ProtoPie

ProtoPie Review: When Figma Prototyping Is Not Enough

ProtoPie exists to answer a specific problem: Figma's prototyping system handles navigation and basic transitions, but it cannot simulate scroll momentum, physics-based spring animations, gesture recognition on specific elements, data-driven conditional logic, or interactions between two simultaneously connected devices. When designers need to demonstrate these behaviours — for developer specifications, stakeholder approvals, or usability research — ProtoPie fills the gap.

The Interaction Model

ProtoPie's core architecture is trigger-response chains. A trigger is a user input event: touch, scroll, swipe, pinch, device tilt (on mobile), voice input, keyboard key, or a variable reaching a threshold. A response is an action: move a layer, change opacity, play a sound, update a variable, show/hide content, or navigate to another scene. Chains of triggers and responses build the complete interaction behaviour.

This model is more conceptually complex than Figma's prototype connections (click here, go there) but enables behaviour that connection-based tools structurally cannot support. A prototype of a pull-to-refresh interaction requires: detect downward scroll past position 0, animate a refresh indicator into view, decelerate the content scroll with spring physics, trigger a state change when the indicator reaches the activation threshold, and animate the indicator completing and returning to its hidden position. Each of these steps maps to ProtoPie triggers and responses.

Variables and Conditional Logic

ProtoPie's variable system enables data-driven prototype behaviour. Variables store values that change based on user interactions: a counter that increments with each tap, a text value that updates from user input, a boolean that toggles between two states. Condition blocks execute different response chains based on variable values.

For practical prototyping, this means: a login prototype that validates whether the entered password matches a stored value and shows either a success or error state; a shopping cart prototype that tracks item count and updates a badge; a filter interface that shows or hides content based on toggle states. These behaviours are fundamentally not achievable in Figma prototyping without variable support.

Multi-Device and Connected Prototypes

ProtoPie Connect allows two or more devices running the ProtoPie Player app to share state through a live server connection. One device can control another — tapping a notification on a smartwatch prototype triggers a screen change on the connected phone prototype. This multi-device synchronisation enables prototyping of IoT scenarios, smart home interfaces, and connected app experiences without building functioning code.

Figma Integration

ProtoPie's Figma plugin imports selected frames from Figma into ProtoPie with layer structure preserved. Designers can build all their screens in Figma, import them into ProtoPie to add interaction layers, and keep the two tools in sync as screen designs evolve. This workflow maintains Figma as the single source of truth for visual design while adding ProtoPie's interaction capabilities on top.

When Figma Is Sufficient

ProtoPie's value is proportional to the complexity of the interactions being prototyped. For standard mobile apps where the primary interactions are taps, navigation, and form input — Figma's built-in prototyping is sufficient and significantly cheaper. ProtoPie's $45/month starter cost is difficult to justify for teams whose prototype needs are covered by tools they already pay for.

Verdict

ProtoPie is the right tool for senior designers and product teams who regularly need to communicate complex interaction behaviour — physics animations, conditional logic, cross-device synchronisation — to engineering teams, stakeholders, or research participants. For standard navigation-based prototyping, Figma's built-in tools are sufficient.

Score: 7.8/10 — Best advanced interaction prototyping depth in the category; cost and learning curve require genuine interaction complexity to justify.