How to Set Up Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork is Anthropic's collaborative AI feature for running agentic tasks — complex, ongoing operations — across desktop, web, and mobile, with sessions and files following you between devices (Anthropic announced the web and mobile expansion on July 7, 2026).

Our Claude Cowork web & mobile guide covers how the feature works once it is running. This guide covers the part that guide does not: the actual setup steps to get from a Claude account to a working Cowork session.

Anthropic continues to adjust plan requirements and rollout availability, so confirm current access on claude.ai before you start — treat the steps below as the working shape of setup rather than a permanent, unchanging flow.

Step 1: Confirm Your Claude Plan Supports Cowork

Cowork rolled out first to desktop and has since expanded to web and mobile, but availability has depended on your Claude plan and account type as Anthropic staged the rollout. Before troubleshooting anything else, confirm your plan actually includes Cowork by checking your account settings on claude.ai or Anthropic's current documentation.

If you are on a team or enterprise Claude plan, an admin may need to enable Cowork at the workspace level before individual members see it.

Why the Cowork Option Is Missing on Your Phone

If your message box shows neither Chat nor Cowork, your phone already has the new unified design. The Cowork option (some people call it a tab) has not disappeared. Anthropic explains in its help article Use Claude Cowork on web, desktop, and mobile that the combined chat and Cowork experience is rolling out to Pro and Max accounts. In this unified layout, the message box drops separate mode selectors so you can describe your task directly in any regular conversation.

In the older mobile interface, you select Cowork in the message box to start a task, or select Chat to return to a standard conversation. Anthropic's documentation does not publish a completion date for this staged rollout, and its articles describe no setting to turn the unified layout on early. For more details on supported workflows across devices, refer to our Claude Cowork web and mobile guide.

Since October 6, 2026, new Cowork tasks on Pro and Max plans run in the cloud, while local folders remain on your machine. Claude reaches your folders only through the desktop application while it stays open. You will receive a mobile push notification when Claude finishes a task or asks for input.

Work through these checks in order to identify your app status:

• Update your mobile application: Install the latest Claude app for iOS or Android from your device app store to make sure your client has current features.
• Check your subscription plan: Cowork requires a paid subscription. Anthropic confirms in its help article Get started with Cowork that Cowork is available on Pro, Max, Team (in beta), and Enterprise plans, but not on the Free plan.
• Identify your interface state: If your message box shows no Chat or Cowork options, you have the new experience and can type your task immediately. If you have the older layout, choose the Cowork option inside the message box.
• Confirm workspace administration settings: On Team and Enterprise plans, access requires an organization owner or administrator to enable Cowork or turn on the unified setting. Contact your administrator if your paid account lacks the option.
• Review desktop requirements: Mobile lets you start, steer, and review tasks, use connectors, and run scheduled tasks. If your task requires local files, local connectors, computer use, or the built-in browser, the Claude Desktop app must remain open and online on your computer.

Step 2: Enable Cowork and Start a Session

From claude.ai in a web browser, or from the message box in the official Claude mobile app, open a document or workflow you want AI-supported help with and start it as a Cowork session rather than a plain chat. On accounts that already have the combined Chat and Cowork experience there is no separate Cowork selector, so you describe the task in a regular conversation.

The desktop app remains the option built for the most complex, longest-running workflows, so if your first task is a heavy multi-step job, starting it there and continuing on web or mobile afterward is a reasonable default.

• Web: start a session directly from claude.ai in any browser.
• Mobile: choose Cowork in the message box of Claude's official iOS or Android app, or describe the task in any conversation if your message box shows no Chat or Cowork options.
• Desktop: still the primary surface for the most complex, longest-running agentic workflows.

Step 3: Move Between Devices Without Losing Progress

Once a session is running, it persists in your account rather than on the device that started it. Files and context uploaded to the session sync automatically, so you can close a laptop mid-task, pick up the same session on your phone, and continue without re-uploading anything.

Background agentic tasks keep processing even while you are not actively looking at the app, which is what makes the cross-device handoff useful rather than just a sync feature — see our full functionality guide for how session and file persistence works under the hood.

Step 4: If Cowork Does Not Appear

If you do not see a Cowork option after checking your plan, the most common causes are a staged rollout that has not reached your account yet, a workspace admin setting that needs enabling for team/enterprise accounts, or an outdated mobile app version.

Update the app, confirm your plan on claude.ai, and check Anthropic's current help documentation for the latest rollout status before assuming something is broken on your end.