Claude Cowork Unveils New Mobile and Web Platforms

Claude Cowork — Anthropic’s Claude Code-inspired assistant crafted for general knowledge tasks — is now available on mobile platforms.

Originally launched as a desktop application in January, Claude Cowork is now open on the web and mobile starting Tuesday for Max subscribers. This update enables users to start tasks on their desktops, receive updates on their mobile devices, and revisit completed work later, even when their laptops are powered down.

This expansion suggests that Anthropic seeks to redefine Cowork as more than a basic coding tool; it aspires to become an intelligent administrative assistant that operates seamlessly in the background, follows users across devices, and solicits human input for decisions requiring user judgment.

Essentially, the rivalry among coding agents is beginning to extend into the wider office environment.

This development aligns with AI companies aiming to broaden their capabilities beyond chatbots and into practical workflows. OpenAI has made similar advancements with Codex, which originated as a software tool but is increasingly being leveraged by non-developers for activities like generating reports, managing spreadsheets, creating presentations, conducting research, and analyzing data.

Both companies are wagering that success will hinge less on having the superior chatbot and more on mastering the context in which work occurs.

This initiative also extends to other applications. Anthropic has recently unveiled Claude Tag, an always-active variant of Claude that integrates with Slack, acting as an AI collaborator.

The launch of Cowork as a multi-platform application empowers the agent to continue performing tasks in the background without needing a device to be online, according to the company.

For example, Anthropic describes a scenario: “Schedule Monday’s client prep for 6 am: Claude reviews email threads, transcripts, and recent news, assembles the briefing document, and prepares the follow-up email without sending it. Review it over your morning coffee.”

The desktop application remains the primary platform for extensive tasks, allowing Claude to access local files and the internet. However, making Cowork available on web and mobile means that users who haven’t downloaded the desktop app can still reap its benefits. Anthropic states that chat and Cowork will initially be integrated on web and desktop, with projects and related items consolidated across both platforms.

Anthropic has also shared preliminary data on Cowork, indicating that the main use of the tool revolves around managing “work around the work,” which is essential for organizational operations, addressing what they refer to as the “tasks that, while crucial to numerous jobs, rarely constitute the central focus of an individual’s responsibilities.”

This analysis reviewed 1.2 million anonymous Cowork sessions from over 600,000 organizations during the last two weeks of May.

The largest category, accounting for 33.4%, was business process operations: integrating various updates into a cohesive report, developing onboarding checklists, and reconciling spreadsheets. These activities are common in finance, HR, and administration roles, as per Anthropic.

The second largest category, making up 16.4%, was content creation and copywriting, which includes tasks like drafting documents, creating slide presentations, posting on social media, formulating proposals, and other communications typically tied to marketing and management functions. In contrast, software development constituted only 8.7% of Cowork’s usage.

“While coding remains a notable application of AI, there’s an emerging trend of utilizing AI for routine business tasks, and the specific areas where users find it most beneficial are becoming clearer,” Anthropic noted in a blog entry. “Our goal is to establish a benchmark for those integrating AI solutions into their daily operations and to pinpoint where the most significant value lies.”