OpenClaw Releases Companion Node Apps for iOS and Android

OpenClaw released native companion applications for iOS and Android this week, with the iOS app titled 'OpenClaw – AI that does things.' Both applications are available for free download and are designed not as standalone chatbots, but rather to function as nodes within a self-hosted AI agent network. The core AI assistant, known as the Gateway, runs on a separate machine, while the phone apps provide access to the device's camera, location, voice capabilities, and Canvas features. This architectural separation is a key design principle of the OpenClaw project.

The OpenClaw project is an open-source personal AI assistant and agent developed by Peter Steinberger and community contributors. It is independent and not affiliated with Anthropic. The system's core is built using TypeScript and requires Node 24 or Node 22.19+ for runtime. The Gateway component can be run on macOS, Linux, or Windows operating systems utilizing WSL2. Users interact with the agent through existing chat applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, and iMessage. The agent possesses capabilities including web browsing, executing shell commands, and reading/writing files. It supports various AI models through API keys from chosen providers and features persistent memory along with community-developed skills and plugins.

The Gateway serves as the central control plane for the entire system, managing sessions, routing, communication channels, tools, and events. A single Gateway process is run on the user's machine or server. Incoming chat messages are directed to the Gateway, not the connected phone nodes. Companion nodes establish a connection to the Gateway via a WebSocket, defaulting to port 18789. During the pairing process, each node registers with the role 'node.' Nodes expose a command interface through 'node.invoke,' which includes command families for accessing canvas, camera, device functions, notifications, and system-related operations. Privacy-focused commands are initially disabled and require explicit user allowlisting.