Running a window cleaning round from an iPad (or any tablet)

A phone is fine for the next address. It is not much good for deciding which of twenty-two jobs belong in today's run, for checking a week of weather against the diary, or for sending a batch of invoices without squinting. That is the job a tablet does well: big enough to plan on, small enough to keep in the van door. This guide covers what a tablet is actually good for on a window cleaning round, what to check before you rely on one, and how TradeYoke behaves on an iPad or Android tablet.

Quick answer: yes, you can run a window cleaning round from an iPad. Sign in to TradeYoke in Safari on the iPad (or Chrome on an Android tablet), open Plan my day to decide and order the run, work through the jobs from the Schedule, and send invoices when you finish. There is nothing to install, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens full-screen like an app. Open it once with a mobile signal or Wi-Fi and it keeps working with no signal after that.

Most window cleaners already carry a phone, so a tablet only earns its place if it does something the phone cannot. In practice it does three things well:

• Planning the morning. Deciding which jobs are in, which move to tomorrow and which are rained off is a "see everything at once" job. On a phone you scroll; on a tablet you see the jobs to decide and the run for the day side by side.
• The week ahead. A seven-day strip with the forecast on it is easy to read on a tablet and cramped on a phone, which is exactly when you decide to pull Thursday's round forward.
• Paperwork and chasing. Checking who has not paid, adding a new customer from a quote request, or sending the week's invoices is faster on a bigger screen, with proper-sized buttons.

The tablet does not replace the phone on the pavement. A common set-up is the tablet on the van dashboard or at the kitchen table for planning and invoices, and the phone in your pocket for the next address and a quick tick when a house is done.

A tablet is only useful if it is there and charged when you need it. A few practical things from the working day:

• Screen brightness and glare. Daylight on a windscreen is harsh. Turn the brightness up and check you can read it in the van before you depend on it.
• A signal. Wi-Fi-only tablets are no use at the kerb. A tablet with a mobile data plan, or one you can tether to your phone, means it works wherever you park.
• A mount or a case with a stand. A tablet that slides off the passenger seat is a tablet with a cracked screen. A cheap mount or a folio case pays for itself.
• Battery. Keep a cable in the van. A tablet at 5% at nine in the morning helps nobody.
• Keep it out of the wet. Wet hands and a touch screen do not mix. Planning in the van and invoicing at the end of the day keeps the tablet dry and the phone doing the damp work.

Quick answer: TradeYoke works in the browser on an iPad or Android tablet, and the layout adapts to the screen and how you hold it. We built and tested it at iPad and Android tablet sizes in portrait, landscape and Split View. The jobs, customers and invoices are the same ones you see on a computer or a phone.

• Landscape iPad, or a 13-inch iPad held upright: the menu is docked down the left-hand side, with the footer bar for the main screens along the bottom.
• An 11-inch iPad or Android tablet held upright, or a wide Split View: a footer bar along the bottom, with a menu that slides out from the More button or the menu button at the top left.
• Slide Over or a narrow Split View: the phone layout, so nothing is squeezed.
• Buttons you can hit. Tap targets are at least 44 pixels, which is Apple's own minimum, there is no delay on a tap, and on Plan my day the seven day buttons take a row of their own instead of shrinking to slivers.

On a computer, nothing looks different.

1. At the van, first thing. Open Plan my day. TradeYoke lists what is due, you put each job in today, move it to another day or skip it, and the run is put in order from where you start, with the distance between stops. Drag a stop if you know better.
2. Checking the week. Flip to the Schedule, which has Day, Week, Month and List views. Rain on Thursday? Move the whole round to another day in one go.
3. Between jobs. Take the phone to the door; mark each house done or skipped on whichever device is in your hand. It is the same data on both.
4. Evening, at the kitchen table. Use the bigger screen to look through customers, add the new quotes you were given on the doorstep and send the invoices with a pay link. Our guide to planning a window cleaning round covers the planning side in more depth.

Quick answer: yes, once you have opened it with a connection. The web app on a tablet keeps working with no signal after one visit, the same as on a phone. The Android, iPhone and Windows apps, which also send your changes in the background, are in pilot and are not yet in the app stores.

If your streets have good coverage, the browser means no installs and no updates. If you work in basements and country lanes, read our guide to why working without a signal matters, and email hello@tradeyoke.net to ask about early access to the apps.

Related: Running the round · Plan my day & routing · Scheduling & rounds · Offline-first mobile app · Window cleaning software · Pricing