Just thought I'd share some feedback on the Retool experience so far. We've had great success building Web apps using Assist and have been able to build several apps really quickly. Assist works so well for web apps that we've been able to build everything without looking at documentation. I love the Retool platform as we can focus on the backed where we are domain experts instead of the frontend.
Now we come to mobile. It has been a struggle to say the least without having assist for mobile apps. I've been struggling for weeks to build something for mobile that has feature parity with the web app. It feels like mobile is an afterthought with this platform as focus has clearly been on the new "vibe-coding" app builder. I get it, Retool needs to quickly capture market share from other tools that have a huge lead, but I wish assist for mobile would get some focus. Anyway, just my .02.
I agree that Mobile could benefit from more refinement, particularly around component parity, examples, and eventually Assist. We've built both production Web and Mobile apps with Retool and Mobile definitely has a steeper learning curve today. That said, once you get comfortable with the differences, it's a capable platform.
One thing that's helped us is using external LLMs alongside Retool rather than relying entirely on Assist. We tend to work through one query, one workflow, or one component at a time, which gives us a bit more visibility into what's changing. If you run into any specific Mobile questions or "how do I..." scenarios, feel free to tag me—I'd be happy to help if I can.
Hi @Shawn_Optipath I've used Claude through our Team subscription with a Retool mobile skill that I've developed, and it's helped but it would be so much easier if it had access to our environment. I have some familiarity with MCPs so maybe that will help??
The biggest thing I'm struggling with is our Purchase Order app. In the web app I am using a modal along with a "cart" design which works really well. The user clicks on a part and sets a quantity and rinse repeat until the cart is filled and then submit. I couldn't have set that up in a few days without Assist.
Using that same design in mobile has proved to be challenging even with working with Claude. I know mobile doesn't have a concept of modals so I'm struggling to find a similar solution.
I wonder if this is one of those cases where the mobile UX shouldn't mirror the web UX exactly. We found ourselves redesigning several workflows for Mobile rather than trying to recreate the desktop experience. Once we approached it as a mobile-first flow instead of a web port, things became much simpler.
Depending on the workflow, instead of a modal you might consider either:
navigating to a dedicated page/screen for adding items, or
using containers and conditionally showing/hiding sections to create a modal-like experience within the page.
We've ended up using both approaches depending on the complexity of the workflow.
If you have any screenshots or can share a bit more about the Purchase Order flow, I'd be happy to bounce around some ideas.
First off, I really appreciate you taking the time to share this, and your frustration is completely valid. You clearly love building on Retool, and it's genuinely disappointing when the mobile experience doesn't feel as smooth or as supported as the web builder. I hear you, and I don't want to gloss over it.
Updates on our end: the team is actively working on mobile. We just shipped a major React Native / Expo update, with ongoing performance and component fixes. Your feedback on the AI/Assist gap and the modal pattern has been passed along internally, and it genuinely helps shape where things go next, keep them coming!
