Availability: iPhone app builds are distributed through Apple channels when enabled for a release. Local development builds can also run from source.

What it does

• Connects to a Gateway over WebSocket (LAN or tailnet).
• Exposes node capabilities: Canvas, Screen snapshot, Camera capture, Location, Talk mode, Voice wake, and opt-in Health summaries.
• Receives node.invoke commands and reports node status events.
• Browses the selected agent's workspace read-only from the Agents surface (Files): directory drill-down, syntax-highlighted text previews, image previews, and share-sheet export. No write operations; previews are size-capped by the gateway.
• Keeps a small read-only offline cache of recent chat sessions and transcripts per paired gateway: cold opens paint the last known transcript immediately and refresh once the gateway responds, recent chats stay browsable while disconnected, and reset/forget purges the protected local cache.
• Queues text messages sent while disconnected in a durable per-gateway outbox (up to 50): queued bubbles show in the transcript, flush in order on reconnect with idempotent retries, remain durable until canonical history confirms the send, retry with backoff before surfacing a retry/delete action, and expire instead of sending after 48 hours offline; reset/forget clears the queue with the cache.
• Chat is the single text-and-voice surface. Chat actions can open the full Sessions screen without leaving Chat and can show or hide assistant reasoning and tool activity. Tap the microphone for draft dictation, open its menu to record a voice note, or use the inline Talk control for realtime voice; the Talk control animates from live microphone or playback level while listening or speaking.
• Speaks assistant messages on demand: long-press a message in Chat and choose Listen. The app plays supported gateway tts.speak clips with the configured TTS provider and falls back to on-device speech when gateway audio is unavailable or unplayable. Playback stops on session switch or backgrounding.

Requirements

• Gateway running on another device (macOS, Linux, or Windows via WSL2).
• Network path:
  • Same LAN via Bonjour, or
  • Tailnet via unicast DNS-SD (example domain: openclaw.internal.), or
  • Manual host/port (fallback).

Quick start (pair + connect)

On first launch the app walks through a short pairing explainer and a permissions page (notifications, camera, microphone, photos, contacts, calendar, reminders, location). Every grant is optional and can be changed later in Settings -> Permissions, or in the iOS Settings app.

1. Start an authenticated Gateway with a route your phone can reach. Tailscale Serve is the recommended remote path:

openclaw gateway --port 18789 --tailscale serve

For a trusted same-LAN setup, use an authenticated gateway.bind: "lan" instead. The default loopback bind is not reachable from a phone. If the Gateway has not been configured yet, run openclaw onboard first so setup-code creation has a token or password auth path.

2. Open the Control UI, select Nodes, and click Pair mobile device on the Devices page. Full access is recommended and selected by default; choose Limited access only when you want to omit administrative Gateway controls, then click Create setup code.

3. In the iOS app, open Settings -> Gateway, scan the QR code (or paste the setup code), and connect.

   If the setup code contains both LAN and Tailscale Serve routes, the app probes them in order and saves the first reachable endpoint.

4. The official app connects automatically. If Pending approval shows a request, review its role and scopes before approving it.

   Settings → Gateway shows whether the saved operator connection has Full or Limited access. Plaintext LAN ws:// setup is automatically limited for bearer-token safety. If it is limited, configure wss:// or Tailscale Serve, scan a new full-access code from Control UI or openclaw qr, then reconnect to enable settings and upgrades.

The Control UI button requires an already paired session with operator.admin. As a terminal fallback, pick a discovered gateway in the iOS app (or enable Manual Host and enter host/port), then approve the request on the Gateway host:

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

If the app retries pairing with changed auth details (role/scopes/public key), the previous pending request is superseded and a new requestId is created. Run openclaw devices list again before approval.

Optional: if the iOS node always connects from a tightly controlled subnet, you can opt in to first-time node auto-approval with explicit CIDRs or exact IPs:

{
  gateway: {
    nodes: {
      pairing: {
        autoApproveCidrs: ["192.168.1.0/24"],
      },
    },
  },
}

This is disabled by default. It applies only to fresh role: node pairing with no requested scopes. Operator/browser pairing and any role, scope, metadata, or public-key change still require manual approval.

5. Verify connection:

openclaw nodes status
openclaw gateway call node.list --params "{}"

Health summaries

The iOS node can return an opt-in, read-only HealthKit aggregate for the current calendar day. iOS device consent and explicit Gateway command authorization are independent gates. See HealthKit summaries for setup, invocation, payload fields, privacy behavior, and troubleshooting.

