Since launch, the single biggest complaint about Cowork was simple: it only lived on your desktop. That just changed. Cowork is rolling out to the web and mobile, so you can hand off a task at your desk, close the laptop, and check the finished result from your phone. Here's how it actually works, and the one catch to plan around.
MJBy Micah Johnson · Biggest Goal6 min readWeb · Mobile · Beta
Since it launched, the loudest complaint about Claude Cowork was simple: it only lived on your desktop. That is about to change. Anthropic is rolling Claude Cowork out to the web and mobile, which means the actual work moves onto Anthropic's servers. The trade-off is a good one. You can give Claude a task at your desk, close the laptop, get on a plane, and check the finished result from your phone. The work keeps going without you.
There is a catch, and it is worth understanding before you rearrange your week around it, because it might not work quite the way you're picturing. First, let's align on what Cowork even is.
First, what Cowork actually is
Cowork is the Claude platform where you stop chatting with Claude and start delegating real work to it. Instead of asking a question and getting an answer back, you hand Claude a whole task, and it works across your files, calendar, email, messaging apps, the web, and whatever other tools you've connected until the job is done.
Chatting
Ask a question, get an answer
You do the thinking, then you go do the actual work yourself. The output is words on a screen.
You still build it
Coworking
Hand over a task, get it done
Claude works across your files, calendar, email, messaging, and the web until the job is finished.
It does the work
The shift Cowork makes: from answers to finished work.
How people actually use it
When Anthropic looked at how Cowork was being used, more than 90% of it had nothing to do with writing software. The two biggest categories were business operations and content creation, the unglamorous work that fills a real week:
•
Reconcile the quarter
Close out the quarter's spend and draft the variance memo from the raw numbers.
•
Turn contracts into a tracker
Take a folder of contracts and build a renewals tracker with the risks flagged.
•
Build tomorrow's client deck
Assemble the deck from call transcripts and pipeline data, ready for you to review.
Anthropic calls this the work around the work. It is rarely in anyone's job description, but it eats a large share of everyone's week. That is exactly the work Cowork is built to take off your plate.
90%+
Of Cowork use is not writing software
2×
Cowork usage limits, doubled through Aug 5
3
Surfaces: desktop, web, and mobile
Get set up the right way
Cowork only pays off once it's set up around your work.
The teams getting the most out of Cowork aren't doing anything exotic. They gave Claude the right context, connected the right tools, and learned how to hand off a real task. Our free Cowork Masterclass walks you through that setup step by step, from your first context folder to a working system your team will actually use.
Free · Self-paced · 26 short lessons
Three things to know
The web and mobile rollout changes three things about how Cowork fits into a day:
1
Your work follows you
Start a task on your laptop, check on it from your phone, pick up the output anywhere. It's the same session on every surface.
2
Work continues in the background
Close the laptop and Claude keeps going. Scheduled tasks now run even when no device is online. Set "Monday client prep, 6am" and Claude works the email threads, transcripts, and recent news, builds the briefing, and leaves the follow-up drafted but unsent for you to review over coffee.
3
The decisions still come to you
When Claude hits a call only you can make, it stops and asks, and the question shows up as a notification on your phone. Nothing gets sent or shipped until you've reviewed and approved it.
This isn't "AI runs loose while you sleep." It's closer to an assistant who does the legwork overnight and leaves everything on your desk for a yes or no in the morning.
How it works, and here's the catch
The feature that makes Cowork so powerful is not fully available in the web and mobile version. Because those versions run in the cloud, they cannot reach the files on your computer unless your machine is on and the desktop app is open.
