WorkFlowy’s New Mobile App For Android is Live!

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April 11, 2018

android-release-image

For the last few months we’ve been hard at work on the WorkFlowy mobile app. Last month we released the updated WorkFlowy iOS app. Today it is my pleasure to announce that the Android version is complete. This is a major improvement on the old app, and we’re excited for you to try it.

Highlights

  • Visual refresh gives the app a modern feel
  • Fixes dozens of longstanding bugs and quirks
  • The big ‘+’ button allows you to easily add new items to the top of the current list
  • Revamps navigation, making it easier for you to get around
    • Breadcrumbs that stay at the top of the page
    • Home button
    • The ‘Star’ menu gives you quick access to bookmarked lists, and lets you instantly add to any of them
    • Instant access to search
    • Back button now follows Android conventions
  • You can undo or redo changes using buttons under the ‘…’ menu.
  • You can now swipe any item from left to right to mark it completed
  • Edit controls have moved above the keyboard for improved one-hand usage

What’s next?

  • Improving and polishing the app based on your feedback
  • Bringing more of the functionality from the desktop app into the mobile app, including:
    • Deleting Items
    • Adjustable font size and line spacing
    • Sharing
    • Improvements for @tags and #tags, like auto-complete and quick filters
    • External keyboard support

Where to give feedback?

If you try the app and want to tells us what could be better, we’ve created a section of our support site where you can submit your feedback and vote on other people’s suggestions.

Special Thanks

I want to give a special thanks to the intrepid few that answered our call last month for early alpha testing of the Android app. They were with us through all the quirks of an alpha product (including the day that I briefly broke the keyboard) and helped us hammer out dozens of bugs.

I also want to thank the over 600 beta testers that have been using the app for the past week and helping us make sure it is ready for this momentous day.

Final Thoughts

Last November when we started on this journey to reinvigorate the WorkFlowy mobile experience, Jesse and I observed that with us both owning iPhones, we were poorly positioned to empathize with the large contingent of loyal WorkFlowy Android fans. Therefore, even though I have carried an iPhone since the first version was released a decade ago, I bought a Google Pixel 2 and the iPhone 6S went into a drawer. Like all of you, I have been using the old WorkFlowy Android app since then (cursor bugs and all) so it is with great excitement that I am able to share the new app with all of you.

We hope you love the new app, and we’re excited to keep improving it.

PS – If you haven’t gone to the Play store and given us a review, we would love if you could do that (5 stars would be greatly appreciated, but only if deserved).

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Barbara
Barbara
5 years ago

I really like the + button for quick additions on the fly. Next most useful would be autocomplete for tags…

Christopher Allen
Christopher Allen
5 years ago

Oh, damn. My phone has already auto-updated to the new app. How can I get the old one back?

Shua
Shua
5 years ago

Fantastic update! Any possibility of adding a print function on the app?

作图匠
5 years ago

thanks,this’s really great.

ricky
ricky
5 years ago

Awesome

sweavo
5 years ago

Looks much prettier. It integrates better with my Swype keyboard too (formerly, it would insert a space and start with lowercase when inputting a new bullet, but that’s fixed!) I’m finding dragging easier too.

I would like to be able to drag by the bullet rather than just the text. I have a bullet just containing “@home” and I can’t drag that in the phone app, I have to add a handle, like “=X=” to the text just so that something will pick up my long-press.

The plus button needs better defined behavior: either make it grey when it won’t work, or allow a default insertion point (this is my favourite, if I could tag with #system:inbox or something and new items by default go there, I would be a very happy subscriber!

Hans
Hans
5 years ago

Fantastic work, great so far!

marekhappy
marekhappy
5 years ago

Would wish to test and use, but for some reason this version is not supported with my device.

Xiaomi: MI 2S
Android: 4.4.4 KTU84P

Any way how to handle? Ty

Adam
Adam
5 years ago
Reply to  marekhappy

Seems like the new app requires Android 5.0 upwards.

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John A. Taylor (@johnataylor)

Great job everyone! Way better and faster than the old app!

jcwayne
5 years ago

If you haven’t already, I’d be interested to see you write about your experience switching to Android for the past several months.

Olaf
Olaf
5 years ago

Syncing is broken! Already sent my data to help@workflowy.com. Hope you’ll fix it right away.

Viktor
Viktor
5 years ago

Very nice design, I like it.