By default, the Apple Watch companion keeps using the existing iPhone relay and does not need a separate Gateway pairing. Pair the Watch with the iPhone in Apple's Watch app, install OpenClaw from Watch app -> My Watch -> Available Apps, then open OpenClaw once on both devices.

Review command approvals

An operator connection with operator.admin, or a paired operator.approvals connection explicitly targeted by the Gateway, can review pending exec requests on iPhone. The approval card shows the Gateway's sanitized command preview, warning, host context, expiry, and only the decisions offered by that request. The paired Apple Watch receives the same reviewer-safe prompt through the existing iPhone relay and offers the compact allow-once/deny decision subset. Direct Watch Gateway mode does not carry approval prompts.

Approval state is shared with the Control UI and supported chat surfaces. The first committed answer wins. iPhone and Watch fetch the Gateway's canonical terminal record after another surface resolves the request, after a remote resolved notification, and whenever a resolve acknowledgement may have been lost. Actions stay unavailable until that readback confirms whether the request remains pending.

Approval ownership is bound to the selected Gateway. Switching gateways cannot apply an old prompt to the replacement connection. Gateways that predate the unified approval methods fall back to the shipped exec-specific methods; retained terminal state and richer cross-surface results require an updated Gateway.

Answer agent questions

Chat shows pending Gateway questions as native cards for operator connections with operator.questions (or operator.admin). Cards support single- and multi-select options, option descriptions, free-text Other answers, and an expiry countdown. Reconnects reload pending questions from the Gateway. A card locks when this device answers it, another surface answers it first, or the question expires or is cancelled.

Optional direct Apple Watch node

Direct mode gives the watch its own signed node identity and Gateway connection. Supported node commands continue to work over watch Wi-Fi or cellular while OpenClaw is active, even when the paired iPhone is unavailable.

Requirements:

• The iPhone is connected to the Gateway with operator.admin scope.
• The setup code advertises a wss:// Gateway endpoint with a certificate trusted by watchOS; the watch polls the corresponding https:// origin. Plain HTTP and self-signed or fingerprint-only trust are unsupported. See Gateway-owned pairing for endpoint configuration. Loopback, iPhone-only, and tailnet-only routes are not independently reachable by the watch.
• Cellular use requires a cellular-capable Apple Watch with active service.
• OpenClaw is active on the watch. Apple does not allow ordinary watchOS apps to keep generic WebSocket/TCP connections, so the direct node uses short HTTPS polls and reconnects when the app returns to the foreground. See Apple's watchOS low-level networking guidance.

Setup:

1. On iPhone, open Settings -> Apple Watch.
2. Tap Enable Direct Gateway Connection.
3. Open OpenClaw on the watch before the short-lived setup code expires.
4. Verify the separate Apple Watch row with openclaw nodes status.

The setup code contains a short-lived, node-only bootstrap credential; treat it like a password until it expires. It never contains the iPhone's saved Gateway password or token. After pairing, the watch stores its own device token and deletes the bootstrap credential. Direct mode covers only the commands below. Chat, Talk, approvals, and the existing watch.* notification flow remain iPhone-relay features and still require the paired iPhone.

Direct watchOS node commands:

watchOS does not expose WebKit to third-party apps, so the direct watch node does not advertise Canvas commands.

Relay-backed push for official builds

Official distributed iOS builds use an external push relay instead of publishing the raw APNs token to the gateway. Official App Store builds from the public release lane use the hosted relay at https://ios-push-relay.openclaw.ai; this base URL is hardcoded for App Store distribution and does not read any override.

Custom relay deployments require a deliberately separate iOS build/deployment path whose relay URL matches the gateway relay URL. The App Store release lane never accepts a custom relay URL. If you're using a custom relay build, set the matching gateway relay URL:

{
  gateway: {
    push: {
      apns: {
        relay: {
          baseUrl: "https://relay.example.com",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

How the flow works:

• The iOS app registers with the relay using App Attest and a StoreKit app transaction JWS.
• The relay returns an opaque relay handle plus a registration-scoped send grant.
• The iOS app fetches the paired gateway identity (gateway.identity.get) and includes it in relay registration, so the relay-backed registration is delegated to that specific gateway.
• The app forwards that relay-backed registration to the paired gateway with push.apns.register.
• The gateway uses that stored relay handle for push.test, background wakes, and wake nudges.
• If the app later connects to a different gateway or a build with a different relay base URL, it refreshes the relay registration instead of reusing the old binding.

