Most legal software was built for a desk. You research at a desktop, draft at a desktop, and the mobile app, if there is one, is a stripped-back companion for logging time on the move. The Writford mobile app takes a different position: the cited UK legal AI, your matter files and biometric-locked client data all travel with you. It is free on Google Play and signs in with your existing account.
This guide covers what the app does, how it differs from the mobile apps that ship with traditional practice management systems, and how client data stays protected on a device that is easy to lose.
What the Writford app actually does
The app is not a cut-down viewer. It carries the parts of Writford a solicitor reaches for between desk sessions: in a client meeting, in court corridors, on the train, or at home in the evening.
- AI legal chat, grounded in UK law. Ask a legal question, draft a document, research case law, or explain a piece of legislation. Search mode pulls live cited UK sources and Extended Thinking reasons step by step, the same engine as the web research tool.
- Your full matters. Browse and search every matter and client, with the matter overview showing billable hours, costs and overdue key dates. Files, time, costs, tasks, key dates and notes all sit under each matter, the same structure as the matter workspace on desktop.
- Documents on the go. Attach files from your device, Google Drive or OneDrive to the right matter without waiting to get back to the office.
- Biometric security. A Face ID or fingerprint lock keeps client work behind your biometrics, and everything moves over an encrypted connection.
Because it is the same account, there is nothing to reconcile later. A note you add on your phone is on your desktop the moment you sit down.
How this differs from a traditional practice management app
This is the honest part. The large UK practice management platforms, Clio, LEAP, Smokeball and others, do offer mobile apps. So the differentiator is not "they have no app." It is what the app is for.
Those companion apps are built around administration: capture time, check a calendar, open a matter, snap a receipt. That is genuinely useful, and if passive time capture is your priority a tool like Smokeball does it well. What they do not put in your hand is a legal research and drafting engine. The serious AI legal research tools, meanwhile, tend to live on the web only.
Writford sits in the overlap. It is the AI legal assistant and the matter file in one app, so the phone becomes a place to think about the law, not only to record minutes against it.
| On mobile | Practice management apps (Clio, LEAP, Smokeball) | Dedicated legal AI (research-led tools) | Writford |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time, calendar, matter admin | Yes, the core focus | Limited or none | Yes |
| AI legal chat and drafting | Limited or none | Sometimes, often web-only | Yes, full assistant |
| Live cited UK legal research | No | Web-first | Yes, Search and Extended Thinking |
| Biometric app lock | Varies | Varies | Yes |
| One subscription, web and mobile | Usually | Varies | Yes, from GBP 49 per seat/mo |
For the wider category, see our guides to legal practice management software in the UK and the best legal AI tools for UK firms in 2026. If you are weighing a specific incumbent, the Clio alternative and LEAP alternative write-ups go deeper.
Keeping client data safe on a phone
A phone is far more likely to be left in a taxi than a workstation. The app is built with that in mind.
- The biometric lock means a found or borrowed phone does not expose open matters.
- Data is encrypted in transit, and the app reads from the same secure backend as the web platform rather than holding a separate store of client information on the device.
- It declares no advertising identifiers and shares no data with third parties.
This sits inside Writford's wider approach to confidentiality and UK data handling, which you can read about on the security page. For solicitors, mobile access has to clear the same professional and UK GDPR bar as the desktop. The app is designed so that it does.
Getting started
If you already use Writford, install the Android app from Google Play and sign in. Your matters, plan and credits are already there.
If you are new, start a 14-day free trial on the web, set up a matter or two, then add the app so the same workspace is in your pocket. An iOS build is in progress; until it lands, the full web app runs in Safari and any mobile browser. You can see the app in detail on the mobile app page.
The point is not to move your practice onto a phone. It is to remove the wait. When a client asks a question between meetings, the answer, the file and the law are already with you.