Howdlo on Every Device: iPhone, Android and the Browser

Key takeaways

• Howdlo runs as an iPhone app, an Android app and a browser client at web.howdlo.com, all on one account.
• There is no password: you sign in with a code sent to your email address.
• That makes your email account the key to your Howdlo account, so protect it with two-factor authentication.
• The browser is best for typing, borrowed computers and working alongside another window; the phone stays better for anything spoken.
• An account can be deleted from inside the app, with no form to fill in and no waiting.

Most messaging apps treat one device as the real one and everything else as an attachment to it. Howdlo takes a different route, and the difference shows up in a small detail most people never think about: how you sign in. This article covers the three ways into Howdlo, what changes when there is no password involved, and what to check before you rely on the browser version.

The three ways in

Howdlo lists three: an iPhone app from the App Store, an Android app from Google Play, and a browser client at web.howdlo.com. The same account opens all three, so your chats, your Hangouts and your Drops are the same wherever you open them. There is no separate desktop download to keep updated, and no per-device cost, because Howdlo is free everywhere with no card required.

The sign-in is the interesting part

Howdlo signs you in with a code sent to your email address. There is no password.

That sounds like a small convenience and is actually the thing that makes moving between devices painless. A password is the piece of a messaging account that people reuse, forget, and type badly on a phone keyboard. Removing it means adding a second or third device is the same short step every time: open the app, enter your email address, read the code, and you are in.

It has a consequence worth understanding. Your email account becomes the key to your Howdlo account. Anybody who can read your email can request a code. So the sensible precaution is not a stronger Howdlo password, because there is not one. It is making sure the email address you signed up with has two-factor authentication turned on and is not an address you share.

What the browser version is actually for

A web client earns its place in specific situations rather than as a general replacement for the phone app.

• Typing. Anything longer than two sentences is faster on a real keyboard. Long replies inside a Hangout channel are the obvious case.
• A borrowed or locked-down computer. A browser needs no install and no administrator permission, which matters on a work machine or a library computer.
• Working alongside something else. Having a Hangout open beside the document you are discussing is a different experience from glancing at a phone.

Howdlo Mic, the voice typing that strips filler words out of what you say, points the other way. That is a phone feature, and it is the reason the phone stays the better device for anything said rather than written. A standalone version of Howdlo Mic is listed as coming soon.

What to check before you rely on the browser

Two habits are worth building, and they apply to any web messaging client, not just this one.

First, sign out when you finish on a computer that is not yours. A browser session that stays open is a conversation left on a screen.

Second, do not assume a feature you use on the phone behaves identically in the browser. Notifications in particular depend on the browser and on the settings of the computer it is running on, not on the app. If you need to be reachable, be reachable on the phone.

Leaving is a feature too

One detail deserves more credit than it usually gets: Howdlo lets you delete your account from inside the app. Not by email, not by filling in a form and waiting. The ability to leave without a negotiation is part of what makes trying a new messenger reasonable in the first place, and it is worth checking for in any app that holds your conversations.

The practical summary

Howdlo is a phone app with a competent browser companion, and the passwordless sign-in is what makes running both feel like one account instead of two. Set up the phone first, add the browser when you need a keyboard, protect the email address that holds the keys, and you have covered nearly everything that goes wrong with multi-device messaging. The current list of platforms is on the company's own site at howdlo.com.