In a remote session, Claude's work runs on Anthropic's servers instead of on your computer, and your sessions and files are saved to your Claude account rather than living on one machine. That is what lets a task keep running after you close the laptop. But the moment a task needs a file that lives on your actual computer, or needs to drive your browser or click around your screen, Claude has to reach back to your machine, and that only works while the desktop app is open. So the honest version of "close your laptop and it keeps working" splits in two:
✓ Runs in the cloud
No device needed
Email, calendar, and web research
Connected apps like Drive and your CRM
Building a doc from that material
Keeps working with your computer off
⚠ Lives on your machine
Desktop app must be open
Files on your hard drive or a synced folder
Anything that drives your browser
Clicking or typing on your screen
Needs the app open and the machine awake
Cloud work runs anywhere. Local work needs the desktop app open.
If your workflow depends on documents that only exist in a local or synced folder, plan for the desktop app to stay open. If it runs mostly through email, calendar, and connected cloud apps, you can genuinely close the laptop and walk away. All in all, this is a big step up from what we had a couple of days ago.
Who gets it, and when
Access is not instant for everyone. It's rolling out in beta over the next several weeks, starting with the Max plan and expanding from there. Computer use, where Claude clicks and types directly on your screen, is a research preview on Pro and Max. If you're on a lower tier and don't see it today, the short version is: it's coming, just not first.
Step 1
Max plan users first
Step 2
More plans over the following weeks
Now through Aug 5
Cowork usage limits doubled
To mark the launch, Anthropic doubled Cowork usage limits through August 5.
That doubled-limit window through August 5 is the reason to act now rather than later. If you've been meaning to test Cowork on a bigger, messier task, this is the stretch with the most room to do it.
Here's where to start on each surface:
WebHome tab at claude.ai
MobileThe Claude app (iOS / Android)
DesktopThe latest Desktop app
Still in beta: what's desktop-only for now
A few things are worth remembering while this is early. Desktop is still the "full" experience, the place where deep work happens and Claude has the most reach into your local files and browser. Web and mobile are about starting, steering, checking, and approving from wherever you are, not replacing the desktop app.
·
Some features are desktop-only
Live artifacts (the interactive dashboards and pages Claude can build), local connectors, and any plugins that run on your machine work only in the desktop app for now.
·
Local-folder projects stay on desktop
Projects tied to a local folder support Cowork sessions on desktop only. And Cowork won't quietly change a project's contents, so if you want it to keep something, save it to the project yourself.
None of that undercuts the headline. For the first time, the "assign it and walk away" version of Cowork is real for cloud work, and the desktop app is still there for everything that touches your machine.
Yes. Anthropic is rolling Cowork out to the web (the Home tab at claude.ai) and to the Claude app for iOS and Android, alongside the existing desktop app. It is a beta that arrives over several weeks, starting with the Max plan and expanding to more plans from there, so if you don't see it yet, that's expected.
Does Cowork keep working when I close my laptop?
For cloud-based work, yes. Anything Claude reaches through the web or a connected cloud service, like email, calendar, Google Drive, or your CRM, runs on Anthropic's servers and continues even when your computer is off. Scheduled tasks now run with no device online. But work that needs a file on your actual computer, your browser, or your screen only runs while the Claude desktop app is open on that machine.
What is the catch with Claude Cowork on web and mobile?
The web and mobile versions cannot reach the files on your computer unless the desktop app is open and the machine is awake. Once you shut down the computer or the desktop app, remote sessions can only read files already loaded into context and can no longer write to your local file system. If your workflow depends on documents in a local or synced folder, plan for the desktop app to stay open.
Who gets Claude Cowork on web and mobile first, and is there a promo?
The rollout starts with Max plan users and expands to more plans over the following weeks. Computer use, where Claude clicks and types on your screen, is a research preview on Pro and Max. To mark the launch, Anthropic doubled Cowork usage limits through August 5, which is the best window to test it on a bigger, messier task.
Free Masterclass · $0
Assign it. Walk away.
Cowork on web and mobile only helps if you know how to hand off a real task. The free Cowork Masterclass is the fastest way to get set up: the context, the connected tools, and the workflow that lets you close the laptop with confidence.
