OpenClaw Mobile Platforms: iOS and Android

🌏 中文版

OpenClaw’s mobile apps are not what you might expect — they don’t run a Gateway. Instead, they connect to a Gateway as Nodes. The Gateway runs on your computer or server, while the phone exposes its hardware capabilities (camera, screen, location, microphone) for AI agents to use.

The Role of a Node

Gateway (computer / VPS)
    ↕ WebSocket
Phone Node (iOS / Android)
    ↕
Camera, Canvas, Location, Voice, SMS...

A Node is a peripheral device, not a Gateway. Messages enter from a chat app to the Gateway, and the Gateway routes tool calls requiring phone hardware to the paired Node.

iOS

Currently in internal preview stage.

Connection Methods

Three discovery methods:

Method	Scenario
Bonjour (local network)	Gateway and iPhone on the same network
Tailscale DNS-SD	Cross-network, but both on the same tailnet
Manual host/port entry	Any situation

Pairing Flow

1. Start the Gateway
2. In the iOS app settings, discover or manually enter the Gateway
3. Approve the pairing in the Gateway CLI:

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

Features

Canvas — Renders interactive content via WKWebView. The Gateway serves an HTTP endpoint at /__openclaw__/canvas/, which can navigate to custom URLs, execute JavaScript, and take screenshots.

Camera — Front and rear camera photo capture and video recording (JPEG / MP4).

Voice Wake — Wake word activation plus continuous voice mode.

Location — GPS positioning.

Push Notification Architecture

The iOS version uses a relay-backed push system instead of storing APNs tokens directly on the Gateway. This is designed to:

• Prevent distribution of production certificates to user deployments
• Ensure the relay only accepts officially released Apple builds
• Allow Gateways to send push notifications only to their own paired devices
• Maintain encrypted delegation between the app, relay, and Gateway

Limitations

• Media commands require the app to be in the foreground (iOS background execution restrictions)
• Keychain tokens may be lost after reinstalling the app, requiring re-pairing
• Missing Canvas host configuration will cause Canvas loading failures

Android

Source code is open, but not yet publicly released. You can build it yourself with Java 17 + Android SDK.

Connection Methods

Discovers the Gateway via mDNS/NSD, or manually enter the WebSocket URL (ws://<host>:18789).

Pairing Flow

Similar to iOS: connect via Setup Code or manual mode, then approve in the Gateway CLI.

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

Features

Android offers richer functionality than iOS because Android’s permission model is more open:

Chat — Message history, sending messages, push update subscriptions.

Canvas / Camera — HTML/CSS/JS editing, JPEG screenshots, MP4 recording.

Voice — Microphone control, transcription, TTS playback (ElevenLabs or system TTS fallback).

Device Commands (Android exclusive):

Command	Function
device.notifications	Read notifications
device.contacts	Read contacts
device.calendar	Read calendar
device.callLogs	Read call logs
device.sms	Send SMS
device.motion	Motion sensors
device.status	Device status

Eight-Step Setup Flow

1. Enable verbose logging on the Gateway
2. (Optional) Verify discovery with dns-sd
3. Connect the Android app (Setup Code or manual)
4. Approve pairing in the Gateway CLI
5. Verify connection (openclaw nodes status)
6. Test chat functionality
7. Test Canvas / Camera
8. Test Voice and device commands

iOS vs Android Feature Comparison

Feature	iOS	Android
Canvas	✅ WKWebView	✅ WebView
Camera (photo)	✅	✅
Camera (video)	✅	✅
Location	✅	✅
Voice Wake	✅	✅
Voice / TTS	✅	✅
Push notifications	✅ relay-backed	✅
SMS sending	❌	✅
Contacts / Calendar	❌	✅
Call logs	❌	✅
Notification reading	❌	✅
Motion sensors	❌	✅
Public release	Internal preview	Unreleased (self-build)

Telegram Pairing (Recommended for iOS)

If you use Telegram, the simplest iOS pairing method is through the device-pair plugin:

1. Send /pair to the bot on Telegram
2. The bot replies with setup instructions and a setup code
3. iOS app → Settings → Gateway, paste the setup code
4. Back in Telegram: /pair pending to confirm and approve

The setup code is a base64-encoded JSON containing the Gateway WebSocket URL and a short-lived bootstrap token.

Overall

In OpenClaw, the phone is not “just another chat interface” — it is a sensory extension for AI agents. The Gateway thinks in the cloud or on your computer, while the phone provides real-world inputs like camera, location, and screen. Android can do more thanks to its more open permission model (read notifications, send SMS, access calendar). iOS, on the other hand, has a more rigorous security architecture for push notifications.

References

This article is compiled from the following OpenClaw source documents:

• docs/platforms/index.md — Platform overview
• docs/platforms/ios.md — iOS platform
• docs/platforms/android.md — Android platform
• docs/nodes/index.md — Nodes overview
• docs/nodes/camera.md — Camera features
• docs/nodes/audio.md — Audio features
• docs/nodes/voicewake.md — Voice Wake features
• docs/nodes/location-command.md — Location features
• docs/channels/pairing.md — Pairing mechanism (Telegram pairing)