Claude Cowork Is on Web and Mobile

Join us for a Free 30-minute Claude Cowork Demo: The Prompt That Replaces an Hour of Work on Wednesday, July 29 at 1 pm CT.

About the Episode:

Cowork technically had a way to reach it from your phone before, it just barely worked. What Anthropic shipped this time is different: real syncing across desktop, web, and mobile. Alane Boyd and Micah Johnson dig into what actually changed, why it's more nuanced than the headlines suggest, and what it means for how you get work done with Claude.

If you've ever wondered why Cowork felt chained to your laptop, this episode answers that question, then immediately complicates it. The file system access that makes Cowork genuinely useful is still desktop only, and understanding that boundary changes how you'll approach every task.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What actually changed between Dispatch, Chat, and the new mobile and web Cowork
• Why starting on desktop still matters, and when mobile Cowork actually helps
• The folder system advantage that most Cowork users are completely skipping
• A real beta bug Micah caught during testing and the workaround that fixed it 100% of the time
• A field work scenario Micah floated for teams who aren't always at a desk (untested, but worth thinking about)
• When Connectors and Skills can carry a task even without the file system

If you're using Claude for real work and want to know exactly how to use the new mobile features without losing what makes Cowork powerful, press play now.

If you want more on setting this up, the free Cowork Masterclass (26 lessons) at your.biggestgoal.ai covers how Cowork actually works, and the Cowork Starter Kit ($49) has the templates, starting prompts, and Skills for building out your folder system and CLAUDE.md file.

Related episodes:

 🎧 The Claude Cowork Experiment: our first real week living inside Cowork, before any of this mobile stuff existed.

🎧 Build a Shared AI Brain for Your Company (No Code Required): the folder system and CLAUDE.md conversation this episode keeps circling back to.

🎧 Claude Cowork Is the AI Managing Our Sales Pipeline: what full featured Cowork looks like when the file system is actually set up right.

Tools & Platforms Mentioned

• Claude / Cowork (Anthropic): Claude's agentic work environment, newly available on web and mobile
• Claude Desktop App: the fully featured version of Cowork with file system access
• Claude Mobile App: newly updated with Cowork support (previously chat only)
• Dispatch: a mobile beta feature for reaching Cowork before this update, rarely used and now superseded
• Connectors (Claude feature): integrations that let Cowork connect to external platforms
• Skills (Claude feature): saved task workflows within Cowork
• CLAUDE.md: a context file that automatically loads into Cowork tasks
• Pipedrive: mentioned as an example Connector integration (CRM)
• Grain: mentioned as an example Connector integration (meeting recording)

Learn More about our AI Leadership Workshop

Winning businesses aren’t just working harder, they understand how to use AI strategically. Sign up for the AI Leadership Workshop, a 3-hour expert-led mastermind designed to give leadership teams clarity, alignment, and a practical path to stay competitive.

Book a call to customize your workshop today!

This episode is brought to you by Biggest Goal.

Every quarter your team spends evaluating AI is a quarter your competitors spend shipping. Most leaders feel the pressure but get stuck between ignoring AI and getting it wrong. More tools and more demos won't fix it. What actually works is hands-on training for the people doing the work.

For more information about our AI education programs, visit biggestgoal.ai.

Free Resources & Upcoming Sessions:

• Free 30-minute Claude Cowork Demo
• Claude Cowork Masterclass
• Asana, ClickUp, or Monday.com Selector Tool
• 25 Free Custom Automation Ideas for your Business

Connect with Us:

• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Community

Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting the podcast!

Transcript

Micah (00:00)
Cowork is no longer stuck on your desktop, so now you can hand off your work from your laptop and actually approve it through your phone. But there's a catch that means the desktop still matters.

Alane Boyd (00:15)
So Micah, I think that this is gonna get really confusing. You've had time to play with it. I have not today. The difference between how Dispatch was working and how now you can use Cowork from your phone or from the desktop.

Micah (00:30)
Yeah, so Dispatch for everybody that's listening was a, I don't think a very often used feature by many people, but it was a beta feature that allowed you to use your Claude mobile app and actually ask Cowork to do things. It was okay at best. Like most of the time it just didn't connect very well. So in all the time that we've been doing this, we don't even use Dispatch.

