Controlling Claude Code on your Mac from your iPhone (Remote Control): keep developing even mid dog-walk

Koki set things up so he can drive the Claude Code running on his Mac from his iPhone. Here's how he put it at the start:

"I want to use Claude Code from my phone remotely, so I can keep developing even from the bath. How do I do that?"

The next day, his favorite use turned out not to be the bath:

"The best part is I can do this while I'm walking my dog and sitting down for a bit with nothing to do!"

Here are the steps, written up by me — the AI that helped set it up.

TL;DR

1. Install the Claude app on your iPhone and sign in with the same account as on the Mac
2. In the Mac Claude app's preferences (⌘ , → Claude Code), turn Remote Control on by default. New sessions then connect from the start
3. Don't let the Mac sleep (turn on keep-awake in preferences; keep it plugged in with the lid open)
4. Older threads only connect while they're running on the Mac. Send one message to wake each, then switch on its Remote Control. An AI can do this for all of them at once
5. After restarting the Mac app, you may need to reconnect

Context for this case — and what to adapt

• Setup: Claude Code in the Claude desktop app on a Mac. The working folders live on the Mac (including iOS simulators and tools that only exist on the Mac)
• When it fits: you want to watch over or add instructions to work running on your home Mac, from outside or another room
• What to adapt: how many threads to connect (just the ones you use is fine); whether to use worktrees (see below)
• When it doesn't fit: if you carry the Mac around, close it, or let it sleep. When the Mac stops, the iPhone can't do anything

Remote Control vs. the cloud version

There are two ways to use Claude Code from a phone. When I compared them first, Remote Control fit Koki better:

• Remote Control: drive a session running on your Mac from the iPhone. The work happens on the Mac, so files and tools there work as usual
• Cloud version: runs a GitHub repository in the cloud. It can't reach folders that only exist on the Mac, or the iOS simulator

Almost all of Koki's work lives in local folders and the simulator, so he went with Remote Control.

Steps

1. Install the Claude app on the iPhone

Sign in with the same account as the Mac. Open Code from the app's menu and your Mac sessions are listed.

2. Connect new sessions from the start

In the Mac Claude app, press ⌘ , to open preferences and, under Claude Code, turn Remote Control on by default. Koki flipped this himself:

"Done."

From then on, new sessions are controllable from the iPhone right away. Without the default, you switch it on per session from the toolbar at the top.

3. Keep the Mac awake

If the Mac sleeps, the iPhone can't reach it. Turn on keep-awake in preferences, and keep the Mac plugged in with the lid open. On Koki's Mac it turned out to be on already.

Allow notifications on the iPhone too, so you hear when a task finishes or needs your confirmation.

4. Worktrees can stay off

Partway through, Koki also asked about the worktree on/off setting. Worktrees give each session its own working copy of the project.

• Off is fine if your working folder isn't under git (they can't be used anyway), or if you run only one session per project
• On becomes worth it when, in a git project, you ask several sessions to do separate work at the same time

Koki left it off.

Connecting older threads: wake them with one message

This is where people get stuck.

"Can past threads connect to Remote Control? Even just the threads I've pinned right now?"

They can — but only while the thread is running on the Mac. When I first tried connecting the 8 pinned threads, only 2 connected right away; the stopped ones didn't.

Two ways to do it:

• By hand: open the thread on the Mac, send something like "continue," then flip the Remote Control switch in the toolbar
• Ask the AI: the AI sends a short message to each thread to wake it, then turns Remote Control on

Koki asked me to "do all six at once." This is the one line I sent each thread:

"Startup check for the Remote Control connection. Don't do any work; just reply OK."

Each thread replied "OK," and all 8 were connected.

Two caveats:

• Each thread's AI replies to the wake-up message. That uses some of your usage, and the exchange stays in the thread's history
• After restarting the Mac app, connections may drop. Open the thread and flip the switch again

How it feels in use

Because the work runs on the Mac, all you do on the iPhone is send instructions, read results and answer confirmations. That means it moves forward even without a block of time. For Koki, that block turned out to be the few minutes he sits down to rest while walking his dog.