Blocker Tracking: Report and Resolve Critical Issues

Omar Masad -

Blockers are the most critical issues in your QA workflow — they represent problems that must be fixed before a release can ship. TestApp.io provides dedicated tools for reporting, tracking, and resolving blockers across all your apps.

What Is a Blocker?

A blocker is a task with the highest priority level in TestApp.io. It signals a critical issue that prevents a build from being released to production. Common examples include:

  • Crashes on app launch or during core user flows
  • Data loss or corruption bugs
  • Security vulnerabilities
  • Features that are completely non-functional
  • Critical UI issues that make the app unusable

Blockers are treated differently from other tasks throughout the platform. They appear in dedicated widgets, trigger visual warnings, and are surfaced prominently so no one on your team can miss them.

How to Report a Blocker

There are two ways to report a blocker in TestApp.io:

Method 1: From Task Creation

  1. Navigate to your app's Tasks tab.
  2. Click New Task.
  3. Fill in the title and description with details about the critical issue.
  4. Set the Priority to Blocker.
  5. Assign team members who should investigate and fix the issue.
  6. Optionally, link the task to the specific release where you found the problem.
  7. Save the task.

The task will immediately appear as a blocker across the platform.

Method 2: From the Release Detail Page

  1. Navigate to the specific release where you found the issue.
  2. Click the Report Blocker button.
  3. Enter a title and description for the issue.
  4. The priority is automatically set to Blocker, and the release is automatically linked.
  5. Assign the appropriate team members.
  6. Submit the blocker.
Tip: When reporting a blocker, include as much detail as possible — steps to reproduce, device and OS version, screenshots or recordings, and expected vs. actual behavior. The more context you provide, the faster your team can resolve the issue.

Where Blockers Appear

TestApp.io surfaces blockers in multiple places to ensure maximum visibility:

App Dashboard

Each app displays a blocker count badge on its dashboard card. If an app has open blockers, the badge is immediately visible, drawing attention to the fact that critical issues exist.

Version Overview Page

When viewing a specific version of your app, a warning indicator appears if there are open blockers associated with that version. This prevents anyone from assuming a version is ready to ship when critical issues remain unresolved.

Release List

In the releases list view, releases that have associated blockers are flagged with a visual marker. This makes it easy to scan your release history and identify which builds have known critical issues.

Home Dashboard

The home dashboard includes two places where blockers appear:

  • Open Blockers stat card: Shows the total count of unresolved blockers across all apps.
  • Blockers Across Apps widget: Lists every open blocker from every app, giving you a consolidated view of all critical issues in your workspace.

For more about the dashboard, see Home Dashboard Overview.

Resolving Blockers

When a blocker has been fixed and verified, resolve it with these steps:

  1. Open the blocker task from any of the locations described above.
  2. Click the Resolve button.
  3. Add resolution notes explaining what was done to fix the issue. For example: "Fixed null pointer exception in login flow. Patched in build 2.4.1."
  4. Confirm the resolution.

The system automatically tracks:

  • Who resolved the blocker
  • When it was resolved
  • Resolution notes with the explanation of the fix

This audit trail is important for QA accountability and for understanding the history of critical issues across your releases.

Blocker Metrics

TestApp.io tracks key metrics around your blockers to help you improve your QA process over time:

  • Resolution Time: How long it takes from when a blocker is reported to when it is resolved. Shorter resolution times indicate a more responsive team.
  • Blocker Count Trends: Track whether the number of blockers per release is increasing or decreasing over time.
  • SLA Compliance: If your team has internal targets for blocker resolution speed, you can measure how often those targets are met.
Note: Blocker tracking works hand-in-hand with task management. Every blocker is a task, so you can use all the same features — comments, attachments, activity logs, and assignees. See Task Management: Creating and Managing Tasks for the full guide.

Need help? Contact us and we'll get back to you shortly.