Power BI is a collection of various tools and techniques used to analyze raw business data and visualize it to improve the performance of an organization. Business Analysts use Power BI to discover hidden patterns and relationships between the data variables to reveal competent information which can be shared with the other users of an organization. To learn more about Power BI, check out the blog on Power BI Tutorial.
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Apps in Power BI
Apps in Power BI are software programs designed for mobile users to interact with their business data. It connects with both On-premises and On-cloud data, which helps the user to view shared dashboards and reports through Power BI Report Server.
Power BI Report Server
Power BI Report Server is an on-premise report server that manages reports and key performance indicators (KPIs) through a web portal. It allows users to create different types of reports, including:
- KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
- Mobile Reports
- Paginated Reports
With Microsoft Intune, a cloud-based service focusing on mobile application and device management, organizations can control:
- Data encryption
- Access PINs
This ensures efficient and secure data handling within Power BI applications. A model author, along with other collaborators or users, can create a workspace to develop reports and dashboards. These reports can then be shared through apps, allowing a larger base of consumers to access and utilize them effectively.
When should you use Power BI App?
Power BI provides premium licensing, also known as the “capacity license”, mainly used by organizations with a broad group of consumers. Some activities in Power BI like data transformation, modeling, or publishing may not be used by all individuals seeking benefits from Power BI. It’s important for an organization to distinguish between the ‘Super users’ and the ‘consumers’ to carve out the best license plan.
At the same time, super users or authors have to distinguish between the production and development environments, which can be solved with the help of the Power BI application.
Power BI Apps vs Workspace
Below are the key differences between Power BI Apps and Workspace:
| App | Workspace |
| It allows the business users to view and interact with the reports shared by Power BI Service. | Workspace is a shared environment where the authors and administrator can collaborate and create visualizations |
| Non-premium users cannot access the content listed in the Apps | Non-premium users can access the content listed in the Workspace as a viewer |
| Reports and dashboards can be distributed to a larger audience. | Mainly used for small team interactions. |
| Custom navigation and embedded content to make the reports more interactive. | The workspace doesn’t have many customizations. |
| Users cannot personalize or create filters for existing reports/dashboards. | Users can personalize the reports and create filters. |
Now that you’ve learned about applications and the difference between them and the Power BI workspace, let’s have a look at some of the advantages and limitations of the apps in Power BI.
Getting Started with Power BI Apps
Power Apps in Power BI provide a way to view and interact with company dashboards from anywhere in the world. This enables users to visualize both On-premise and On-cloud data in real-time.
For this guide, we’ll consider the mobile device to be an Android device, but the process is similar for other platforms.
Step 1: Create and Publish a Report
To get started with Power BI Apps, you first need to create and publish a report on Power BI Service. You can check out our blog on Power BI Desktop for guidance.
Step 2: Create a Workspace and Build Dashboards
Follow the steps below to create a workspace and build dashboards in Power BI Service:
- Click on the Publish button on the ribbon of the Home tab. Your report will open in a web browser.
- At the bottom left corner, there will be a dropdown menu for workspaces. Select My workspace to see the reports and dashboards you’ve created.
- Open the report, go to the 2nd page, and select Edit >> Pin to a dashboard on the top side.
- A dialog box will appear, allowing you to select an existing dashboard or create a new dashboard to add the visualization.
Step 3: Install the App and Share Reports
Now that you’ve created the dashboard, install the Power BI app on your mobile device and share the reports/dashboards with other users for seamless collaboration.
Install the Power BI App
There are different ways to get Power Apps in Power BI:
Get the App from the Marketplace in Power BI Service
Users can install both organizational and template apps from the applications marketplace.
- Organizational apps: Available in Power BI for a particular organization, providing pre-built reports and dashboards that can be customized to measure team performance, track sales, etc.
- Template apps: Pre-built visualizations that can connect to other services like Google Analytics, Microsoft Dynamics, SalesForce, and more.
