Mobile Usage
Using Mate from your iPhone or Android device.
Mate on mobile gives you full access to your desktop's sessions from your phone or tablet. It is not a simplified version — you get the same terminals, agent chats, editors, and web previews, just optimized for a smaller screen.
Getting started on mobile
Install Mate
Download Mate from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android).
Connect to your desktop
Make sure your phone and desktop are on the same Wi-Fi network. Open Mate on both devices. Your desktop should appear in the sidebar automatically within a few seconds.
Select your desktop
Tap your desktop in the sidebar. The workspace switches to show your desktop's sessions.
What you can do
Terminals
Full terminal access from your phone. The terminal renders with xterm emulation, supports scrollback, and handles interactive programs. The on-screen keyboard works for typing commands, and you can scroll through output history.
Agent chat
Interact with AI agent sessions running on your desktop. Send messages, view streaming responses, and see tool use in real time. This is great for monitoring long-running agent tasks while away from your desk.
IDE and editor
Browse your project's file tree and edit files. Changes save directly to the desktop's filesystem. The editor supports syntax highlighting and standard text editing gestures.
Web preview
View web apps running on your desktop's localhost. This is genuinely useful for mobile testing — see your responsive design on an actual phone screen, running from your actual dev server.
File transfer
Send files from your phone to your desktop, or receive files from the desktop. Useful for sharing screenshots, photos, or documents without going through a cloud service.
Tips for mobile
- Landscape mode gives you more horizontal space for terminals and code editing
- Swipe to switch between tabs
- Long press for context menus on tabs and sessions
- Create sessions from your phone — they are created on the desktop but you can interact with them immediately
Your phone does not run terminals, AI agents, or the IDE locally. All processing happens on the desktop. Your phone sends input and displays output over the network connection.
Creating sessions remotely
You can create new terminals, agent chats, and other sessions from your phone. When you do, the session is created on the paired desktop — your phone just tells the desktop to start it. This means:
- New terminals use the desktop's shell and filesystem
- New agent chats use the desktop's CLI installations and MCP connectors
- New IDE tabs browse the desktop's files
Network considerations
Mobile works best on a stable Wi-Fi connection. The app handles temporary disconnections gracefully — if you walk out of range briefly and come back, it reconnects. For persistent connectivity issues, see Troubleshooting.