I'll be honest, when I first heard about mobile automation, I pictured lines of incomprehensible code scrolling down a black terminal screen. As someone who barely remembers high school algebra, the thought of programming anything made me want to close my laptop and pretend I never heard the word automation. Okay that was exaggerated.
But here's the thing, I like listening to people talking about automating this and that. I also wanted to try something. So I looked for some options, and that's when I discovered Droidrun.
The Problem with Traditional Automation
Most automation tools expect you to write code or scripts, understand programming logic, learn technical syntax and then debug when things break. Basically configuring at every single step.
( I don’t know these many things, I just asked LLM the problems with traditional automation)
For someone like me, this felt like being handed a spaceship manual when I just wanted to ride a bike or maybe a scooter.
Mobilerun: Automation for non-coders
Mobilerun is the cloud infrastructure of Droidrun, an AI-powered mobile automation framework. But here's the thing, you don't need to know what a framework is to use it.
Instead of writing code, you just describe what you want in plain English. The AI figures out how to do it. Simple.
Think of it like this:
You : Send a WhatsApp message saying hello to John
Mobilerun: Sends a message to John.
You don’t need to think about what happens in the backend, you just get a task executed as simple as that.
My First Automation
Let me walk you through exactly how I set up my first automation without coding anything.
What You'll Need
Before we start, here's what you need:
- An Android phone (sorry iOS users, not yet!)
- About 15 minutes
- A Mobilerun account (free to start)
That's it. No programming knowledge needed.
Step 1: Get the Droidrun Portal APK
The Droidrun Portal APK is like a bridge between your phone and Mobilerun's AI. It allows the AI to see what's on your screen and interact with your apps.
Here's the complete setup guide for this : https://docs.droidrun.ai/guides/device-setup
Important: You'll need to enable "Install from Unknown Sources" in your Android settings. Don't worry, the Portal app is open-source and safe. It's like giving your trusted friend the remote control to help you with tasks.
Step 2: Set Up Portal Permissions
Once Portal is installed, open it. It will ask for a few permissions:
Accessibility Service: This lets the AI see what's on your screen and interact with buttons and text fields
Display Over Other Apps: This allows Portal to work in the background while you use other apps
These permissions sound scary, but they're necessary for automation to work. It's like giving someone permission to use your keyboard and mouse on your behalf.
Step 3: Connect to Mobilerun Cloud
Now comes the easy part:
- Go to cloud.mobilerun.ai
- Sign up for a free account (just email and password).
- You'll land on your dashboard
- Look for "Connect Device" or "Add Device"
- On your phone's Portal app, you'll see a "Connect to Cloud" option
- Scan the QR code shown on the Mobilerun website (or enter the code manually)
And that's it! Your phone is now connected. You'll see it appear as "Online" on your Mobilerun dashboard.
Note: Make sure to use the same email address to login to mobilerun and portal apk. Otherwise, you won’t be able to see the device in the cloud.
Step 4: Your First Automation
Here's where it gets fun. Let's start with something simple automatically saving Instagram posts you like.
On the Mobilerun dashboard:
- In the playground, write the task in plain english. Something like, Open Instagram, go to my saved posts, and unsave them all.
- Select the agent
- Under devices, you can already see the connected device
- Under advanced setting, choose the other relevant settings
- and finally click on Run to start the automation
That's it. Now your mobile will automatically perform tasks specified by you.
What Can You Automate?
Once you've got the basics down, the possibilities are pretty wild. You can automate anything you do on your phone.
What I Learned
Building my first automation taught me something important: technology should work for you, not the other way around.
For years, I thought automation was only for programmers. I was wrong. The real barrier wasn't knowledge, it was that tools were built by developers for developers.
Mobilerun changes that. It's built for people who just want their phone to do things without becoming a software engineer in the process.
Final Thoughts
If you're also someone who wants to run automation or at least try it once, Droidrun is the tool you can use.
You don't need to learn to code.
You don't need to understand how AI works.
You just need 15 minutes and a willingness to try something new.
Happy Learning.
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