Looking for the native Mac app? If you want to run the agent on this Mac, download the native Desktop App — that's the recommended option. This page is about using the iOS client on a Mac to control an agent running on another computer.
Overview
The Btelo Coding iOS app can run on Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, M4) — App Store lets you install the same iOS binary directly. You get the exact same sessions, chat, and controls as on iPhone — running natively in a desktop window with a real keyboard. It acts as a client, pointing at an agent running elsewhere (your desktop app, a CLI agent, or a VPS).
There is no separate Mac codebase for this client. The Mac client is the iOS app.
What you get on Mac:
- Near-complete feature parity with iOS. Browsing files, chatting, driving sessions, switching AI providers, managing connectors and crons — almost every iOS feature works the same on Mac.
- Tuned for desktop input. Physical keyboard shortcuts, trackpad scrolling, free window resizing, and copy/paste behave like you'd expect from a desktop app rather than a phone.
- Live sync with iPhone. Chat and session state stream through the relay in real time. Send a message on Mac, watch it land on iPhone instantly — switch devices mid-conversation without losing context.
- Across machines, across networks. The Mac app drives any agent the relay can reach: your home computer, a VPS, a teammate's box, on different networks or in different cities. Move between Wi-Fi, ethernet, and tethered hotspot mid-session — the relay keeps the link alive.
- Beyond the bare terminal. Compared with running Claude or Codex directly in a terminal, every chat message stays in sync between Mac and iPhone, and you can manage multiple working directories and multiple sessions across separate windows side by side.
Requirements
- A Mac with Apple Silicon (Intel Macs cannot install iOS apps from App Store)
- macOS 11 Big Sur or later
- An Apple ID signed into App Store
Install in Four Steps
- Open App Store on your Mac (Dock or Launchpad).
- Search for
Btelo Coding. - In results, switch to the iPhone & iPad Apps tab. That is where iOS apps live on Mac.
- Click Get and install. The app appears in your Applications folder and Launchpad.
Sign In
The simplest way to connect is to scan or paste a connector URL from the agent you want to control:
- On the agent, open its pairing QR code — the Connect panel in the desktop app, or the Dashboard tab in the CLI TUI (press r to refresh, y to copy the URL).
- Open the Mac app, go to the Connect page, and scan the QR or paste the URL. You're in.
Sessions sync through the relay, so you can start a session on Mac and pick it up on your phone — and vice versa.
Client vs. agent
| Role | What it is | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Client (Mac app or iOS app) | The thing you control from | Your Mac or iPhone |
| Agent (desktop app or CLI) | The thing being controlled | Your home computer / VPS |
These are different roles. The iOS-on-Mac client does not run the agent — you still need an agent (the desktop app on Mac/Windows, or the CLI agent) running on the computer you want to control.
Intel Macs
App Store does not offer iOS apps on Intel Macs. To run an agent on an Intel Mac, use the CLI agent (it works on macOS 10.15+ amd64) and connect from your iPhone instead.
Limitations
- The window resizes freely, but the layout follows iPad/iPhone idioms — it is not a redesigned macOS UI.
- Some iOS-only system features (haptics, Live Activities) are not available on Mac.
- Push notifications work via APNs on the official relay only. Self-hosted relays do not deliver notifications.
Native desktop app vs. this
There is a native Desktop App for Mac and Windows — but it plays a different role. The desktop app runs the agent on this machine. The iOS-on-Mac client described here controls an agent running elsewhere. Use the desktop app to turn this Mac into the computer being driven; use the iOS client on Mac to drive a different computer from it.