Anthropic Brings Claude Cowork to Mobile and Web with Background Execution

Anthropic announced that Claude Cowork, its autonomous agent feature previously limited to the desktop app, is expanding to web browsers and mobile devices with new background execution capabilities.

The feature enters beta with a gradual rollout starting with Max plan subscribers over the next several weeks, according to the company's July 7 announcement. Additional paid plans will gain access in subsequent phases.

Core Capabilities

According to Anthropic, Claude Cowork "works across your files, calendar, email, messaging app, the web, and the other tools you connect until the job is done." The mobile and web expansion introduces three technical changes:

Cross-device continuity: Tasks initiated on desktop can be monitored from mobile devices, with outputs accessible across all platforms through claude.ai and native iOS, Android, and desktop apps.

Background execution: Tasks continue running when devices are closed or disconnected. The system no longer requires an active client connection to complete work.

Scheduled execution without online devices: Users can schedule tasks to run at specific times with no device required online. Anthropic's example: "Set Monday's client prep for 6 am: Claude works through the email threads, transcripts, and recent news, builds the briefing doc, and leaves the follow-up email drafted but unsent."

The system maintains human approval gates. When decisions are required, Cowork sends mobile notifications. No outputs are sent or published without explicit user review and approval.

Interface Changes

Mike Krieger, Anthropic product executive, stated that Chat and Cowork now share a unified interface on web and desktop platforms, consolidating the sidebar, search functionality, and Projects & Artifacts into a single tab. Further Chat and Cowork integration is planned.

Cowork will appear in the sidebar of the Claude mobile apps on iOS, iPadOS, and Android, alongside web access at claude.ai.

Availability

Anthropic is extending doubled Cowork usage limits through August 5 to mark the launch. Pricing per task and specific usage quotas were not disclosed in the announcement.

What This Means

The shift from desktop-only to cloud-based execution fundamentally changes Claude Cowork's architecture from a locally-tethered agent to a server-side autonomous system. Background execution removes the constraint of maintaining an active client session, making scheduled workflows practical for enterprise users. However, the requirement for explicit approval before any external action limits full autonomy, positioning Cowork as a supervised agent rather than a fully autonomous one. The staggered rollout by plan tier suggests Anthropic is managing infrastructure load as it scales server-side agent execution.