OpenClaw for iOS
Connect your iPhone or iPad to OpenClaw as a node
Connect your iPhone or iPad to OpenClaw as a node
The iOS app turns your iPhone or iPad into a mobile client for OpenClaw: chat, Canvas, voice, and camera, all talking to your existing Gateway. You need a Gateway running on a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine first—the app connects to it as a “node” and doesn’t run OpenClaw by itself. From there it’s install (from source), pair the device, and you’re set. Below: what to have in place first, how to pair, what you can do from the app, and how to connect when you’re away from home.
Sections:
The iOS app is a client: it talks to an OpenClaw Gateway and doesn’t run the assistant on the phone. So you need a Gateway already running on a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine (or a server). Once that’s up, you add your iPhone or iPad as a “node”—same conversations, Canvas, and voice, but from your pocket. If you haven’t set up OpenClaw yet, get the Gateway running with the Installation guide, then come back here to add the app. For keeping the Gateway running in the background, see Configuration and the platform-specific pages (e.g. macOS for the daemon).
There’s no App Store build yet—you install the OpenClaw iOS app by building it from source. That gives you the full app on your iPhone or iPad so you can pair with your Gateway and use chat, Canvas, voice, and camera on the go. The project’s source (e.g. OpenClaw on GitHub) includes the iOS app; check the repo for the exact path and any build notes.
Installing on a physical device requires an Apple Developer account. Simulator builds may work with a free account depending on how the project is set up. After the app is on your phone, pair it with your Gateway.
Pairing links your iPhone or iPad to your Gateway so the app can send and receive messages, show Canvas, and use voice. Until you pair, the app won’t have an assistant to talk to. Do this once per device; the app will remember the Gateway until you remove it or something changes (e.g. new host or port—then re-pair).
On the Mac, Linux, or Windows machine where OpenClaw runs, start the Gateway if it isn’t already:
openclaw gatewayOpen the OpenClaw app on your iPhone or iPad.
The app scans for Gateways on your network (Bonjour/mDNS), lists any it finds, and lets you pair with a QR code or pairing code. Confirm and you’re connected. If nothing shows up, use manual pairing below or see Troubleshooting.
When the app can’t find your Gateway automatically (e.g. different subnet or VPN), get the Gateway address from the machine running OpenClaw (e.g. 192.168.1.100:18789—check the Gateway output or your network config). In the iOS app, open the manual connection option, enter that address, and complete the pairing steps.
After you’re paired, the app is your mobile window into OpenClaw: the same assistant, conversations, and capabilities you have on desktop, from your iPhone or iPad.
Canvas is OpenClaw’s visual workspace—agent-driven UIs, forms, and live updates in one place. On the phone you get the same Canvas with a touch-friendly layout: tap elements, scroll, and watch updates in real time. Good for dashboards, structured tasks, or anything that’s easier with a visual UI than chat alone. Full picture in the Browser & Canvas guide.
The in-app chat is your main way to talk to the assistant from the phone: send messages, scroll through history, and get notified when replies arrive. Same conversations and agents as on desktop, so you can pick up threads or start new ones on the go. If you also use channels like Telegram or WhatsApp, the iOS app is another client to the same Gateway—one more way to reach OpenClaw from your pocket.
Voice wake (wake word to start), talk mode (two-way voice), and voice notes all work on iOS. The app uses the device mic and iOS speech. Turn them on in the app’s settings and grant microphone access when asked. For wake word choice, TTS, and other options, see Voice features and Voice setup tutorial.
Take a photo or pick one from your library and send it into the conversation. The agent can analyze it, pull out text, or use it as context. Same behavior and model config as the rest of OpenClaw; useful for documents, screenshots, or anything you want to discuss visually.
OpenClaw includes an Apple Watch companion (MVP): watch inbox UI, notification relay, and gateway commands for status/send from the wrist. The Gateway can also wake disconnected iOS nodes via APNs before invoking them and auto-reconnect sessions on silent push when the app is backgrounded, so invokes are less likely to fail when the phone is in your pocket. Pairing and onboarding were improved: stale pairing state is reset on manual retry, and pairing-status flicker during auto-resume was reduced.
At home, same Wi‑Fi as the Gateway is enough. When you’re elsewhere—travel, office, café—you need a way for the phone to reach the Gateway. You get the same app experience (chat, Canvas, voice); only the path to the Gateway changes. Pick the option that matches how you use the phone and how much you want to configure.
When the phone and the Gateway share the same Wi‑Fi, the app finds the Gateway automatically (Bonjour/mDNS). Nothing to configure; usually the fastest and most reliable. Use it at home or anywhere both devices are on the same LAN (e.g. office).
Tailscale puts your devices on a private network. Install it on the Gateway host and on your iPhone or iPad, same tailnet. The app can then discover and connect to the Gateway over Tailscale from anywhere—no port forwarding or firewall gymnastics. The Remote Access guide has step-by-step Gateway config and discovery.
You can tunnel to the Gateway over SSH. On your Mac or PC run ssh -L 18789:localhost:18789 user@gateway-host so local port 18789 forwards to the Gateway. Then point the iOS app at the machine that has the tunnel (e.g. your laptop on the same hotspot, or a machine your phone can reach). Details and variants (e.g. reverse tunnel) are in the Remote Access page, SSH Tunnels section.
iOS will prompt for permissions as you use the app. Each one unlocks part of the experience:
Grant what you need when prompted; you can change most of these later in iOS Settings → OpenClaw. If something doesn’t work (e.g. voice or discovery), check Troubleshooting and that the right permission is enabled.
Most issues on iOS boil down to: the app can’t reach the Gateway, the connection drops, or voice/permissions don’t work. Below are the usual fixes. For Gateway logs, channel config, or other server-side problems, the main Troubleshooting guide and community (Discord, Telegram) have more.
Confirm the Gateway is running on the host (openclaw status). Ensure the phone and the Gateway are on the same Wi‑Fi (or the same VPN, if you use Tailscale etc.). If discovery still fails, use manual pairing and enter the Gateway address (e.g. 192.168.1.100:18789) in the app. On the host, check that the firewall isn’t blocking the Gateway port and that the Gateway is binding so it’s reachable on the LAN (see Remote Access if the host is headless or remote).
Unstable Wi‑Fi or VPN can cause disconnects. Check that the Gateway is still running and that the network is stable. If it keeps happening, remove the Gateway from the app and pair again; sometimes the app needs a fresh handshake.
Grant microphone access when the app asks (and in iOS Settings → OpenClaw if you denied it earlier). Some voice features need speech recognition enabled for the app in Settings. If it still doesn’t respond, restart the app and try again; see Voice features for server-side voice config.
A few things that keep the app useful day to day: