Can I use Claude Code from my phone?

Yes. Claude Code's Remote Control connects the Claude app on iOS or Android, or claude.ai/code, to a session running on your computer. Start it with claude remote-control, claude --remote-control, or /remote-control in a running session. It needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan; API keys are not supported.

Does my computer have to stay on?

Yes, for every option that controls a local session: the agent keeps running on your computer and the phone is only a window into it. Cloud sessions such as Claude Code on the web run elsewhere, but without your local files and tools.

How do I watch several agents from one phone screen?

Claude Code's Remote Control lists Claude sessions in the Claude app, and the ChatGPT app does the same for Codex. To see Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Gemini and Cursor sessions together, run them as panes in VS Code or Cursor with Paneherd and pair your phone with its phone remote, or attach to a shared tmux session over SSH.

Guide

How to control Claude Code and Codex from your phone

By Eren Çolak, who makes Paneherd · Updated 20 October 2026

A coding agent that needs you while you are away from your desk just waits: for a permission, an answer, or its next prompt. There are now several ways to reach it from your phone. They differ in which agents they cover, what the phone can do, and what they ask of your setup. In every one of them the agent keeps running on your computer, so your computer has to stay on and awake.

1. Claude Code Remote Control

Anthropic's own option. Remote Control connects the Claude app on iOS or Android, or claude.ai/code, to a Claude Code session on your machine. There are three ways to start it:

claude remote-control runs a server in the current folder that you start sessions from on the phone. Press the spacebar to show a QR code.
claude --remote-control starts an ordinary interactive session that the phone can join too.
/remote-control (or /rc) connects a session that is already running, including in the Claude Code extension for VS Code.

From the phone you can send messages, attach photos and files, and answer permission prompts. With Push when actions required turned on in /config, the Claude app notifies you when a session needs a decision. It needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan and a claude.ai login: it does not work with an API key, or with ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL pointing at a gateway. On Team and Enterprise an Owner has to turn it on first.

Best for: Claude Code on a Claude subscription. It is the most complete option for Claude, and it is built in.

2. Codex in the ChatGPT app

OpenAI added Codex control to the ChatGPT app for iPhone and Android in 2026. You pair the phone with Codex on your computer by scanning a QR code shown by the Codex app, then start tasks, follow their progress and approve commands from the phone. Newer Codex CLI versions also have an experimental codex remote-control command for machines without the desktop app. Which plans, regions and host systems are covered has changed during the rollout, so check OpenAI's current documentation before you count on it.

Best for: Codex on a ChatGPT plan.

3. Happy, an open-source app for both

Happy is an open-source mobile and web client for Claude Code and Codex. You start the agent through its wrapper (happy claude or happy codex) instead of the bare command, and switch to the phone when you leave. Its makers say the connection is end-to-end encrypted, and it notifies you when the agent needs permission. Sessions you start without the wrapper are not covered.

Best for: one app for Claude Code and Codex, if you are happy to launch them through it.

4. SSH and tmux

The tool-independent way. Run your agents inside tmux on your computer and attach to the same tmux session from an SSH app on the phone (Termius, Blink and others), usually over a VPN such as Tailscale so the computer is not exposed to the internet. You see the real terminal of any agent, whatever its maker. A phone keyboard is a hard place to drive a terminal UI, though, and nothing tells you when an agent starts waiting.

Best for: people who already work in tmux, and agents no app supports.

5. Paneherd's phone remote, for every pane in your editor

If you run several agents of different kinds side by side in VS Code or Cursor, Paneherd runs each one as a pane in an editor grid, and its phone remote shows all of them on one page. Run Pair a Phone…, scan the QR code and click Allow in the editor. Your phone opens paneherd.com/remote in the browser, with no app to install, and lists every editor window's panes with their status: working, waiting for permission, asking a question, or done. You can send a prompt to one pane or to several at once. With Pro you also answer Claude Code's permission prompts from the phone (Allow, Always, Deny).

It works for Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Gemini and Cursor panes alike (Gemini and Cursor panes take prompts but report no status), whatever plan or API key each one uses, because it talks to the editor rather than to Anthropic or OpenAI. Messages go through Paneherd's relay sealed with a key only your phone and your editor have, so the relay cannot read them. It only covers agents running as Paneherd panes.

Best for: a mixed herd of agents in your editor, seen and prompted from one page.

Side by side

	Agents	On the phone	Needs
Claude Code Remote Control	Claude Code	Claude app or browser	Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise; no API keys
Codex in ChatGPT	Codex	ChatGPT app	A ChatGPT plan; Codex app on the host
Happy	Claude Code, Codex	Happy app or browser	Starting agents through its wrapper
SSH and tmux	Any	An SSH app	tmux, SSH access, usually a VPN
Paneherd phone remote	Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Gemini, Cursor	Browser	VS Code or Cursor with Paneherd

Which one to pick

Mostly Claude Code on a subscription: use Remote Control, it is built in. Mostly Codex: use the ChatGPT app. Several kinds of agents at once in your editor: Paneherd's phone remote shows them together, and you can still turn on Remote Control in a Claude pane when you want the Claude app's full view of that one session. The options do not exclude each other.