Building on the momentum of its “Cowork” agentic platform, Anthropic officially launched Claude Dispatch as a research preview on March 17, 2026. The new feature introduces a “phone-to-desktop” workflow, allowing users to initiate, monitor, and control complex AI tasks on their local computers from a mobile device.
Bridging the Mobile-Desktop Gap
While Anthropic’s Cowork (released in January 2026) allowed the Claude desktop app to read and edit local files, it was strictly tethered to the physical machine. Dispatch breaks this limitation by acting as a remote control layer.
- Remote Execution: Users can send a prompt from the Claude iOS or Android app—such as “Organize my Q1 tax receipts on my Mac”—and the desktop agent will execute the task locally in its sandboxed environment.
- Live Session Handover: You can start a research task on your desktop and “dispatch” the status to your phone, allowing you to walk away from your desk while the agent continues to work.
- Hardware Requirements: For Dispatch to work, the host Mac must be awake with the Claude desktop app open. The two devices are paired via a one-time QR code scan.
The “Cowork” Ecosystem Integration
Dispatch is a specialized extension of Claude Cowork. It leverages the agent’s ability to use “Connectors” (like Google Drive, Slack, and local file systems) and its high-reasoning Opus 4.6 backend.
| Feature | Claude Cowork (Desktop) | Claude Dispatch (Mobile) |
| File Interaction | Direct read/write in local folders | Remote command & status view |
| Agent Autonomy | High (Multi-step workflows) | Monitoring & approval gatekeeper |
| Availability | macOS (Windows coming soon) | iOS & Android |
| Subscription | Claude Max | Claude Max (Pro coming soon) |
Setup and Security: Human-in-the-Loop
Consistent with Anthropic’s focus on safety, Dispatch incorporates strict “Human-in-the-Loop” controls.
- Approval Prompts: Even when controlled remotely, the agent will pause and send a push notification to your phone before performing “destructive” actions (like deleting files or moving large directories).
- Sandboxed Environment: The agent can only “see” and “touch” the specific folders or applications the user has explicitly shared with the Cowork app.
- Session Privacy: Anthropic maintains that the “Dispatch” bridge is end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that the command data traveling between your phone and your Mac remains private.
Early Performance: “A Promising Research Preview”
Early hands-on reports suggest the feature is still in its infancy. While it successfully handles “Find and Summarize” tasks across a local hard drive, it can be slow to update the mobile UI. Users have reported a “50/50 shot” at complex file-moving tasks working on the first try, though simple data retrieval has been highly reliable.
Availability
As of today, Claude Dispatch is rolling out exclusively to Claude Max subscribers. Anthropic has promised that Claude Pro users will receive access “within a few days,” with a broader rollout to free users planned for later in 2026.
