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Guide

OpenClaw Mobile App

On June 29, 2026, OpenClaw shipped official native apps for iOS and Android — free downloads that put your AI agent in your pocket. This is the overview: what the apps do, how they connect, the iPhone vs Android differences, and how to pair to a gateway without running your own server.

Get the Apps

What the App Actually Is

The OpenClaw mobile app is a thin client — a “node” in OpenClaw terms. It does not run the AI or a gateway on your phone. Instead it pairs to an existing OpenClaw gateway over a secure WebSocket and acts as a window into it. The gateway does the reasoning, model routing, memory, and skill execution; the phone gives the agent a chat surface, a voice, and access to your device's hardware.

This is a local-first, self-hosted model: nothing routes through a vendor cloud. Your keys, config, and data live on the gateway you control. The flip side is that you must have a gateway running somewhere reachable — on your own server, or on a managed instance.

What It Can Do

  • Chat: full conversation with your agent, with history synced from the gateway.
  • Voice / Talk Mode: push-to-talk and continuous hands-free voice, with on-device speech recognition.
  • Camera & screen: let the agent see through your camera or read your screen for visual tasks.
  • Device access: location, photos, contacts, calendar, and reminders — each gated by normal OS permissions you grant individually.
  • Approvals: when the agent wants to run a sensitive action, it asks your phone first; you tap allow or deny.
  • Share extension (iOS): send links, text, and media into your agent from another app; Android integrates with Google Assistant for similar quick access.
  • Push notifications: workflow completions, cron jobs, channel replies, and node status reach you on your phone.

iPhone vs Android — What's Different

Both apps share the same core: pair to a gateway, chat, voice, camera, device access, and notifications. The platform-specific extras:

  • iOS adds an Apple Watch app, an Activity widget, and a system share extension. Setup and the Talk/voice flow are covered in the OpenClaw on iPhone guide.
  • Android exposes a five-tab layout (Connect, Chat, Voice, Screen, Settings) and integrates with Google Assistant App Actions. Install and connection methods are in the OpenClaw Android app guide.

How to Connect

All connection paths come down to: point the app at a gateway, then approve the pairing. There are three ways to reach the gateway:

  1. Same LAN: the app auto-discovers a gateway on your local network (Bonjour/mDNS). Tap it and pair.
  2. Tailscale / tailnet: reach a gateway on your private mesh from anywhere, including cellular.
  3. Manual URL: enter any reachable gateway address — a public HTTPS domain, a LAN IP with port 18789, or your managed instance URL.

Pairing is then approved on the gateway side (via a setup code / auth token), so a random device can't attach to your agent.

The Easiest Backend: a Managed Gateway

The hardest part of the local-first model is keeping a gateway online and reachable. A laptop sleeps; a home server needs a public URL and TLS. With OpenClaw Launch you deploy a gateway in about 30 seconds and it comes with HTTPS, an auth token, and networking already done. Pair the app with three steps:

  1. Deploy an instance from the configurator on openclawlaunch.com.
  2. In the app, choose manual connect and paste your instance URL (e.g. https://your-instance.openclawlaunch.com).
  3. Approve the pairing with the auth token from your dashboard. Status flips to Connected.
Why managed for mobile: the app needs a gateway that is always on and publicly reachable over HTTPS. A managed instance is exactly that, so the app stays connected from any network without you babysitting a machine.

License & Source

The apps are open source under the MIT license and live in the main openclaw/openclaw monorepo (under apps/ios and apps/android). You can build from source or install the signed store builds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the OpenClaw app need its own server?

It needs a gateway, not necessarily your own server. Pair it to a self-hosted gateway, or to a managed instance — both work the same way from the app's perspective.

Is the OpenClaw mobile app free?

Yes — both the iOS and Android apps are free downloads. The cost, if any, is in the gateway and the model API you use.

Can one gateway power the app and messaging channels?

Yes. A single gateway can serve the native app and your Telegram, WhatsApp, and Discord channels at the same time, all sharing the same agent and memory.

Can I run the gateway on my phone?

No. The phone is a node, not a host. The gateway runs on a server or PC (or a managed instance). See the per-platform guides for details.

Related Guides

Don't Have a Gateway Yet?

Deploy a managed OpenClaw gateway in 30 seconds, then pair the iOS or Android app — no server setup required.

Deploy with OpenClaw Launch