How to use Claude Code on an iPad

You can't install Claude Code on an iPad, because Anthropic builds it for macOS, Windows and Linux only. Using Claude Code on an iPad means driving it from somewhere else: Remote Control links the Claude app to a session on your computer, cloud sessions run on Anthropic's machines, and SSH with tmux gives you the real terminal.

Why Claude Code doesn't run on the iPad itself#

Anthropic's system requirements list macOS 13.0+, Windows 10 1809+ or Windows Server 2019+, Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 10+ and Alpine Linux 3.19+. iPadOS isn't on the list, and the Claude app for iPad doesn't include the CLI.

The Claude app does run on the iPad. Anthropic's mobile page says "On an iPad, install the same iOS app", and the App Store listing asks for iPadOS 18.0 or later. But the same page calls the app "a client for Claude Code sessions rather than a place where code runs" (Claude Code on mobile). So in every option below the iPad is the screen and the keyboard, and the agent works on a Mac, a Linux box or a cloud machine.

Option 1: Remote Control in the Claude app#

Remote Control "connects claude.ai/code or the Claude app for iOS and Android to a Claude Code session running on your machine" (Remote Control docs). Your files, MCP servers and project settings stay on the computer. It needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan, and "API keys are not supported". On Team and Enterprise an Owner has to turn it on in the admin settings first.

1. On the computer, in your project folder, run claude remote-control. That's server mode: it waits for connections and you can start new sessions from the iPad. Inside a session that's already open, type /remote-control (or /rc) instead.
2. On the iPad, install the Claude app, or open claude.ai/code in Safari.
3. In the app, tap Code and pick the session from the list; at claude.ai/code it's in the session list too. Online sessions show a computer icon with a green dot. You can also scan the QR code: in server mode, press the spacebar on the computer to show it.

Server mode takes --spawn worktree, which gives each new session its own git worktree, and it runs up to 32 sessions at once by default. Typing @ on the iPad autocompletes file paths from the project on your computer.

The catch is the computer. If you close the terminal that runs claude, the session goes offline. If the laptop sleeps, Claude Code reconnects when it wakes, but nothing happens in between. In server mode, a computer that stays awake but loses the network for about 10 minutes ends the server, and you start it again. And it's Claude Code only: Codex and Gemini CLI sessions don't show up in that list.

Option 2: cloud sessions from claude.ai/code#

A cloud session "runs on cloud infrastructure instead of on your machine", and it "keeps running after you close your laptop" (Use Claude Code in the cloud). That makes it the one option that works with your computer switched off.

Open claude.ai/code in Safari or the Code tab in the Claude app, pick a repository and a branch, and describe the task. The session clones your code from GitHub, so connect GitHub once, during onboarding or with /web-setup from a terminal. Each session shows a diff counter like +42 -18; tap it to read the changes and leave comments on single lines before you reply.

Cloud sessions are on the Pro, Max and Team plans, and for Enterprise users with premium seats or Chat + Claude Code seats. Anthropic's page says they count toward your plan's usage limits like the rest of your Claude use, with no separate charge for the machine. Back at your desk, claude --teleport pulls a cloud session and its branch into your terminal; the steps and the requirements are in Claude Code teleport.

Option 3: SSH and tmux from an iPad terminal app#

This is the real Claude Code terminal interface, on your own computer, with any agent you like. It takes four steps.

1. Put the iPad and the computer on one private network. Tailscale works on both, and its iOS app "supports both iPhone and iPad" (Tailscale docs). Install it on both and sign in to the same account.
2. Turn on SSH on the computer. On a Mac: System Settings › General › Sharing › Remote Login.
3. Install a terminal app on the iPad. Blink Shell calls itself "The pro terminal for iOS and iPadOS", has SSH and Mosh, and costs $19.99 a year after two weeks free (read 24 October 2026). Termius lists SSH and Mosh in its free Starter plan and asks for iPadOS 17.0 or later.
4. Run Claude Code inside tmux. On the computer, tmux new -s claude, then claude. From the iPad, ssh you@your-mac to the Tailscale name, then tmux attach -t claude. Detach with Ctrl-b d and the session keeps going.

tmux is the part that matters. When the iPad locks or Safari takes the screen, the SSH connection can drop, and without tmux the claude process goes with it. The server side of this (signing in without a browser, Git keys, seeing a dev server) is in Run Claude Code on a remote server over SSH.

Use mosh when the Wi-Fi drops#

Mosh is a "remote terminal application that allows roaming, supports intermittent connectivity" (mosh.org). It logs in over SSH, then talks over a UDP port between 60000 and 61000, and it carries on when you move from home Wi-Fi to a phone hotspot. Blink and Termius both speak it.

Install it on the computer too (brew install mosh on a Mac), because "the Mosh package should be installed on both the client and server". The Mosh site warns that mosh-server is often not on the login PATH on macOS; its --server option points the client at it. Keep tmux underneath, because mosh "synchronizes only the visible state of the terminal", so your scrollback lives in tmux.

Keyboard and Stage Manager tips for Claude Code on iPad#

The SSH route is far easier with a hardware keyboard, and a few keys matter more in Claude Code than elsewhere (interactive mode). Esc interrupts Claude mid-turn and keeps the work done so far, and Esc twice on an empty prompt opens the rewind menu. If your iPad keyboard has no Escape key, map one in the terminal app: Blink lets you remap keys, and its own site gives Caps Lock as Escape as an example. Ctrl+J adds a new line in the prompt and "works in any terminal without configuration", which saves fighting over Shift-Return. Shift+Tab cycles the permission modes.

Stage Manager lets you keep the terminal or the Claude app next to Safari with the app you're building. Apple's page for iPadOS 26 puts the choice under Settings › Multitasking & Gestures, and lists the iPads that can also move windows to an external display (Apple Support).

How Shuriken does it on an iPad#

Shuriken is a harness that runs Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and other agents on your own computers and servers. On an iPad you use its web app: open app.shuriken.sh in Safari, sign in, then use Safari's Share menu and pick Add to Home Screen. It opens full screen from its own icon. Browsers never count as linked devices, on any plan.

In a full-screen window the iPad gets the same layout as a computer: your projects and chats in the sidebar, the chat in the middle. With that layout, Return sends a message and Shift-Return starts a new line; you can swap them in Settings › Chat. Shrink the window below 720 points in Stage Manager and the app switches to its phone layout.

From there you follow every chat on every computer and server you've added, for every agent, not one Claude Code session. You can type the next message while the agent works and it waits in the queue. Changes shows what the agent changed in the chat's branch, so you can read the diff before you tell it to carry on. And you can say a reply instead of typing it. The built-in browser with Design mode and Open in stay in the desktop app. What travels between your devices is end-to-end encrypted, and the agents, your code and your chat history stay on your computers. The background on the web app is in Your agents on your phone, from the browser, and we set it against Remote Control and Happy in Remote Control vs Happy Coder vs Shuriken.

One limit to know: the installed web app gets account alerts by push (a device offline, a source signed out, a new sign-in), not a push when a chat needs you. Chat pushes are for the native apps, which aren't out yet. A native iPhone app is planned for November 2026; on the iPad, the web app is the way to use Shuriken.

Working from a phone rather than a tablet? Remote Control, SSH and Shuriken on a smaller screen, plus the community apps, are in How to run Claude Code from your phone. To try Shuriken on your iPad, download Shuriken on the computer that runs your agents, then open app.shuriken.sh in Safari.