Alane Boyd (00:58)
I never got into it and I think that's one of the big differences is people they see the Claude mobile app, but you're just chatting. And the chat syncs with what's in your desktop app for chat. So I'll use it on the go like, hey, I've got this idea or I don't want to lose this thought and get something started. And then when I get back to my laptop, I will use Cowork

Micah (01:21)
Yeah, so this is where it gets confusing because you have chat on your phone, which is just chatting, and that syncs from your phone to the web and to the desktop app. And previously you had Cowork, which was only the desktop app, and it didn't sync to your phone and it didn't sync to the web. But you had Dispatch, which was a way to communicate with Cowork, but in a single chat thread. There was no multiple tasks or pick up where you left off and no syncing. So now they've added

Cowork to the web and the mobile app, which syncs. But here's where, if that wasn't confusing enough, here's where it gets even worse. If you start a Cowork task on the web, yes, it syncs back to the desktop, yes, it syncs to your phone. It's not fully featured Cowork. It can't access your file system, it can't do any of the

Alane Boyd (02:00)
Yeah.

Micah (02:14)
commands that it could normally do by accessing your file system. It makes sense, right? It's on the web or on your phone. Of course it can't do that.

Alane Boyd (02:20)
Right. It's

right. It doesn't have that access. And I did want to clarify, because not everybody has access to this yet. It is for personal accounts on the Max plan.

Micah (02:32)
right now. Maybe by the time this publishes and you're listening to this, it depends how far through the week you listen to our episodes, then you might have it. But it's rolling out in the team plan and the pro plan and the other plans over the next two weeks.

Alane Boyd (02:33)
Right now, yeah.

Yeah.

And so what you're doing right now, Micah, from what I understand with how this has been launched, is that you can deploy things or s stuff that you've already started in Cowork and basically keep it moving, but you still have to be connected to the internet and connected on desktop, correct?

Micah (03:10)
Yes and no, it depends what you want to do. I'll start with the easy one, right? if you're on your laptop or your desktop and you're in Claude Desktop and you start a new Cowork task, that's full featured Cowork, right? You have access to your files, your Connectors, your Skills, everything. You can start a task. The second that you start a task on your desktop, it is immediately syncing to the web and to your mobile app.

Alane Boyd (03:12)
Okay.

Micah (03:37)
Because you started it on your desktop, it can load in certain files. But let's say at that point you close down your desktop and you're just operating from your phone at that point. It can no longer access any other files on your hard drive that it hasn't already preloaded from your initial conversation on your desktop. So you're shutting off the access to your files. You can still use it, you can still continue.

But it's gonna be just with Connectors, just with the Skills that you have and not actually accessing any other files that were available to it on your hard drive.

Alane Boyd (04:15)
Do you think that's why this week they launched where Cowork and Chat is toggled in the task now? that's what I'm thinking.

Micah (04:21)
Absolutely.

Yes. Absolutely. Yeah, the design choice makes a lot more sense now.

Alane Boyd (04:27)
Yeah. I was like, why would they do this? they had changed it a couple months ago now. And I think enough people complained and they went back to how it was and then they changed it now to where it's in the chat box.

Micah (04:38)
Yeah. So here's the other scenario where I don't know how often this is gonna happen, right? Because you can start it on your laptop or the desktop app. And if you leave your computer on, open, and connected to the internet with desktop open, you can then continue it on your phone and you have fully featured Cowork on your phone, but it's because it's tying it to the desktop that's open and online on your active computer. Now

My first thought is like, this is fantastic because I could start something, head to the airport, and then keep working. But then I quickly realized, well, I'm gonna close my laptop and put it in my bag and go to the airport, which it won't be open, it won't be on, it won't be connected.

Alane Boyd (05:20)
Yeah.

That's what I was thinking is how at least for those that use a laptop, because so many of us are on the go now or you know, taking it to meetings or whatever it might be, is how often do you really leave your computer on and running? it'll fall asleep within so many minutes. So you really would have to be thoughtful about keeping your computer on, don't let it go to sleep so that it was still connected.

Micah (05:51)
Yeah. Now here's a scenario that I think you'll like that I came up with. You start a task in Cowork, you switch to your phone, you leave your laptop on and open and not going to sleep, and then you go take a walk. Now you can get some fresh air and some exercise and get away from your desk for a little bit and clear your mind, but still be able to continue that task in Cowork and accept permissions or

Alane Boyd (05:56)
Okay, throw it out.

Mm-hmm.

Micah (06:19)
validate what it's doing or whatever it is, you're still tying to a screen. I don't know that I'd recommend this all the time, but at least it's an option.

Alane Boyd (06:28)
I mean, it'd have to be short walks, I think. I don't know.

Micah (06:32)
Yeah, yeah. But that's a

Alane Boyd (06:34)
Have you come up with any

other hacks or use cases from today?

Micah (06:39)
Not, so much because for the most part, you're either at your desk or you're not. And so, I don't want to diminish this too much. This is definitely heading in the right direction, I think. I mean, this is better than what we had before. And honestly, if you're trying to do something in Cowork that doesn't require the file system, then you're in pretty good shape. You yeah.

Alane Boyd (06:49)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, then it could work really well. But or

you could have it working through the Connectors. Okay.

Micah (07:08)
That's what I mean. Absolutely.

So if it's something that needs to be done or could be done through a Connector and can still use your Skills and still has all the features of Cowork, minus the file system, then you're pretty good. But that minus the file system is so big. You know, every single task we start with is connected to a folder.

Alane Boyd (07:15)
Uh-huh.

Ha ha ha.

we have really built that habit when we do use it and it I think I needed a little bit more time to get into that habit than you did. But when I started being on top of it and having it always working out of a folder, then my usage got a lot less because it already had the context it needed. And even for an output, like it had access to our brand kit. So

Micah (07:49)
Yeah.

Alane Boyd (07:54)
When it created a PowerPoint, I didn't need to screw around with it saying, Hey, can you switch this and use these brand? Like it already knew all of that. And so that folder system has really become a big piece of what we do. But I could see we're talking about these cases where you're not in front of your computer. Where would something that you want to have done be helpful in Cowork? And I could definitely see that, even if it didn't have access that it needed in the folder system, but maybe it it's connected to your email and Pipedrive.

and the Grain recording and you need it to pull something or update something, like that is something it could do without having to work out of the folder in that moment.

Micah (08:31)
Yeah. honestly, it really is like a super chat, like an advanced chat at that point, because you're just getting the benefits of those things. I don't know. That's where my head's at on it right now we're really kind of blurring that line. The web version and the mobile version is kind of blurring that line between, well, when do I use Cowork and when do I use chat then?

Alane Boyd (08:40)
Yeah.

Micah (08:56)
And that's already been a question that we get asked all the time. So I do think that as this rolls out, the question between the file system, when to start something on your laptop, when your laptop needs to stay open, when you could start it on your mobile device like all of that all of a sudden, It's like this big gray area.

Alane Boyd (08:59)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Micah (09:17)
what is the right way? And I I think after using it, I just settled back on it just makes sense to use it on the desktop, have the fully featured app, use the file system, and have it set up correctly because that's the full benefit of Cowork. And every once in a while it might be nice to be able to look at my phone if I step away from my desk to continue. But otherwise, I don't know.

Maybe in two weeks we'll do a new episode and we'll have a bunch of different use cases for this. But outside of all of this, I will say again, this does feel like it's heading in the right direction. This is beta. It is very early stages. And at least it's answering the question that everybody has, which is: why is Cowork only on the desktop?

Alane Boyd (10:04)
Well, and I think a couple of things that we could point out here is how little we really use chat. We hardly ever use my only chat sessions are the five that I've had when I was out and not in front of my computer and needed to get something in there to as a start. And so most of our work we have really evolved where we're working out a Cowork primarily, and so is our team, because we have ongoing training for our team to work out a Cowork.

Micah (10:10)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think my chat usage is like zero.

Alane Boyd (10:37)
The other piece where I see a lot of users of Cowork not getting the real benefit is that they're not using the folder system. They're not having it connected because they see the Connectors and the Skills. And of course that's like one of the layers that makes Cowork Cowork. But that folder system is life-changing for getting work done with giving it context.

Micah (10:48)
Mm-hmm.

Alane Boyd (11:00)
based on the things that you do already. Like you already have knowledge stored somewhere. And that folder system is really important. So somebody that's not using the folder system may not really see that missing gap, I think, but they're also not getting the true value of Cowork.

Micah (11:15)
Yeah.

Well put, yes. And I think it's exponential when you're working on a team. If you're just using Cowork by yourself and you're a solopreneur or a freelancer, then the file system isn't as big of a deal. It it still is. It still is. I'm gonna take that back. It still is. It makes your life so much easier if you have that file system set up correctly and that folder of knowledge and the CLAUDE.md file automatically loading into it.

Alane Boyd (11:34)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Micah (11:46)
Yeah, I'm gonna take that back. Even as a solopreneur, even as a freelancer, you're still better off setting up a file system. And that's where if you start a task on Cowork the web or the mobile app, it is just like a glorified chat. Yeah, it gets you your Skills and your Connectors and you can do some stuff quickly, but it's just like super chat and less like Cowork. But if you start it on the laptop and you have a scenario where you're able to keep your computer on.

And then work away from your desk, that that is a huge plus. There are, there are gonna be scenarios like that. And maybe field work comes into this. So a lot of the companies that we work with have teams that have field workers. Well, they could have a Claude desktop app on their computer back at the office or at their home office or whatever. That stays on with Cowork, and then you're in the field and you're able to access full Cowork. Now that could be incredible.

Alane Boyd (12:38)
Yeah, that's true. We'll have to have test it out and tell us how it goes.

Micah (12:42)
Yeah. Now, Alane, while I was testing this, I did find what I think is a bug, at least in this version. Even since I found this, there's already been updates to the desktop app. So I haven't retried it since then. But one of the gotchas that I found was I could notice Claude getting confused between what was the local files and then what Claude is calling staged files that is going to the cloud.

And so already, I mean, again, it's beta, it's very early stages, props to Anthropic for actually heading down this path. But Claude got very, very confused about what staging files were versus what local files were. So hopefully as this rolls out and this progresses, that confusion goes away. And its ability to say, okay, even though I'm connected to cloud and I'm Cowork.

I can differentiate between the two, but it started using words and phrases around like it can't access staging and it can't write to staging. And what staging refers to is it will take local files and stage it for the cloud to use, but then Cowork tries to work from the cloud staging files instead of local, and it's a disaster. The work

Alane Boyd (13:56)
So that's probably

why they're just launching it with the personal max users, because they're probably thinking these are the people that are using it and can be like our beta testers while we get this rolled out and get some of the kinks worked out.

Micah (14:09)
Yeah, and like I said, it's already been updated since I found that happening. So they could have fixed that right away. I don't know yet at the time of this recording. if you run into something like that, oddly, the workaround that I found that fixed it was to start your tasks in a project and connect your local folder to the project. And at that point, it sorts it all out and has no issues. And so it was something with that. And if you

Alane Boyd (14:19)
Mm-hmm.

Micah (14:38)
do start using this and experiment with it, you'll notice on the web that it has projects as well. So maybe the alignment between projects and then having the local project have the folder versus just a straight task to your folders. I don't know what it was, but that was the workaround that I found worked 100% of the time.

Alane Boyd (14:59)
I think that's a really good tip.

Micah (15:02)
It's a temporary tip until Anthropic fixes it. Yeah.

Alane Boyd (15:05)
Yeah, until they fix it.

so Micah, I wanted to ~ make sure our listeners know that we have a free Cowork Masterclass too. And in the Masterclass, you help walk them through setting up their CLAUDE.md, connecting their folder system. And so if you were listening and you're like, well, I haven't done that piece yet, go to your.biggestgoal.ai and it's a free Cowork Masterclass on there. There's 26 lessons and

part of those lessons is helping you get set up with the folder system and having that CLAUDE.md file.