Steps to Install the App
- On the left side, select Apps >> Get apps in the Power BI app navigation.
- Open Power BI Service and sign in with your Power BI account.
- A Power BI workspace will open with three available tabs:
- All apps: Browse both organizational and template apps available on your account.
- Organizational Apps: Browse organizational apps shared with your account.
- Template Apps: Browse template apps hosted by AppSource.
- Select Get it from the AppSource to install it.
- If installing a template app, the interface will redirect you to AppSource, where you can go through a short tutorial and install a sample app from the marketplace.
- If installing an organizational app, you can directly add it to the list.
Install the App from a Direct Link
- An organizational app can be downloaded using a direct link sent to your email.
- On your computer, click the link in the email, and Power BI Service will open in your browser.
- Select the link based on your mobile device OS and install the application.
Administrator Installation
- However, if you only have Power BI Mobile, you are restricted from downloading the app via a direct link. Instead, you can download it from the list of apps created by the designer in your account.
- A designer or administrator can directly install the Power BI app in your Power BI account.
Interact with Dashboards and Reports
Power BI Service allows you to connect with various business services like Google Analytics, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics. With Power BI, you can:
- Create workspaces
- Build dashboards
- Share them on Power BI apps with other users
Connect Services with an App
Follow these steps to connect your services with an app:
- Sign in to your Power BI website to see all available services for connection.
- After a successful sign-in, you can view all dashboards, reports, and visualizations in your workspace.
- You can also share them with your colleagues in the form of apps.
- Go to AppSource by selecting the Apps option from the left side.
- Search for the service you want to connect with.
- Open the app, and you’ll see a prompt like this:
- Select an option and click on the app card to see its details.
Features of Power BI Apps
Each app has a slightly different layout, but common features include:
- Report Page Canvas
- Action Bar
- Return to Home Button
These features allow users to view and interact with shared visualizations.
Updating Power BI Apps
To keep your Power BI app up-to-date, you can accept update notifications whenever they appear.
Power BI Apps Overview
| Category | Details |
| The things they do | Combine related information into one place. |
| Who can use them | Power BI Pro or Premium users can easily install, customize, and share apps. |
| Where to find them | Explore the Power BI Apps marketplace on AppSource for more options. |
| How to use them | To access the apps, sign in to the Power BI service, click on Apps, and then select Get apps. |
| Who can access them | You can share apps with individual users, groups, or your entire organization. |
Advantages of Apps in Power BI
It provides an easy way for the designers to create interactive reports and dashboards and bundle them together in an app. As the visualizations are bundled together, it’s easier to install the app on both mobile devices and Power BI Service and access the visuals.
Below are some of the major advantages that apps have over the workspace:
- Accumulates all the content in one place, so that the user doesn’t have to remember the names of all reports and can easily access them on browsers and mobile devices.
- The author can schedule how often the data gets refreshed. The user gets a notification of the changes done by the author or can directly see them on the interface.
- Allows the author to set restrictions and permissions for certain parts of a report. Now, the users can only access a portion of the report, which the author wants them to see.
- Cleaner UI as compared to the workspace. Also, the author can customize the interface based on the requirements and the users it’s going to be shared with.
- Best for deploying reports for a larger audience and separating them from the development team.
Limitations of Apps in Power BI
Although it provides a lot of benefits to both users and designers, there are some areas where it’s not as efficient as compared to the workspace:
- The user cannot personalize or apply filters to the reports being shared on the apps.
- If a report shared on the app needs to be connected with a different dataset, you have to exclude it from the app, rebind with the dataset, and again include it in the app.
- A non-premium user cannot see a report being shared on the app. However, the workspace provides viewer access to non-premium users.
Conclusion
In this blog, we learned about the applications of Power BI and how you can start using them to share reports and dashboards with other users. Apps have many features as compared to the Power BI workspaces. Also, it provides an easy way for the designers to separate published reports from the ones in progress. However, the apps don’t allow non-technical users to view or interact with any reports and dashboards shared by other users.
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