OpenClaw gets its own app, lets you control AI agents from your phone
OpenClaw has launched official Android and iPhone apps. This will let users chat with and control their AI assistant from their phone. Here is everything we know so far.
OpenClaw, the open-source AI assistant that generated buzz early this year, has launched official apps for both Android and iPhone. This means people can now download a dedicated app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and use it to talk to their personal AI assistant, instead of relying on workarounds like Telegram or WhatsApp, which is what iPhone users had to do until now.
How OpenClaw works
To understand why this matters, it helps to know how OpenClaw actually works. Unlike most AI chatbots, which talk directly to a company's servers, OpenClaw runs through something called a Gateway. Think of the Gateway as the "brain" of the assistant. It can live on a person's own computer, on a cloud server, or on some other private setup they control. The new phone app does not contain the AI itself. It simply acts like a remote control that connects to that Gateway and lets a person chat with it, talk to it using voice mode, approve actions it wants to take, manage automated tasks, and receive notifications.
What makes this especially interesting is how much access people can choose to give the assistant. With permission, it can look at the camera, the screen, location, photos, contacts, calendar, and reminders. So instead of just answering questions, the assistant can actually do things. For example, someone could ask it to check their calendar and remind them about a meeting, or to look at a photo and help organize it. That is the difference between a normal chatbot, which simply answers a question, and what's called an "agentic" AI, which can carry out a task on its own once it has permission.
OpenClaw itself has had a fast rise. The project gained a lot of attention after its founder, Peter Steinberger, left to join OpenAI earlier this year. It's now run by a nonprofit group called the OpenClaw Foundation, and OpenAI has said it will offer some support to that foundation, though it hasn't shared the exact details.
In related news, OpenAI has unveiled its first hardware product, but it is not the much-rumoured AI phone. Instead, the company has partnered with accessories maker Work Louder to launch the Codex Micro, a dedicated input device designed for its coding AI tool Codex. The micro pad is aimed at developers and comes with customisable keys and controls that can help users access Codex features more quickly without constantly switching between apps. While OpenAI has not revealed the complete feature set yet, the device is expected to launch on July 15, 2026. The Codex Micro marks OpenAI’s first step into consumer hardware, ahead of its other AI device projects reportedly being developed with former Apple designer Jony Ive.
OpenClaw, the open-source AI assistant that generated buzz early this year, has launched official apps for both Android and iPhone. This means people can now download a dedicated app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and use it to talk to their personal AI assistant, instead of relying on workarounds like Telegram or WhatsApp, which is what iPhone users had to do until now.
How OpenClaw works
To understand why this matters, it helps to know how OpenClaw actually works. Unlike most AI chatbots, which talk directly to a company's servers, OpenClaw runs through something called a Gateway. Think of the Gateway as the "brain" of the assistant. It can live on a person's own computer, on a cloud server, or on some other private setup they control. The new phone app does not contain the AI itself. It simply acts like a remote control that connects to that Gateway and lets a person chat with it, talk to it using voice mode, approve actions it wants to take, manage automated tasks, and receive notifications.
What makes this especially interesting is how much access people can choose to give the assistant. With permission, it can look at the camera, the screen, location, photos, contacts, calendar, and reminders. So instead of just answering questions, the assistant can actually do things. For example, someone could ask it to check their calendar and remind them about a meeting, or to look at a photo and help organize it. That is the difference between a normal chatbot, which simply answers a question, and what's called an "agentic" AI, which can carry out a task on its own once it has permission.
OpenClaw itself has had a fast rise. The project gained a lot of attention after its founder, Peter Steinberger, left to join OpenAI earlier this year. It's now run by a nonprofit group called the OpenClaw Foundation, and OpenAI has said it will offer some support to that foundation, though it hasn't shared the exact details.
In related news, OpenAI has unveiled its first hardware product, but it is not the much-rumoured AI phone. Instead, the company has partnered with accessories maker Work Louder to launch the Codex Micro, a dedicated input device designed for its coding AI tool Codex. The micro pad is aimed at developers and comes with customisable keys and controls that can help users access Codex features more quickly without constantly switching between apps. While OpenAI has not revealed the complete feature set yet, the device is expected to launch on July 15, 2026. The Codex Micro marks OpenAI’s first step into consumer hardware, ahead of its other AI device projects reportedly being developed with former Apple designer Jony Ive.
