OpenClaw Mobile Apps - iOS and Android Setup and Features

OpenClaw has native apps for both iOS and Android, and they work differently from what you might expect. These aren't standalone AI chat apps. They're companion devices that connect to your OpenClaw gateway and extend it with mobile capabilities like camera capture, location services, voice input, and canvas rendering.

That distinction matters because it means you need a gateway running somewhere else (a Mac, a Linux server, or a Windows machine via WSL2) before the mobile apps are useful. But once connected, they turn your phone into a node in your AI agent network with some genuinely interesting capabilities.

How the Mobile Apps Connect

Both apps connect to your gateway over WebSocket on port 18789. Discovery works through a few methods:

Same network (LAN). The apps use mDNS/Bonjour to automatically find gateways on your local network. If your phone and gateway are on the same WiFi, the app should find it automatically.

Tailscale. If you're running Tailscale on both devices, the app can discover the gateway across your tailnet using Wide-Area Bonjour. This is the best option for accessing your gateway when you're not on the same network.

Manual entry. You can type in the host and port directly. Useful when automatic discovery doesn't work or when you're connecting across networks without Tailscale.

The connection process involves pairing. When the app first connects, the gateway owner needs to approve the device through the CLI:

openclaw nodes status

This shows pending pairing requests, and you approve them from the gateway machine. After pairing, the device reconnects automatically.

iOS App Features

The iOS app connects via WebSocket and exposes several node capabilities:

Canvas. The app renders a WKWebView canvas that your AI agent can control. The gateway can navigate to URLs, execute JavaScript, and capture snapshots. In practice, this means your agent can generate and display interactive content on your phone.

Camera capture. The agent can request photos from your phone's camera. Useful for scenarios like "take a photo of this document and extract the text."

Screen snapshot. Capture what's currently on screen and send it to the agent for analysis.

Location. Share your current location with the agent. We've seen this used for location-aware automations, like "what's the weather at my current location" or logistics tracking.

Voice features. Talk mode and voice wake are available, though they work best when the app is in the foreground. iOS can suspend background audio, so voice wake is marked as best-effort when the app is backgrounded.

iOS Troubleshooting

A few things that trip people up:

• NODE_BACKGROUND_UNAVAILABLE means the app needs to be in the foreground for that command. iOS background restrictions are real.
• A2UI_HOST_NOT_CONFIGURED means the gateway address isn't set up. Check Settings in the app.
• If you reinstall the app, you'll need to re-pair with the gateway. The old pairing is invalidated.

Android App Features

The Android app works similarly to iOS but has some additional capabilities thanks to Android's more open platform:

Chat sessions. Full conversation interface with session management, similar to the web dashboard.

Canvas. Same concept as iOS. The gateway-hosted HTML content renders in the app, and the agent can control it.

Camera and voice. Photo capture and voice input, same as iOS.

Device commands. This is where Android gets interesting. The app exposes a broader set of device capabilities:

• Device status information
• Notification management
• Photo library access
• Contacts and calendar events
• Motion tracking (accelerometer, gyroscope)
• SMS commands

These expanded commands mean your AI agent can do things like "check my calendar for tomorrow" or "find photos from last week" directly through the Android app.

Android Connection Options

Beyond the standard LAN and manual options, the Android app supports:

• Tailscale tailnet with Wide-Area Bonjour
• Setup Code pairing for quick connection
• DNS-SD zone configuration for cross-network setups with Tailscale split DNS

macOS App

Worth mentioning alongside the mobile apps: the macOS companion is a menu-bar application that runs on your Mac and connects to the gateway (either local or remote).

It handles TCC permissions (Notifications, Accessibility, Screen Recording, Microphone, Speech Recognition), manages the gateway lifecycle, and exposes macOS-specific capabilities like screen recording and AppleScript automation.

The macOS app supports deep links through the openclaw:// URL scheme, which lets other applications trigger agent requests. Security-wise, unattended deep-link execution requires a valid security key.

Practical Use Cases for Mobile

Here are some patterns we've seen work well with the mobile apps:

Field data collection. A construction client uses the iOS camera capture to photograph site conditions, with the agent automatically categorising and logging the photos. The location feature tags each photo with GPS coordinates.

On-the-go knowledge access. Team members query their internal knowledge base agent from their phone through the chat interface, getting answers to policy questions or process documentation while away from their desk.

Remote monitoring. Using the Android device commands, an agent can check on connected devices, pull status information, and alert the user if something needs attention.

Voice-first interaction. Talk mode lets you have a hands-free conversation with your agent, which is useful in scenarios where you can't type, like driving or working with your hands.

Setting Up Mobile Access

The setup process for both platforms:

1. Install the app from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android)
2. Make sure your gateway is running and accessible (openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose)
3. Open the app and find your gateway through automatic discovery or manual entry
4. Approve the pairing request on your gateway machine
5. Start using the app

If you're accessing the gateway remotely, Tailscale is by far the easiest option. It handles the networking without any port forwarding or firewall configuration.

Getting Help

If you're setting up OpenClaw mobile access for a team, the pairing and networking setup can get fiddly at scale. We configure this as part of our OpenClaw managed service, including remote access configuration, device management, and security policies.

Get in touch if you need help getting your team connected.