Anthropic Brings Claude Cowork to Mobile and Web — Background Tasks Run Even When Your Laptop Is Closed

What happened

Anthropic on July 7, 2026 expanded Claude Cowork (originally a desktop-only app since January 2026) to web and mobile devices. Max plan subscribers can now run autonomous work tasks even with their laptop closed.

Context and impact

Cowork is Anthropic's bridge between AI coding agents and the much larger market of knowledge workers. Internal data shows over 90% of Cowork sessions involve non-coding work. The largest category (33.4%) is business process work—compiling reports, building onboarding checklists, and reconciling spreadsheets.

Details

• Cloud background processing: tasks continue running even when devices are powered off or locked
• Cross-device sync: start on desktop, get status updates on mobile, retrieve output later
• Beta rollout: Max plan first, more plans to follow over the coming weeks
• Doubled Cowork usage limits extended through August 5, 2026
• Available at claude.ai (web) and the Claude mobile app