Claude Cowork Expands to Web and Mobile

Anthropic launched Claude Cowork on web and mobile platforms Tuesday for Max subscribers, expanding beyond the desktop app released in January. The update allows users to start tasks on desktop, receive status updates on mobile, and access completed work later — even with their laptop closed.

The multi-platform expansion enables Cowork to run tasks in the background without requiring a device to stay online, according to Anthropic. The company provided an 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."

Usage Data Reveals Business Operations Dominance

Anthropic released usage data from 1.2 million anonymized Cowork sessions across more than 600,000 organizations during the last two weeks of May. The data shows:

• Business process operations: 33.4% — Tasks include compiling scattered updates into reports, building onboarding checklists, and reconciling spreadsheets, primarily in finance, HR, and administration roles
• Content creation and copywriting: 16.4% — Drafts, slide decks, social posts, and proposals typically performed by marketing and management
• Software development: 8.7% — Coding tasks, despite receiving the most attention in AI discourse

"While coding is still—understandably—one of the uses of AI that gets the most attention, the use of AI for everyday business work is on the rise," Anthropic stated.

Integration Across Platforms

The desktop app remains the primary interface for deep work requiring local file and browser access. The web and mobile versions will initially unify chat and Cowork functionality, with projects and artifacts accessible across both interfaces.

Users who haven't installed the desktop app can now access Cowork through web and mobile platforms.

Broader Strategic Context

The expansion positions Cowork as what Anthropic calls an "agentic administrative coworker" rather than a specialized coding tool. The move follows Anthropic's recent launch of Claude Tag, an always-on Claude integration for Slack.

The product evolution reflects competition among AI labs to move beyond chatbots into productivity surfaces where work occurs. OpenAI has similarly expanded Codex beyond software development into reports, spreadsheets, presentations, and data analysis for non-developers.

What This Means

The usage data challenges assumptions about AI agent deployment. While coding agents dominate headlines, the largest enterprise use case appears to be administrative work — tasks that span many roles but aren't core responsibilities. The 33.4% business operations figure, nearly four times larger than coding usage, suggests companies are using AI agents primarily to eliminate coordination overhead rather than replace specialized skills. The multi-platform expansion also signals that AI labs view persistent, background task execution as critical to agent adoption, not just conversational interfaces.