News
Microsoft Puts Its Workflow Management App on iOS
- By Kurt Mackie
- June 22, 2016
Microsoft this week launched Microsoft Flow, a mobile application designed to track workflows, for iOS devices.
Currently in preview, Flow lets users execute actions across services and applications. The Flow service works with Microsoft's solutions, as well as solutions from other software makers, with support for about 35 services. Users create their own flows or they can use prebuilt templates. Examples include an automated text message that gets sent when "important" e-mails arrive, or a notice that files were added to Dropbox, for instance.
Users of the Flow preview wanted a way to track their mashups, so Microsoft created its Flow iOS mobile app, explained Stephen Siciliano, a principal group program manager for Flow, in an announcement. A similar app for Android devices will be "available shortly," he added.
The mobile app can be used to start and stop workflows. Users can use it to review the run history of a flow. In addition, the app can be used to get "real-time notifications for important events." It's also easier to turn off workflows with the mobile app, Siciliano indicated.
Microsoft is planning further Flow mobile updates "in the coming weeks and months." It will add improvements related to "flow creation, triggering, remediation, approvals, and flows that leverage your actual mobile device signals," according to Adi Regev, a principal program manager for Flow Mobile, in an announcement.
Documentation can be found in this new "Get started" post. Microsoft's prebuilt templates for Microsoft Flow can be accessed at this page.
Flow is conceived by Microsoft as being geared for general use by office workers as a no-code type of solution. It's a simplified version of the Logic Flows feature of the company's PowerApps service. Microsoft also has an Azure service called "Logic Apps," but it's targeted more toward developers working on problematic software integration issues.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.