No, Automate is an Android app, currently not available on any other platform. To edit flows on a Windows or MacOS computer use an Android emulator, like BlueStacks.
See safe mode (device recovery).
Verification of premium ownership may fail if there’s a problem communicating with the Google Play Store app, try rebooting the device. See premium page for further information.
Automate should use very little battery while in the background running flows, if the flows are properly made. Common flow design mistakes which could cause excessive battery usage:
The flowchart editor is graphically demanding so editing flows often may use more battery.
A flow should only stop if an error occurs, or it’s explicitly stopped. A flow will run until reaching an unconnected dot, so to be kept running all dots should connect to another block. This will, and should, create an infinite loop, if the flow is meant to run indefinitely.
If the flow is running when Automate is open but seem to pause otherwise, see Automate not running.
If flows, or a particular feature used therein, are running without issue but pause when the screen is turned off or Automate when is no longer in the foreground, it’s likely caused by some kind of “power save” feature.
The “power save” could be a custom device manufacturer feature, the Android 5+ Power save mode, the Android 6+ Device doze mode and/or a “task killer” app like Greenify.
Disable the “power save” feature or exclude/whitelist Automate from it. On Android 6+ that’s done in system Battery settings, Battery optimizations (menu). This should make Automate more reliable, without much battery usage, since the blocks will be able to control (see Device keep awake block) when the device can to enter low-power “sleep” or “doze” mode.
By default flows don’t resume running after a system reboot, enable the Run on system startup option Automate settings to let them do so automatically.
Apps that are enabled as Device administrator can’t be uninstalled until disabled as such. Disable it in Automate settings or system Device administrator settings.
Automate will install permission contained within its own package (apk) if Unknown source is enabled in system security settings. If the Install button doesn’t respond in the “package installer”, try disabling all screen overlay/filter apps, e.g. used to lower the brightness, as they may interfere with the button.
If a flow stops working, with an “Failed to read…” error after you’ve upgraded to a newer Android version, you’ll have to reconfigure all the App start shortcut and Plug-in blocks. This happens when Android has changed its internal data format.
If you get a “corrupt flow” error when trying to restore a backup, see I can’t restore backup.
If Automate crashed when starting a flow, try increasing the stack size in settings.
A permanent notification is an Android requirement to keep a background service running, without it Automate would become very unreliable.
However the notification can be hidden by enabling the Hide “running” notification option in settings, but a rooted device is required prior to Android 8, and Notification access since. Android doesn’t officially support this so it may not work on all devices.
Disabling notifications for Automate in system Apps settings is not advised since it will prevent all notifications from showing, including the Notification show block, it may also prevent the Toast show block from displaying “toast” messages.
See security.