Cloud
A step-by-step guide for teams moving off Firebase Test Lab. Replace GCloud CLI + Flank with a single command, eliminate the 45-minute timeout, and get per-test retries instead of suite-level reruns.
Why Mobile Testing Breaks Most Teams and How to Build It Right
After speaking with 170+ engineering and QA leaders, here's what actually breaks mobile testing pipelines — and how top teams fix it.
Tinder: 3-hour test cycles to 20 minutes
Tinder replaced 30 AWS Genymotion emulators and 16 Mac EC2 instances with Marathon Cloud. Test cycles dropped from 3 hours to under 20 minutes. iOS stability went from 80% to 98%.
Peloton: Firebase Test Lab couldn't keep up with Android TV and wearables
Peloton hit Firebase Test Lab's limits on Android TV and wearables. Switched to Marathon Cloud. Wearable tests went from 1.5 hours to 10 minutes.
Android UI Tests on Every PR: Existing Solutions — Part III
A detailed comparison of BrowserStack and Firebase Test Lab for running Android UI tests on every pull request, covering stability, speed, reports, cost, and security.
Android UI Tests on Every PR: Cost Comparison — Part II
Breaking down the real cost of running UI tests on every pull request: device-per-month vs pay-per-minute pricing models compared.
Have Fun with Apple's Virtualization.Framework
Exploring undocumented quirks of Apple's Virtualization.Framework — from snapshotted VM crashes to audio device issues that broke our video tests.
Android UI Tests on Every PR: emulator.wtf and Marathon Cloud — Part V
The final comparison in the series — emulator.wtf and Marathon Cloud evaluated for running Android UI tests on every pull request.
Run Android Tests with Marathon Cloud
A step-by-step guide to running your first Android instrumentation tests on Marathon Cloud — via the UI dashboard and CLI.
Run iOS Tests with Marathon Cloud
A step-by-step guide to running your first iOS XCUITest suite on Marathon Cloud — via the UI dashboard and CLI.
Android UI Tests on Every PR: SauceLabs, AWS, LambdaTest, Perfecto — Part IV
Evaluating SauceLabs, AWS Device Farm, LambdaTest, and Perfecto Mobile for running Android UI tests on every pull request.
Where to Run iOS Tests — List of Cloud Providers
A comprehensive comparison of cloud providers for running iOS tests, including Firebase Test Lab, SauceLabs, Marathon Cloud, and CI/CD platforms.
Testing Fundamentals: Reliability
Understanding why tests behave unexpectedly and what we can do about flakiness — from determinism to retry strategies.
Where to Run iOS Tests — List of Mac Mini Providers
A guide to Mac mini rental providers for running iOS tests on CI, covering pricing, setup complexity, and when to consider cloud alternatives.