Support · On your phone

Using LexBrief on your phone

LexBrief runs in the web browser on your phone, exactly as it does on your computer – there is nothing to download from an app store. You can also add it to your home screen so it opens with a single tap and fills the whole screen, just like an app. This guide shows you how to do that, and how to use the two things you will reach for most on a phone: quickly noting time and quickly noting an expense.

Last updated: 04/07/2026

If at any point your screen does not look like the picture, stop and email support@lexbrief.au – we would rather help than have you guess. The pictures in this guide were taken on a phone-sized screen, so they match what you will see.

Before you start

You need two things:

  • Your phone, with its usual web browser. On an iPhone that is Safari (the blue compass). On an Android phone that is usually Chrome (the coloured circle).
  • The web address you were given when you signed up, and your email and password for LexBrief.

A note on wording: the strip of buttons that sits along the very bottom of the screen on a phone is what we call the bottom bar. It is how you move around on a small screen, in place of the menu you see down the side on a computer.

How LexBrief works on a phone

LexBrief is a website, so on a phone you simply open it in your browser and sign in – there is no separate app to install and no app store involved. On a small screen it automatically rearranges itself: the figures stack into neat cards, and a bottom bar appears with the handful of things you do most.

LexBrief on a phone, showing stacked summary cards and a bottom bar with Dashboard, Task, Expense and Menu

You can use it just like this, in the browser, every day. But because you will likely open it often, it is worth spending one minute adding it to your home screen, so it becomes an icon you tap once – and opens full screen without the browser's address bar in the way. The next sections show how, for iPhone and for Android.

Signing in on your phone

Open your browser, type in the LexBrief web address you were given, and press go. You will see a sign-in screen. Enter your email and password, the same ones you use on your computer, and tap Sign in.

Stay signed in: your phone will usually remember you, so you only sign in occasionally. If you are ever asked for a code as well as your password, that is the extra security step you turned on – open your authenticator app and type in the six-digit code.

Add to your home screen (iPhone)

Do this once, in Safari, while LexBrief is open on the screen.

  1. Tap the Share button. It is the square with an arrow pointing up out of it, in the bar at the bottom of Safari (or top-right on some models).
  2. A panel slides up. Scroll down the list of options and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. You will see the name LexBrief and its icon. Tap Add in the top-right corner.

What you should see: a LexBrief icon now sits on your home screen alongside your other apps.

Add to your home screen (Android)

Do this once, in Chrome, while LexBrief is open on the screen.

  1. Tap the menu button – the three dots stacked in a column, in the top-right corner of Chrome.
  2. In the list that appears, tap Install app (on some phones it is worded Add to Home screen).
  3. A small box asks you to confirm. Tap Install (or Add).

What you should see: a LexBrief icon now sits on your home screen with your other apps.

If you do not see "Install app": make sure you are using Chrome (not another browser), and that you have signed in to LexBrief first. If it still does not appear, you can simply keep using LexBrief in the browser – everything works the same; you just tap it from your bookmarks or type the address instead of using an icon.

Opening it from the icon

From now on, tap the LexBrief icon on your home screen. It opens full screen, without the browser's address bar, so it feels like a normal app. If it asks you to sign in, enter your email and password as usual.

The bar along the bottom

On a phone, the strip along the bottom of the screen is how you get around. It has four buttons:

The bottom bar on a phone, with four buttons: Dashboard, Task, Expense and Menu

  • Dashboard – takes you to your home screen (the cards of key figures).
  • Task – the gold plus button that opens the quick form for noting time. This is covered below.
  • Expense – the gold plus button that opens the quick form for noting a cost. Also covered below.
  • Menu – opens the full list of everything else (Matters, Invoices, Contacts, Settings, and so on), the same pages you have on your computer.

So the two gold plus buttons in the middle are the quick ways to add a time entry or an expense from anywhere, and Menu is where you reach everything else.

The mobile home screen

Tap Dashboard in the bottom bar. On a phone your home screen shows a set of stacked cards, each with a few key figures – your unbilled work, what clients still owe you, and what has come in and gone out this month.

The top summary card on the mobile home screen, highlighted, showing Unbilled Work, Outstanding Invoices, and this month's expenses and receipts

If you would like to change which cards appear here, tap the Customise cards button below them and tick the ones you want.

The Customise cards button below the cards on the mobile home screen, highlighted

Quickly add a time entry

This is the quickest way to record a piece of work while you are away from your desk. Tap the gold Task button in the bottom bar. A simple form opens.

1. Choose the matter

The Matter is the file the work belongs to. Tap the Matter box and choose the right file from the list.

The Add Task form on a phone, with the Matter box highlighted

What you should see: once you pick a matter, the Rate box below it fills with the rates set up on that file. Tap it and choose which rate applies.

2. Set how much time

Time is counted in units, where one unit is six minutes (a tenth of an hour). Use the minus and plus buttons to set the number of units – the small line underneath tells you the total in plain minutes and hours as you go.

The units stepper on the Add Task form, with minus and plus buttons, highlighted

3. Describe the work and save

Type a short note of what you did in the Description box, then tap the gold Save Task button.

The Save Task button at the bottom of the Add Task form, highlighted

What you should see: you are taken back to your home screen with a short confirmation. The time is now recorded against that matter, and will show up in your unbilled work.

Quickly add an expense

Just as handy for noting a cost on the go – and you can photograph the receipt straight from your phone. Tap the gold Expense button in the bottom bar.

1. Choose the kind of expense

At the top is a row of choices for the Type of expense – General, Disbursement, Capital, Personal, Superannuation, or Tax Payment. Tap the one that fits. For most everyday costs, leave it on General. Choose Disbursement if the cost belongs to a particular matter and you will pass it on to the client – a matter box then appears for you to pick the file.

The Add Expense form on a phone, with the row of expense-type choices highlighted

2. Enter the amount

Leave the GST choice on 10% for a normal expense (or tap GST Free, or Custom to type in an exact GST amount). Then type the total Amount (incl. GST) you paid. LexBrief works out the GST and shows the split just below.

The Amount box on the Add Expense form, highlighted, with the ex-GST and GST split shown beneath

3. Photograph the receipt (optional)

Fill in a short Description, and choose a Payee and Category if you like. To keep the receipt, tap the Receipt Photo area – your phone offers to take a photo, choose one from your gallery, or attach a file.

The Receipt Photo area on the Add Expense form, highlighted, ready to take or choose a photo

When you are done, tap the gold Save Expense button at the bottom.

What you should see: you are taken back to your home screen with a short confirmation, and the expense is recorded.

Everything else

Everything you can do on your computer, you can do on your phone – the screens are simply narrower and stacked to fit. To reach any other part of LexBrief, tap Menu in the bottom bar and choose the page you want: Matters, Invoices, Contacts, Reports, Settings, and the rest. They behave exactly as the guides for those features describe.

A gentle tip: the phone is best for quick jobs on the move – noting time, catching a receipt, checking a figure. Longer jobs like drafting an invoice or running a report are more comfortable on the wider screen of a computer.

What next

The quick-add forms feed straight into the same records you manage on your computer, so the deep guides apply on your phone too:

Stuck on anything at all? Email support@lexbrief.au – a real person reads it, usually the same working day.