What is the purpose of final testing in the software development cycle?

Final testing is a critical phase in the software development cycle intended to ensure that the product is ready for deployment. The purpose of final testing is to thoroughly verify and validate the software to confirm that it meets the specified requirements and functions correctly in the intended environment. This involves executing various tests to check the application against different scenarios and use cases.

While it may sound like testing is done only once during this phase, the term "once" here emphasizes the comprehensive nature of final testing as it typically includes multiple testing types — unit tests, integration tests, system tests, and user acceptance tests. These combined efforts help identify any critical bugs or issues that need to be addressed before the software is released to the end users.

In contrast, developing new features or improving user experience are activities associated with earlier stages in the software development cycle. Identifying security vulnerabilities can be part of the testing processes but is usually more focused in specialized security testing phases rather than being the primary purpose of final testing.