Use Claude Code from your iPhone (or Android)

There’s no separate Claude Code app for phones, but you have four solid options. Anthropic’s Claude app (iOS and Android) can run cloud sessions or drive a session on your computer through Remote Control. You can also SSH in from a phone terminal and attach to tmux, use the open-source Happy app, or answer your Mac’s agents from the Coral iPhone app.

Which one fits depends on one question: where does the agent run, and what do you want to do from the phone? Steer a whole session, or just answer when it’s waiting on you?

The options at a glance

As of October 2026:

Option 1: Anthropic’s Claude app

Claude Code lives in the Code tab of the regular Claude app for iOS and Android. Sign in with the same claude.ai account you use in the terminal. Run /mobile in a Claude Code session to get a QR code for the app store.

Cloud sessions run on Anthropic’s infrastructure. Pick a repo and branch, describe the task, and it keeps going after you lock your phone. This is the best choice when your laptop will be off and the repo is on GitHub.

Remote Control connects the app to a session on your own machine, so your files, tools and MCP servers stay local. Start it with:

claude remote-control      # server mode, waits for your phone
claude --remote-control    # a normal session you can also drive remotely

Or run /remote-control inside a session that’s already open. Press space to show a QR code, scan it, and the session is in the app. Turn on Push when actions required in /config to get a push for permission prompts and questions, and Push when Claude decides for finished tasks.

Limits worth knowing, from Anthropic’s docs:

• It needs a claude.ai subscription. API keys, Bedrock, Vertex and LLM gateways don’t work.
• The claude process must keep running. Close the terminal and the session goes offline.
• If your machine sleeps, it reconnects when it wakes, but nothing happens while it sleeps.
• Only sessions with Remote Control on show up in the app. To connect every session, turn on Enable Remote Control for all sessions in /config.
• You can’t pick Bypass permissions from the app, and terminal-only commands like /plugin and /resume don’t work there.

We compare it with Coral in detail on Coral vs Claude Code Remote Control.

Option 2: SSH from a phone terminal, plus tmux

The oldest trick still works. Run Claude Code inside tmux on a server or your Mac, then attach from your phone:

# on the machine, once
tmux new -s claude
claude

# from the phone
ssh you@dev-box
tmux attach -t claude

Good phone apps:

• Blink Shell (iPhone and iPad) has SSH and mosh. Mosh keeps the connection alive when you switch networks or the phone sleeps. A 2-week trial, then $19.99 a year.
• Termius runs on iOS and Android, as well as desktop.

The upside: you get the real terminal, any agent, any plan, nothing to install on the server. The downside: you’re typing into a full-screen TUI on a 6-inch screen, and nothing tells you when the agent is waiting. iOS can suspend a plain SSH session once you switch apps, which is why mosh helps. The full setup is in Run Claude Code over SSH and tmux.

Option 3: Happy

Happy is a free, open-source (MIT) app for iOS, Android and the web. You start the agent through its wrapper:

npm install -g happy
happy claude    # or: happy codex

That session syncs to your phone, end-to-end encrypted, and you can continue it from there. Happy also has a desktop app that runs Claude, Codex and Grok side by side. The tradeoff: it sees the sessions you start through happy, not the ones already running in your terminal. Details on Coral vs Happy.

Option 4: Coral on your iPhone

Coral takes a different angle. It doesn’t try to put the whole terminal on your phone. It tells you the moment an agent is waiting on you, and lets you answer.

Coral is a Mac app plus an iPhone app (beta, on TestFlight). It sees every Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI, OpenCode and Grok session on your Mac, in whatever terminal or editor you started it. Nothing to wrap, no special launch command.

Pairing

1. On the Mac, choose iPhone… from Coral’s menu, then Pair iPhone….
2. Scan the QR code with the Coral iPhone app. It works once and expires after 5 minutes.
3. Check that both screens show the same 6-digit code.

No account, name or email. Messages between the two are encrypted end to end, and the relay in the middle can’t read them. See Privacy and security.

What’s Free and what’s Pro on iPhone

So Free tells you everything and lets you queue your answer. Pro makes the phone a real remote. See Pricing.

Safety rules on the phone

Answering a permission prompt from the iPhone needs Face ID, and every answer is signed on the phone. You can deny a risky command from the phone, but allowing it needs your Mac, and “Always allow” isn’t offered from the phone. Plans that are too long to show in full, or that mention secrets or destructive commands, can only be approved on the Mac.

When your Mac is asleep

Coral’s agents run on your Mac, so a sleeping Mac means paused agents. The iPhone shows whether the Mac is awake, asleep or offline, so you know why nothing is moving. Stay Awake (Pro) keeps the Mac up while agents work, then lets it sleep as usual.

Agents on your Linux servers are different: with Servers (Pro), they can reach your iPhone while your Mac sleeps.

There’s also Work while locked (beta), which is for a different job: letting Coral use your locked Mac’s apps for a request you approved on the phone. You don’t need it to answer agents.

What about Android?

Coral’s phone app is iPhone only (it needs Face ID). There’s no Android app. On Android, your choices are:

• The Claude app for Android: cloud sessions and Remote Control both work there.
• Happy, which has an Android app.
• Termius or another SSH client, plus tmux.

Which should you use

• Your laptop will be closed, repo on GitHub: Claude app cloud sessions.
• One long session on your machine, you want to steer it in full: Remote Control, or Happy if you want open source.
• Agents on a server, you want the real terminal: Blink or Termius with tmux, and mosh if your network is flaky.
• Several agents on your Mac in different terminals, and you mostly need to answer when they wait: Coral. You get a push per waiting agent and answer with a tap, without starting sessions a special way.

These mix well. You can run Remote Control for the one session you steer and let Coral watch the rest.

Questions

Is there a Claude Code app for iPhone?

Not a separate one. Claude Code is the Code tab inside Anthropic’s Claude app for iOS and Android, which runs cloud sessions or connects to your computer through Remote Control.

Can I use Claude Code on Android?

Yes. The Claude app for Android has the same Code tab, with cloud sessions and Remote Control. Happy and SSH apps like Termius also work on Android. Coral’s phone app is iPhone only.

Can I approve Claude Code permission prompts from my phone?

Yes, with Remote Control (turn on Push when actions required in /config) or with Coral, where answers need Face ID. With SSH you can answer too, but nothing tells you a prompt is waiting.

Does Remote Control work when my laptop sleeps?

No work happens while it sleeps. Claude Code reconnects when the machine wakes. If the work must continue with the lid closed, use a cloud session or run the agent on a server.

Do I have to start Claude Code differently to use Coral?

No. Coral connects through Claude Code’s hooks once, during setup, and then sees every session in any terminal or editor.