What the gateway does not need for this path: no deployment-wide relay token, no direct APNs key for official App Store relay-backed sends.

Expected operator flow:

1. Install the official iOS app.
2. Optional: set gateway.push.apns.relay.baseUrl on the gateway only when using a deliberately separate custom relay build.
3. Pair the app to the gateway and let it finish connecting.
4. The app publishes push.apns.register once it has an APNs token, the operator session is connected, and relay registration succeeds.
5. After that, push.test, reconnect wakes, and wake nudges can use the stored relay-backed registration.

Background alive beacons

When iOS wakes the app for a silent push, background refresh, or significant-location event, the app attempts a short node reconnect and then calls node.event with event: "node.presence.alive". The gateway records this as lastSeenAtMs/lastSeenReason on the paired node/device metadata only after the authenticated node device identity is known.

The app treats a background wake as successfully recorded only when the gateway response includes handled: true. Older gateways may acknowledge node.event with { "ok": true }; that response is compatible but does not count as a durable last-seen update.

Compatibility note:

• OPENCLAW_APNS_RELAY_BASE_URL still works as a temporary env override for the gateway (gateway.push.apns.relay.baseUrl is the config-first path).
• The App Store release build's push mode hardcodes the hosted relay host and never reads a relay-URL override — the OPENCLAW_PUSH_RELAY_BASE_URL build-time env var only affects local/sandbox iOS build modes.

Authentication and trust flow

The relay exists to enforce two constraints direct APNs-on-gateway cannot provide for official iOS builds:

• Only genuine OpenClaw iOS builds distributed through Apple can use the hosted relay.
• A gateway can send relay-backed pushes only for iOS devices that paired with that specific gateway.

Hop by hop:

1. iOS app -> gateway: the app pairs with the gateway through the normal Gateway auth flow, giving it an authenticated node session plus an authenticated operator session. The operator session calls gateway.identity.get.
2. iOS app -> relay: the app calls the relay registration endpoints over HTTPS with App Attest proof plus a StoreKit app transaction JWS. The relay validates the bundle ID, App Attest proof, and Apple distribution proof, and requires the official/production distribution path — this is what blocks local Xcode/dev builds from using the hosted relay, since a local build cannot satisfy the official Apple distribution proof.
3. gateway identity delegation: before relay registration, the app fetches the paired gateway identity from gateway.identity.get and includes it in the relay registration payload. The relay returns a relay handle and a registration-scoped send grant delegated to that gateway identity.
4. gateway -> relay: the gateway stores the relay handle and send grant from push.apns.register. On push.test, reconnect wakes, and wake nudges, the gateway signs the send request with its own device identity; the relay verifies both the stored send grant and the gateway signature against the delegated gateway identity from registration. Another gateway cannot reuse that stored registration, even if it somehow obtains the handle.
5. relay -> APNs: the relay owns the production APNs credentials and the raw APNs token for the official build. The gateway never stores the raw APNs token for relay-backed official builds; the relay sends the final push to APNs on behalf of the paired gateway.

Why this design was created: to keep production APNs credentials out of user gateways, avoid storing raw official-build APNs tokens on the gateway, allow hosted relay usage only for official OpenClaw iOS builds, and prevent one gateway from sending wake pushes to iOS devices owned by a different gateway.

Local/manual builds remain on direct APNs. If you are testing those builds without the relay, the gateway still needs direct APNs credentials:

export OPENCLAW_APNS_TEAM_ID="TEAMID"
export OPENCLAW_APNS_KEY_ID="KEYID"
export OPENCLAW_APNS_PRIVATE_KEY_P8="$(cat /path/to/AuthKey_KEYID.p8)"

These are gateway-host runtime env vars, not Fastlane settings. apps/ios/fastlane/.env only stores App Store Connect auth such as APP_STORE_CONNECT_KEY_ID and APP_STORE_CONNECT_ISSUER_ID; it does not configure direct APNs delivery for local iOS builds.

Recommended gateway-host storage, consistent with other provider credentials under ~/.openclaw/credentials/:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/credentials/apns
chmod 700 ~/.openclaw/credentials/apns
mv /path/to/AuthKey_KEYID.p8 ~/.openclaw/credentials/apns/AuthKey_KEYID.p8
chmod 600 ~/.openclaw/credentials/apns/AuthKey_KEYID.p8
export OPENCLAW_APNS_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH="$HOME/.openclaw/credentials/apns/AuthKey_KEYID.p8"

Do not commit the .p8 file or place it under the repo checkout.

