Anthropic Introduces Claude Duet AI Assistant for iPhone and Android [Video]

Anthropic has introduced Claude Duet, a proactive AI assistant that flags what needs your attention and keeps working after you put your phone down. The research preview opens today by waitlist for Claude Pro and Max subscribers in the U.S.

Duet is a standalone app for iOS and Android, with web access through claude.ai. It is built around Claude Opus 5.5 and carries over the memory, skills, and connected apps from your existing Claude account. Requests go into one ongoing conversation, through text or voice.

Rather than waiting for you to open a chat, the assistant sends a morning brief with priorities from your connected accounts. It checks those accounts every few hours and reaches out when something needs attention. Users can tell it which updates they want and how often to receive them.

Work runs on a virtual machine with its own browser, so your iPhone or computer does not have to stay on. A task can be as simple as scheduling a meeting or as involved as building a dashboard, financial forecast, or web app. Duet sends a notification when the work is finished or needs review.

The app can use more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace. For a small business, that could mean finding unpaid invoices in QuickBooks or Stripe and drafting reminders, preparing payroll in Gusto, or putting together follow-up emails from HubSpot's customer and deal history. Canva and Shopify are supported as well.

Duet can read, draft, and prepare work on its own, but must show you what it intends to do and wait for approval before sending a message, making a payment, signing a document, or deleting anything. Some actions remain off-limits even with permission, including trading securities and moving money between accounts.

For purchases, Stripe's Link wallet asks you to approve the spend and pays with a virtual card, keeping your real card number private. Shop Pay is also supported. Duet support for signing in with credentials saved in 1Password is coming later, alongside a richer Shopify storefront editor.

Anthropic says a dedicated safety system is designed to block requests to share credit card numbers or government identification. Sharing other sensitive information, such as health or personal finances, requires an explicit instruction from the user.

The preview has limits. Duet can misread a conversation, misjudge urgency, or miss something between account checks. Personal errands are less developed than business tasks, and users cannot yet view its browser.

Access is included in the eligible subscriptions during the preview, but background checks and tasks draw from the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. Team and Enterprise plans are not included yet. Interested subscribers can join the Claude Duet waitlist.