Olaf
Olaf
5 years ago

But how to add a node in a list? The Enter button does nothing.
(+) is not a thing. I’d like to add a node in the middle of the list.

nightfoofoo
5 years ago

EXCELLENT, really smooth and user friendly. Thx for your work

Sergiy
5 years ago

Thank you and glad for positive progress!
… but not good for me 🙁 though love WF very much, but for my LG-G2 with Android 4.4.2 version
PlayStore says that my device is not compatible with this new version.
Any updates in future to include users with older Android’s versions to use your new app?

Cedric
5 years ago

Good stuff Jacob.

Yavor Kirov
Yavor Kirov
5 years ago

Awesome

hodanli
hodanli
5 years ago

swipe left/rigt to navigate would be perfect.

Wasim Malik
5 years ago

Hi Jesse and Jacob,
Finally app can be exited by back button! Yay
This is some thing fantastic. I loved new app and now it is more usable than before keep up good work.
Regards,
Wasim

Richard Bird
5 years ago

Yay!!

Joe
Joe
5 years ago

Sorry for the lack of creative feedback but I just want to say I love the update. Definitely a huge Improvement. I have reluctantly used the mobile app in the past when I felt the need, but with this update I’ll definitely feel like I can get something done faster and more effectively with it.

Marc Cools
Marc Cools
5 years ago

I can’t download the new app. My phone is not compatible. Only 2 years old !

Jacob Green
Jacob Green
5 years ago
Reply to  Marc Cools

What phone do you have? What version of Android?

Raicho Nikolov
Raicho Nikolov
5 years ago

I do not get the idea about “plus” button. Also I don’t think it works right. When I click on it nothing happens and when I write the text does not appear. Only when I hit enter the first bullet is ready to be written into (but the text I have already written is not shown).

But after all, why this “plus” button? Who needs it? Is it because every other app has it? When I want to write new bullet I usually find the place where I want it to be ant write there. If I want it on the top I scroll and write it on the top.
I cannot see any useful job for this button.

Kfp
Kfp
5 years ago

Sorry but the lag is worst than before…

Jacob Green
Jacob Green
5 years ago
Reply to  Kfp

Would love to knoe more about this. Can you write up your experiences at https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/360000008743-New-Mobile-App-Feedback

midlothianredeemer
5 years ago

Wow! Great job. You just took a great leap beyond the competition!

R. Brian Mitchell, MD *Virginia Cancer Institute* *Treating Cancer and Blood Disorders * 6605 West Broad St., Ste A Richmond, VA 23230 804-287-3000 804-285-6337 (fax) bmitchell@vacancer.com

KlaymenDK
KlaymenDK
5 years ago

Great, the loading screen now has a “twisty” animation … but it’s still stuck there, it never gets to displaying the actual outline. 🙁 I have had this problem for about a month since I switched to a OnePlus 5, it was never a problem on my Nexus 6, 4 or older phones. BTW yes, I have tried to uninstall, reinstall, and reinstall older versions (from Titanium Backup). :’-( I’d so love to use it again; I use the web version all the time.

Jacob Green
Jacob Green
5 years ago
Reply to  KlaymenDK

Can you email us at help@workflowy.com so we can try to sort this out?

Patrick Hogenboom
Patrick Hogenboom
5 years ago

Great going !
I’m especially pleased that the stars function finally made it to android 🙂

dadapotok
5 years ago

+1. in fact I like the android version much more than desktop stars that I never use

kylelynchsf@gmail.com
kylelynchsf@gmail.com
5 years ago

Hooray!!! Great birthday gift, thanks!!!!!!!!

Jacob Green
Jacob Green
5 years ago

Happy Birthday!

dadapotok
5 years ago

Hello! New design looks perfect to me, but I’m not glad that you introduced sync errors with the update.

try this:

1 create empty bullet
2 go offline and fill in empty bullet on desktop AND on the offline mobile device
3 sync: offline text OVERWRITES bullet filled on desktop

dadapotok
5 years ago
Reply to  dadapotok

I suppose each new or at least each offline empty bullet entry should also save the data about the device that was used to create it to avoid conflicts like this

Jacob Green
Jacob Green
5 years ago
Reply to  dadapotok

Can you please leave this feedback here so we can keep track of it: https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/360000008743-New-Mobile-App-Feedback

dadapotok
5 years ago
Reply to  Jacob Green

sure, done

Jesse Patel
Jesse Patel
5 years ago
Reply to  dadapotok

Unfortunately, this is how it has always been. We don’t resolve conflicts on individual bullets, the one that syncs last wins.

