How to Use ProtoPie for Advanced Interactions

Figma prototyping is excellent for flows and simple interactions. But when you need a prototype that responds to user input, maintains state, reacts to device sensors, or simulates data — that's where ProtoPie comes in.

ProtoPie starts at $13.50/month (Solo plan) and is the most capable no-code prototyping tool for interactions that go beyond what Figma handles natively.

Importing from Figma

Start your ProtoPie workflow in Figma. Design your screens there — ProtoPie is for interaction, not visual design.

Use the ProtoPie Connect plugin in Figma to import your frames directly into ProtoPie. The plugin preserves your layer structure, names, and the visual appearance of your design. Grouped layers and auto layout frames come through cleanly.

A few import tips:

• Name your layers in Figma before importing. You'll reference them by name in ProtoPie interactions, so button_primary is easier to work with than Rectangle 14
• Flatten decorative layers you don't need to animate — complex layer trees slow ProtoPie down
• Import one scene at a time rather than all screens at once during early exploration

When you update designs in Figma, re-importing updates the visuals while preserving the interaction logic you've built in ProtoPie. This roundtrip workflow is smooth once you get used to it.

Understanding triggers and responses

Everything in ProtoPie is built from trigger-response pairs. A trigger is something that happens (a user action or a condition becoming true). A response is what the prototype does as a result.

Tap — the most common trigger. The user taps or clicks a layer. Pair it with a response like: move a layer, change opacity, navigate to a scene, or play a sound.

Scroll — triggers based on scroll position or direction. Use this for sticky headers, parallax effects, and content that reveals as the user scrolls.

Drag — lets the user drag a layer. Responses can be tied to the drag position — move another layer proportionally, reveal something underneath, or spring back when released.

Hover — desktop prototypes can use hover triggers. Change an element's appearance on hover for realistic desktop interaction demos.

Appear — triggers when a layer becomes visible or when a scene starts. Use this for entrance animations and auto-played sequences.

Triggers can be stacked. A layer can have multiple triggers that fire different responses depending on conditions. This is where ProtoPie gets powerful.

Variables for stateful interactions

Variables are what separate a ProtoPie prototype from a clickable wireframe. They let your prototype remember and respond to user actions.

ProtoPie supports three variable types:

• Number variables — counters, prices, quantities
• Text variables — user-entered strings
• Boolean variables — true/false state flags

Example: a toggle switch. Create a boolean variable called toggle_state set to false. When the user taps the toggle, a condition checks toggle_state. If false: set it to true, animate the toggle to the on position, and show the "enabled" label. If true: reverse it.

Now your toggle remembers its state. You can reference toggle_state in other interactions across the prototype — show a setting that only appears when the toggle is on, for example.

More complex examples:

• A shopping cart counter that increments when items are added
• A multi-step form that reveals the next step only after the current step is completed
• A search field that filters a list based on text input (using a text variable and condition chains)

Variables take some time to learn but unlock a qualitatively different level of prototype fidelity.

Sensor triggers

On mobile, ProtoPie can access device sensors — features that are genuinely impressive in client demos.

Tilt — responds to the device's gyroscope. Use this for parallax effects, game controls, or demonstrating a screen rotation concept.

Microphone — triggers based on sound level. Useful for demonstrating a voice assistant interaction or a sound-reactive visualization.

Touch pressure — on devices that support it, ProtoPie can respond to touch force. Relevant for demonstrating pressure-sensitive interactions.

Sensor-based demos are particularly effective in usability tests — they let you test interactions that feel genuinely native without requiring any development work.

To access these on mobile, run your prototype through the ProtoPie Player app on iOS or Android (free download).

ProtoPie Connect: multi-device prototypes

ProtoPie Connect is a desktop app that lets you link multiple devices together and have them communicate in real time.

Practical uses:

• A smartwatch and phone UI that sync (tap on the watch triggers a notification on the phone)
• A car dashboard demo where a mobile phone app controls what shows on a large screen simulation
• A two-screen checkout flow where a customer's phone and a retail terminal interact

Connect works over a local network. All devices running ProtoPie Player connect to the same ProtoPie Connect session and can send messages to each other. Messages are just named events — you define what they trigger.

This is mostly relevant for agencies doing concept demos and hardware companies doing product previews. For standard app prototyping, you won't need it.

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When to use ProtoPie vs staying in Figma

Stay in Figma when:

• The interactions are navigational (tap this → go to this screen)
• You need a quick, reviewable prototype for stakeholder approval
• Animations are simple (fade, slide, dissolve)

Move to ProtoPie when:

• The interaction requires state (remember what the user did)
• The animation is conditional (do X if Y is true)
• You're testing a complex flow with branching logic
• You need sensor input or multi-device behavior
• The interaction quality matters for the presentation

ProtoPie adds work. Don't use it by default. Use it when Figma's prototyping runs out of capability.