I used to work in a corporate office, and I remember how many of us walked from meeting to meeting with open laptops on our clothes. It’s not that we had to do emails in hallways, elevators or stairs, but we didn’t want to close the lid and have to restart the computer. It seemed fun, but it also made sense.
So, I can sympathize with people who keep their laptops open all over to keep their AI code operations running continuously. They have to maintain their Wi-Fi connection — whether it’s at an airport or a restaurant or even their kids’ skiing practice — so their AI agents can keep working.
OpenAI announced a feature this week that will allow AI coders to leave their laptops at home. The company is adding Codex, the company’s app, to the ChatGPT mobile app. So, if you’re running Codex on a laptop, desktop, devbox or remote, you can stay connected to the process on your mobile, even when you’re out.
“A new rhythm of collaboration is emerging,” says OpenAI. “You need to be able to easily answer a question, review the findings of the Codex, change direction, allow the following, or add a new perspective.”
OpenAI is launching the feature in preview on iOS and Android for all editions, including Free and Go, in all supported regions. Support for Codex users on Windows is coming soon, according to the company.
To try it out, you’ll need to update the ChatGPT mobile app and the Codex app on macOS.
OpenAI’s Codex, Anthropic’s Claude Code and SST’s OpenCode are AI software engineering programs that help people write code, run tests and fix bugs. Agents employed by these apps can do in hours what would take old-school coders and developers days to do.
But it’s far from foolproof: AI agents can introduce bugs and security flaws into systems that often require real humans to untangle.
OpenAI said more than 4 million people use Codex every week.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and using its AI programs.)
Codex on the go
Some Codex users may enjoy not being tied to their laptops in public. Business Insider recently told the stories of several people who had to go about their daily lives unlocking their laptops, even if it was just a crack, in order to keep the Codex coding going. OpenAI even made fun of itself in a video on TikTok.
With Codex on the ChatGPT mobile app, people connect to devices where Codex is running — whether that’s a laptop or a dedicated computer like The Mac Mini. The mobile app will upload live status to the machine, and users can review output, approve commands, change models and monitor current jobs or create new ones across threads, the company said.
Client files, credentials, permissions, and local settings will remain on the machine where Codex is running. App users can view screenshots, terminal output and more on their phones. OpenAI said machines using Codex remain secure and can be exposed to the public Internet, with a secure transmission layer.
In the real world, with Codex on the ChatGPT mobile app, users can accomplish tasks without having to plug in a laptop or plug it in somewhere. Maybe Codex gets an error while you’re at the grocery store. The agent can identify the problem, diagnose it and start fixing it. Or maybe the Codex needs a decision from you to take more action on something, while you’re talking to your friend at the coffee shop. You can check the situation and tell Codex what action to take.
Maybe an idea pops into your head while you’re at the gym working out. From your phone, you send that thought to Codex, which starts executing it with a new code.
“From your phone, you can start a task when it’s at the top of your mind, open it when your judgment is needed, and stay close to the result as it progresses,” OpenAI said in its announcement.
