I’ve been using automation platforms like Zapier and Make for a while now, but I keep running into the same problem. These tools work fine on desktop but they’re really clunky on mobile devices. Most of the time I just want to set up basic automations between apps like Notion, Slack, Google Calendar, and Trello without dealing with complex interfaces.
What I’m looking for is something that actually works well on phones and lets me create simple automations without needing to understand complicated flowcharts or write any code. Just basic “when this happens, do that” kind of stuff.
For example, I want to automatically create a Notion page and send a Slack message whenever someone books a meeting in my calendar. Or maybe send myself a weekly email with all the tasks I finished in Trello.
Has anyone found a mobile app that handles this kind of automation well? I’m curious if there are tools out there that focus on mobile users instead of just being desktop tools that happen to work on phones. Would love to hear what others are using for simple workflow automation on mobile.
Try Microsoft Power Automate if you haven’t yet. I switched six months ago after dealing with the same mobile issues you’re having. Their mobile app actually lets you build flows, not just watch them. You can create those calendar-to-Notion automations straight from your phone with pretty intuitive templates. They use cards instead of flowcharts, which works way better on mobile. I built a flow during my commute that auto-adds calendar events to my task list - took three minutes and no zooming into tiny buttons or wrestling with desktop menus. They’ve got connectors for most popular apps you mentioned. Heads up though - some advanced stuff still needs desktop, but for basic trigger-action flows it does everything I need from my phone.
shortcuts app on ios is perfect for this if you’ve got an iphone. you can set up automations that trigger from calendar events, send slack messages, create notion pages - whatever you need. way better than trying to use those clunky desktop automation tools on your phone. there’s a learning curve, but once you get it down its way faster than wrestling with zapier on mobile.
I get this frustration. Most automation platforms treat mobile like an afterthought - you’re stuck squinting at tiny flowchart boxes designed for desktop screens.
You don’t need a mobile-specific app though. You need a platform built with responsive design from the start.
I’ve been setting up automations for teams for years, and the mobile experience issue vanished when I switched to Latenode. The interface actually works on phones because it was designed that way, not slapped together later.
Both your examples would take maybe 5 minutes to set up. The calendar-to-Notion-plus-Slack workflow is straightforward, and the weekly Trello summary email works great on mobile when you need to check or tweak it.
The difference? You’re not fighting cramped interfaces or tapping microscopic buttons. Everything’s properly sized and the workflow builder makes sense on smaller screens.
Set these up once, then manage them from your phone whenever you need changes. Way better than desktop-only tools.
IFTTT is perfect for this. I ditched the desktop-heavy platforms because their mobile apps sucked, but IFTTT actually works on mobile. Super simple - pick a trigger, pick an action, configure both. Done. No flowcharts or complicated stuff. I’ve been running similar automations for months. One dumps my finished Todoist tasks into a Google Sheet weekly, another auto-posts my Instagram pics to Twitter. Set them up in minutes on my phone and can tweak them whenever. Free tier covers most basic stuff. Pro gets you multiple triggers and faster processing if you need more later. The mobile app feels like they built it for phones instead of just cramming desktop features into a tiny screen. Definitely worth trying - it connects all the apps you mentioned.