Discovery paths

Bonjour (LAN)

The iOS app browses _openclaw-gw._tcp on local. and, when configured, the same wide-area DNS-SD discovery domain. Same-LAN gateways appear automatically from local.; cross-network discovery can use the configured wide-area domain without changing the beacon type.

Tailnet (cross-network)

If mDNS is blocked, use a unicast DNS-SD zone (choose a domain; example: openclaw.internal.) and Tailscale split DNS. See Bonjour for the CoreDNS example.

Manual host/port

In Settings, enable Manual Host and enter the gateway host + port (default 18789).

Multiple gateways

The app keeps a registry of every gateway it has paired with, so you can switch between them without pairing again:

• Settings -> Gateway shows a Paired Gateways list with the active gateway marked. Tap an entry to switch; the app tears down the current sessions and reconnects to the selected gateway. A quick-switch menu appears next to the connection row when more than one gateway is paired.
• Credentials, TLS trust decisions, per-gateway preferences, and cached chat history are stored per gateway. Switching never mixes state between gateways, and push registration follows the active gateway.
• Swipe a paired gateway (or use its context menu) to Forget it, which removes its credentials, device tokens, TLS pin, and cached chats.
• Discovered gateways must be visible on the network to switch to them; manual gateways reconnect by saved host and port.

Canvas + A2UI

The iOS node renders a WKWebView canvas. Use node.invoke to drive it:

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.navigate --params '{"url":"http://<gateway-host>:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/"}'

Notes:

• The Gateway canvas host serves /__openclaw__/canvas/ and /__openclaw__/a2ui/, from the Gateway HTTP server (same port as gateway.port, default 18789).
• The iOS node keeps the built-in scaffold as the connected default view. canvas.a2ui.push and canvas.a2ui.reset use the bundled app-owned A2UI page.
• Remote Gateway A2UI pages are render-only on iOS; native A2UI button actions are accepted only from bundled app-owned pages.
• Return to the built-in scaffold with canvas.navigate and {"url":""}.

Computer Use relationship

The iOS app is a mobile node surface, not a Codex Computer Use backend. Codex Computer Use and cua-driver mcp control a local macOS desktop through MCP tools; the iOS app exposes iPhone capabilities through OpenClaw node commands such as canvas.*, camera.*, screen.*, location.*, and talk.*.

Agents can still operate the iOS app through OpenClaw by invoking node commands, but those calls go through the gateway node protocol and follow iOS foreground/background limits. Use Codex Computer Use for local desktop control and this page for iOS node capabilities.

Canvas eval / snapshot

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.eval --params '{"javaScript":"(() => { const {ctx} = window.__openclaw; ctx.clearRect(0,0,innerWidth,innerHeight); ctx.lineWidth=6; ctx.strokeStyle=\"#ff2d55\"; ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(40,40); ctx.lineTo(innerWidth-40, innerHeight-40); ctx.stroke(); return \"ok\"; })()"}'

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.snapshot --params '{"maxWidth":900,"format":"jpeg"}'

Voice wake + talk mode

• Voice wake and talk mode are available in Settings.
• OpenAI realtime Talk uses client-owned WebRTC when talk.realtime.transport is webrtc; an explicit gateway-relay configuration remains Gateway-owned. See Talk mode.
• Talk-capable iOS nodes advertise the talk capability and can declare talk.ptt.start, talk.ptt.stop, talk.ptt.cancel, and talk.ptt.once; the Gateway allows those push-to-talk commands by default for trusted Talk-capable nodes.
• iOS may suspend background audio; treat voice features as best-effort when the app is not active.

Common errors

• NODE_BACKGROUND_UNAVAILABLE: bring the iOS app to the foreground (canvas/camera/screen commands require it).
• A2UI_HOST_UNAVAILABLE: the bundled A2UI page was not reachable in the app WebView; keep the app foregrounded on the Screen tab and retry.
• Pairing prompt never appears: run openclaw devices list and approve manually.
• Watch shows no iPhone state: confirm the iPhone reports watchPaired: true and watchAppInstalled: true in watch.status. If pairing is false, pair the Watch in Apple's Watch app. If installation is false, install the companion from My Watch -> Available Apps. After either change, open OpenClaw on the Watch once; immediate reachability still requires both apps to be running, while queued updates can arrive later in the background.
• Reconnect fails after reinstall: the Keychain pairing token was cleared; re-pair the node.

Related docs

• Pairing
• Discovery
• Bonjour

Source: docs/platforms/ios.md