On June 29, 2026, OpenClaw shipped official native mobile apps for iOS and Android, announcing on X that “OpenClaw is now on iOS + Android — native mobile apps, finally.” The iOS app is a free download for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch; the Android app ships in parallel. Both are open source under the MIT license and live in the main openclaw/openclaw repository.
The App Is a Node, Not a Cloud
The defining design choice: the app is a thin client that pairs to an OpenClaw gateway you run. It does not host the agent itself and does not route through a vendor cloud. As the App Store listing puts it, “OpenClaw is a personal AI assistant you run on your own devices.” The phone connects to the gateway over a secure WebSocket; all reasoning, model routing, memory, and skill execution stay on the gateway, where your keys and data live. Pairing is done with a setup code or auth token, so a random device cannot attach to your agent.
What the Apps Do
- Chat with your agent, with history synced from the gateway
- Voice / Talk Mode — push-to-talk and continuous hands-free conversation
- Camera and screen access so the agent can see what you point it at
- Device access — location, photos, contacts, calendar, reminders — each gated by normal OS permissions you grant individually
- Action approvals — approve or deny sensitive agent actions from your phone
- Push notifications for workflow completions, cron jobs, channel replies, and node status
iOS adds an Apple Watch app, an Activity widget, and a system share extension; Android exposes a five-tab layout and integrates with Google Assistant App Actions.
The Catch: You Need a Gateway
The local-first model is great for privacy and control, but it means the app needs a gateway that is online and reachable over HTTPS. A laptop sleeps; a home server needs a public URL and TLS. That is where managed hosting fits: a gateway on OpenClaw Launch deploys in about 30 seconds with HTTPS and an auth token already configured, so you can pair the app and run your agent from cellular or any Wi-Fi without keeping a machine awake. See our guides for iPhone and Android, or the mobile app overview.