Needs you
Needs you is the tab for everything waiting on your decision. When an automation stops at an approval step assigned to you, or the assistant asks you to confirm something, it shows up here and your phone gets a notification.
What’s in the list
Section titled “What’s in the list”The list has two kinds of item:
- Automation: a step in one of your automations that’s waiting for your approval.
- Assistant: something the assistant proposed and is waiting for you to confirm.
Each row shows which kind it is and how long it has waited. If it’s close to its deadline, the row also says “expires in 3h”, for example, or “expired”.
Items you can answer on the phone come first, marked in coral.
The tab’s red badge, and the badge on the app icon, show how many items are waiting.
When the list is empty, it says “Nothing waiting on you”.
Answer an approval
Section titled “Answer an approval”- Open Needs you.
- Read the item.
- Tap Approve or Reject. The automation picks up from where it stopped.
Reject on the phone is the same answer as Reject in my.studio and Flow: the automation reads REJECTED whichever you used.
For an Assistant item, tap Review to open it in Ask and confirm there, or Reject to turn it down.
What you can’t answer on the phone
Section titled “What you can’t answer on the phone”The phone answers yes-or-no approvals only. An approval that asks for more stays in the list with the reason, and you answer it in my.studio:
| What the step asks for | What the phone says |
|---|---|
| A choice from options | “Choosing from the options needs your laptop” |
| A written answer | “This needs a written answer, on your laptop” |
| A form | “This step asks for a form, on your laptop” |
| A file | “This step needs a file from your laptop” |
| Anything else | “This one is better answered on your laptop” |
Push notifications
Section titled “Push notifications”Two events send a push notification:
| Event | Title | Text |
|---|---|---|
| An automation reaches an approval step assigned to you | The step’s title, or “A workflow needs your decision” | “Automation name is waiting on you” |
| The assistant asks you to confirm something | The card’s title, or “Approval needed” | “N actions are waiting for your approval”, or “The assistant is waiting for your approval” |
A finished run and a chat reply don’t send one. When an approval step is assigned to a role, everyone in the role gets the notification.
Tapping a notification opens the Needs you tab, not the item itself. If you’re signed in as someone else on that phone, a notification meant for another person is ignored.
When you snooze a task on the phone, the app also sets a reminder on the phone for 9 AM on the day the task comes back (“Task Reminder”).
Choose what reaches you
Section titled “Choose what reaches you”- Tap the logo at the top left, then Settings › Notifications.
- Under WHAT TO SEND, turn Approvals and automations and Security on or off.
- Under WHERE TO SEND IT, turn notifications on or off for each of your devices.
“Urgent security notices are always delivered, whatever is set here.”
If the screen says Notifications are turned off, your phone is blocking them. Tap Open Settings and allow notifications for work.studio.
On Android, the app’s notifications come in five channels you can also tune in the phone’s settings: Needs you, Automations, Security, General and Task Reminders.