Anthropic brings Claude Cowork to web and mobile, with cross-device task continuity
Anthropic has extended Claude Cowork, its agent for general knowledge work, beyond the desktop. The tool, which first launched as a desktop app in January, is now rolling out in beta on web and mobile, with Max subscribers getting first access. A new Dispatch feature keeps a single persistent thread across devices, letting a user start a task on a laptop, check on it from a phone, and pick up the finished output later.
How does Dispatch route work between Claude Code and Cowork?
The new experience is built around a feature Anthropic calls Dispatch, which keeps a single persistent thread for each user. When a request arrives, Dispatch decides which engine handles it: development tasks go to Claude Code, general knowledge tasks go to Cowork. Claude then returns the result rather than narrating each step, which keeps the thread readable on a phone screen.
Anthropic positions Cowork less as a coding tool and more as a background helper for the work surrounding coding, including document handling, reporting, and cross-application coordination.
What do early usage numbers show?
Alongside the rollout, Anthropic released early usage figures from 1.2 million anonymized sessions across more than 600,000 organizations during the last two weeks of May. The breakdown:
- Business process work (spreadsheet reconciliation, report building, finance, HR, and admin tasks): 33.4%
- Content creation and copywriting: 16.4%
- Software development: 8.7%
Anthropic uses these numbers to argue that everyday business tasks, not software engineering, are where agentic AI is landing hardest in organizations today.
Does the desktop app still matter?
The desktop application remains the primary environment for work that needs local file access or browser control. The web and mobile versions broaden the audience to people who never installed the desktop client, and they let existing users stay connected to running tasks from anywhere.
That convenience comes with a sharp edge. Giving a phone remote control of a desktop agent means a manipulated instruction or a phishing link could trigger hard-to-reverse actions on a workstation. Anthropic’s own guidance tells users to connect these agents only if they trust every app in the chain, a caution worth taking seriously as office software fills with autonomous helpers.
Where does this fit in the broader agent race?
Cowork’s expansion fits a broader shift in the AI industry from chatbot interfaces toward the surfaces where work actually happens. OpenAI has been pushing Codex in a similar direction, evolving a coding tool into a general enterprise-work platform aimed at non-developers. For both labs, the bet is that owning the place where tasks get done will matter more than owning the best standalone chatbot.
Startups are crowding the same space. Viktor recently raised $75 million to embed an AI coworker inside Slack and Teams. Anthropic has also been widening Claude’s footprint across office software over recent months, including integrations with Microsoft Word and enterprise rollouts such as KPMG deploying Claude to 276,000 staff. Google is pressing the same front with its Gemini Spark agentic assistant.
FAQ
What is Claude Cowork and where can I use it now?
Claude Cowork is Anthropic’s agent for general knowledge work. It first launched as a desktop app in January and is now rolling out in beta on web and mobile, with Max subscribers getting first access.
How does the Dispatch feature work across devices?
Dispatch keeps a single persistent thread for each user and decides which engine handles a request: development tasks go to Claude Code and general knowledge tasks go to Cowork. Claude returns the result instead of narrating each step, so the thread stays readable on a phone.
What kinds of tasks are people actually using Cowork for?
According to Anthropic’s figures from 1.2 million anonymized sessions across more than 600,000 organizations in the last two weeks of May, 33.4% of use was business process work, 16.4% was content creation and copywriting, and 8.7% was software development.