ermi
ermi
5 years ago
Reply to  Jesse Patel

Couldnt you make it display all versions if more than one exist? maybe as nested nodes with parent mode indicating sync conflict and or dates. so one knows at a glance which one from where at what later/earlier time. and or (if only two conflicting versions..), display earliest version before “syncing” new. a bit like web version when disconnects happen over two tabs open to same node. or even resolve them just as two different nodes.. i dunno.

personally i like the nested parent solution better. sibling nodes could resolve at different positions and it is bad enough having conflicting duplicates (especially if painstakingly long) in the first place.

im iffy about jumping into insta-love because sync errors can be complete headaches – why oh why did it have to be that – but cant help feeling excited already. because stars! breadcrumbs! auto flipping complete. argh. fingers crossed that nightmode toggle is included too. fingers crossed that my device isnt too young/old..

dadapotok
5 years ago
Reply to  Jesse Patel

so, here’s bug tracker post for this issue.

https://workflowy.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360002432763-sync-errors-offline-editing-empty-bullet-from-the-mobile-device

This sync error is a very counterintuitive thing to expect! This makes a workflowy a black hole instead of an endless tree-like document. I can’t imagine how many tiny things was lost because, like many people I use my phone as a morning alarm clock and notebook. So I keep it close all the time. So at night I switch it to the airplane mode. That’s offline. And I record my ideas all the time – including before I go to sleep. And the first thing I do in the morning I check my wf on the desktop. And I only turn off airplane mode on my phone when I’m ready to talk to someone – later during the morning / day. Or when I know that I want to sync something.
I’m a cartoonist, so small snippets of text is about 90% of things that I write in workflowy, and this is the reason I go offline so often – I don’t want to be interrupted by incoming messages, calls or media.
Most other people that I know who uses wf are journalists / editors, so I suppose the also won’t be happy to know that some of their most sparky and momentary ideas was lost. I often record ideas I afraid to forget without recording. Do you?
Simplenote by Automattic and Google docs somehow avoids errors with empty lines. Maybe wf can talk to their devs?

there’s a billion ways to get rid of this. I’ll duplicate mine idea here.
add a few rules for a new bullets and bullets edited offline to avoid sync errors:
1. record the data about the device was used to make a note. Could be an IP or mac adress or something non-sensitive, or even defined by user.
2. compare bullets on syncing.
Does each bullet in wf have an individual adress? If it does than empty bullets. Why not to add up instead of overwriting? How come wf app doesn’t understand the difference between the incoming completely different pieces of text

rawbytz
5 years ago
Reply to  dadapotok

There is an incredibly easy user solution to this. DON’T CREATE EMPTY BULLETS. Only create the bullet when you are ready to fill in the text.

Follow that simple rule and you will have zero sync errors.

Tenbashi Abramovvicz
5 years ago

Big thanks! Very nice app. I know that is beta but first thought is that You have to improve efficiency – adding or deleting bullets it very slow. Undo too. And I dont have slow machine 😉 But this is good road to get nice and fast app. One more big thx for it!

Jesse Patel
Jesse Patel
5 years ago

If you are on a really long list, or have a ton of stuff expanded, that will currently make the app very slow. This is a very important area for us to improve. If you zoom into a small section, is it still super slow?

Tenbashi Abramovvicz
5 years ago
Reply to  Jesse Patel

I’v checked. In small sections is faster then if You are in some big lists. I mean max 10-30 lists without sub list. But still this is beta and as You mentioned You are going to improve it. So finger crossed for Your work. Best regards!

frank.dg
frank.dg
5 years ago

Auto-complete is *the* one I’m looking out for on your road map 🙂

Jesse Patel
Jesse Patel
5 years ago
Reply to  frank.dg

Hi Frank! What do you mean by auto-complete?

kingsinger
kingsinger
5 years ago
Reply to  Jesse Patel

Perhaps he means autocomplete of tags like on the web, where you get the menu when you start type a tag.

Meh
Meh
5 years ago
Reply to  Jesse Patel

Auto-complete tags is *the* only auto-complete feature in your product. You could add # and @ button on your keyboard bar to get started.

vladtikhonov
vladtikhonov
5 years ago

Excellent job, thank you!

Did you consider making font a couple notches smaller? Or giving user a setting to do that?

Lee Granas
Lee Granas
5 years ago
Reply to  vladtikhonov

Yes! Adjustable font size is next on our list.

lami
lami
5 years ago

👍

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