Claude Code from your phone

What it is and why it matters

You're on the train and you remember the thing you need to fix. But the project is on your computer, at home. Remote Control is Claude Code's official feature for this: it connects the Claude app on your phone (iOS or Android), or claude.ai/code in a browser, to a Claude Code session running on your computer.

What matters: Claude works on your computer, not in the cloud. Files, tools, MCP servers and project settings stay there. The phone is just a window onto that session, and the conversation is the same everywhere: you can write from the terminal, the browser and the phone, switching between them.

Remote Control is out of research preview, the trial phase. No homemade bots and no open ports on your computer. The catch: the computer stays on, with Claude Code open.

1. What you need

• A Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise subscription. It doesn't work with an API key.
• On Team and Enterprise, an Owner of the organization first turns on the Remote Control toggle in the Claude Code admin settings: it's off by default.
• Being signed in with your claude.ai account: in Claude Code, type /login.
• Claude Code connected directly to the Anthropic API. It doesn't work with Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry, nor if ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL points to another address, like a gateway or a proxy.
• The Claude app on your phone, with the same account. If you don't have it, type /mobile in Claude Code: a QR code appears that opens the right app store.

If something won't start, type claude doctor in the terminal: it tells you which check failed.

2. Turn it on on your computer: three ways

Server mode: claude remote-control

It's the one I use for the phone. In the project folder, type:

claude remote-control

The terminal waits and shows you the session link. Press the spacebar and a QR code appears: scan it with your phone and it opens in the Claude app. In this mode you don't type in the terminal: it shows the connection status and what Claude is doing. In return you can open several sessions at once.

Normal session: claude --remote-control

It opens the usual session in the terminal, where you can type, and it's reachable from your phone too. The short form is claude --rc, and you can give it a name: claude --remote-control "My project".

From a session that's already open: /remote-control

Already working and need to leave? Type /remote-control (or /rc) in the session: you carry on from your phone with the whole conversation so far. It also works in the Claude desktop app and the VS Code extension.

3. The first time: the questions not to skip

The first time, claude remote-control explains what it does and asks Enable Remote Control? (y/n). Answer y. If you say no, it exits without starting and asks again next time.

If you haven't trusted that folder yet, it tells you what trusting it turns on and asks Trust <folder>? [y/N]. The answer is saved, except in your home folder: there it asks at every start. That's why you launch it in the project folder.

It may also ask how to create sessions. With same-dir they all work in the same folder, and if two touch the same file they get in each other's way. With worktree each new session gets its own copy of the project (a git worktree). If you open one session at a time, same-dir is fine. While it runs, press w to switch.

4. From your phone: your computer's card

1. Open the Claude app and tap Code.
2. At the top you'll find your computer as a device card. It's there while claude remote-control is running.
3. Tap it, pick the project folder, and a session starts there, on your computer.
4. Sessions that are already open are in the list below: Remote Control ones have a computer icon, with a green dot when they're online.

Now write as you would at the computer; @ completes the project's file names. You can attach a photo or a file, even with no text: Claude sees photos directly in the message, while other files are downloaded by Claude Code to the computer and passed to Claude. Perfect for a bug you see on your phone:

I'm attaching a screenshot of an error I see on my phone. Find where it comes from in the code, fix it and run the tests. When the tests finish, send me a notification with the result.

5. Notifications on your phone

Claude can send you a notification when a long job finishes or when it needs a decision from you. You turn them on like this:

1. In the Claude app, sign in with the same account and organization you use in Claude Code.
2. Accept the notification permission when your phone asks.
3. In the terminal, type /config and turn on Push when Claude decides (notifications Claude chooses to send), Push when actions required (permissions and questions), or both.

If /config shows No mobile registered, open the Claude app on your phone: it refreshes the link for notifications. And while you're typing in the connected terminal they don't arrive, because you're already there.

6. Computer on, network dropping out

• If the laptop goes to sleep or the network drops, Claude Code reconnects by itself when the computer is back online. While it sleeps, though, Claude doesn't work.
• If the computer is on but stays offline for a long time, in server mode Claude Code gives up after roughly 10 minutes and claude remote-control exits: you have to run it again. A normal session keeps retrying until the network is back.
• If you close the terminal or stop the server with Ctrl+C, the session goes offline. Running claude remote-control again in the same folder within about four hours brings back the earlier sessions.

To keep a Mac awake there's caffeinate, a command built into macOS: launched like this, it prevents idle sleep for as long as the server stays open. Keep the lid open, though.

caffeinate -i claude remote-control

Common mistakes

• Having ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set: the session uses the key instead of the subscription and Remote Control won't start. Remove it from the terminal or from the env block of settings.json.
• Running claude remote-control from the home folder: the trust question comes back at every start, and the session doesn't start in the project.
• Closing the laptop and expecting Claude to carry on. It only works while the computer is awake and the command is open.
• Waiting for notifications without turning them on in /config. On iPhone, also check Focus modes and the notification summary, which can block or delay them.

Checklist

• I have a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan, and on Team or Enterprise the Owner has turned on Remote Control
• I ran /login with my claude.ai account, with no API keys set
• claude remote-control is running in the project folder
• In the Claude app, under Code, I see my computer at the top
• I sent a photo from my phone and Claude saw it
• Notifications are turned on in /config
• The computer stays on and doesn't go to sleep

Frequently asked questions