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How to identify the environment of a Power App using SharePoint (non-premium app)?

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Posted on by Sajarac

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I’m currently working with an existing Power Apps canvas app and I’m trying to determine which environment it belongs to, but I’m running into some challenges.

The app is a non-premium canvas app
It uses SharePoint as its data source

Since the app is using only standard connectors (SharePoint), I’m finding it difficult to identify the environment it belongs to. Unlike apps using Dataverse or premium connectors, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reference to the environment within the app itself.

What I’ve Tried

Checked the app details in Power Apps Studio
Reviewed the SharePoint list connections
Looked for any environment hints in URLs or app metadata

So far, I haven’t been able to confidently determine the environment.

Question
What would be the best way to identify the environment of a Power Apps app when:

It is non-premium
It uses SharePoint as the data source
And there are no clear indicators in the app itself like using HOST.

I have the app in 3 Env DEV, TEST and PROD. I would like to add a banner that indicates in which app I am currently working.

Are there recommended approaches, tools, or admin-level checks that could help in this scenario?

Any guidance or best practices would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

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Building Power Apps

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Pstork1 69,521 Most Valuable Professional on at

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The way I've done this in the past is to create an environment variable to hold the name of the environment. But since you can't read environment variables directly in Power Apps without a Premium license I call a Power Automate flow from the app on Startup. The flow reads the environment variable and returns the name of the environment. Environment Variable values are available in a flow without needing a Premium license. Just be aware that they won't show up in dynamic content until you save the flow once.

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Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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Sajarac 3,291 on at

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Thank you very much for your prompt response.

That will be the solution to implement.

Silly question?

What is the flow action to call the Env Variable?

Regards

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Pstork1 69,521 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@Sajarac You don't need a specific action. The Environment variable will show up as dynamic content in the dynamic content list. Here's an example.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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