---
title: Using Tideswell on your phone
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/phone
description: The iPhone app is for communication and task management. Configuration and back-office work stay on the web.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# Using Tideswell on your phone



There are two ways to use Tideswell away from a desk: the **iPhone app**, and the website in
your phone's browser, which is built to work at that size.

## Getting the app [#getting-the-app]

**The iPhone app is in private beta alongside the rest of Tideswell**, so it is not on the App
Store yet. Get in touch and we will get you onto it.

The website works on a phone in the meantime, and everything in
<Ref to="phone/chat-and-tasks" /> about what belongs on a phone applies either way.

## What is the app for? [#what-is-the-app-for]

Communication and task management, and the things you do standing up. &#x2A;*It is deliberately not
a copy of the web app.**

That is a design decision rather than work outstanding. A phone is good for reading a message,
replying, picking up a task, checking a number and getting notified. It is a poor place to
build an Object, set a permission matrix or work a purchase order.

So the phone gets the conversation and the work, and the web keeps configuration and
back-office.

## What is on it? [#what-is-on-it]

Four tabs behind a floating pill: **Home**, **Chat**, **Tasks** and **Store**.

* **Home** is the analyst. Ask a question, read the digest cards, use your saved prompts. The
  sparkle button raises it from any tab and keeps your place when you close it.
* **Chat** is the full conversation: channel list, mentions, entity chips, callbacks, the image
  viewer and per-channel notification settings.
* **Tasks** covers your list, your inbox, task detail, creating a task, attachments, related
  records and reminders. Projects are there too, including creating one.
* **Store** is analytics and inventory, with date ranges and filters, for looking something up
  rather than working it.

The &#x2A;*⇕** menu holds Inbox, My tasks, Chat, Store, Brief, Projects, Search, Settings and each
department.

## What stays on the web? [#what-stays-on-the-web]

Configuration and the back office, on purpose.

There is no admin Settings on the phone: no members, invites, permissions, departments,
modules, stages, integrations or audit log. Documents, Customers, Approvals, Purchase orders,
Suppliers, Wholesale and custom Objects are all web surfaces too.

Direct messages and the online rail are also web features, so to reach somebody on their phone,
post in a channel and tag them. See <Ref to="chat/mentions" />.

## Does the phone get any shortcuts? [#does-the-phone-get-any-shortcuts]

No. Every action goes through exactly the same permission checks as the web, and the Store tab
disappears entirely if your workspace has the Store module switched off.

What you can do on your phone is what you can do at your desk, and nothing more.

## What is worth doing first? [#what-is-worth-doing-first]

**Turn on notifications**, which is the whole reason to have Tideswell on a phone. On an iPhone
you add the site to your home screen first if you are using the browser; the app handles it
directly.

See <Ref to="notifications/turn-them-on" />, then
<Ref to="phone/sign-in-and-switch-workspaces" />.