BotBus Review: Your Coding Agents, In Your Pocket
CodingFreeBotBus is a mobile and watch app that puts your local coding agents on your phone — check on Codex and Claude Code tasks, approve commands, and start new work anywhere.
What Is BotBus?
It is the mobile control surface for local AI coding agents. You install a desktop client on each machine that runs agents, pair your phone by scanning a QR code, and every computer shows up with its online status, pending tasks, and running work. Approvals appear as nudge-style notifications that resolve in one tap, new tasks can be started with a spoken sentence, and results — screenshots, files, and videos — land on your phone when they finish.
Approvals, Questions, and Control
When an agent wants to run a command, edit a file, or ask a question, the app turns it into a phone notification with the full context. Approve, deny, or answer without opening a laptop — from the phone or the Apple Watch. Auto-approve can be scoped per project, which balances speed with control. Beyond approvals, Mac connections offer live screen control with input locked by default, so you can watch an agent work and interject when something looks wrong.
- Command, file, and question approvals in one tap
- Per-project auto-approve rules
- Live screen viewing with input locked by default
- Apple Watch handles the quick approve/deny flow
Starting New Work From Anywhere
The task-starting flow is built for being away from the desk. Pick a computer, a project, and an agent, say a sentence, and work starts — with options to choose the model or run the task in its own git worktree. Follow-ups and interrupts work the same way, and you can review uncommitted changes or switch models mid-session. Voice input makes the flow genuinely hands-free rather than a mobile shell around a terminal.
- Voice or text task starts with model selection
- Optional isolated git worktree per task
- Follow up, interrupt, and switch models remotely
- Uncommitted changes reviewable from the phone
How Encryption and Privacy Work
The security design is deliberately server-blind. Payloads are encrypted with AES-256 on the sending device before transmission, and the relay server only passes ciphertext; keys live only on your phone and your computers, exchanged through QR-code pairing. The server sees device IDs, online status, update timestamps, and data sizes, but not session contents. The documented exception is developer previews, which are proxied through the server and are not end-to-end encrypted, so treat those like any non-encrypted preview.
- AES-256 applied on-device before anything leaves
- Relay server forwards ciphertext only
- Keys exchanged by QR pairing, stored on your devices
- Dev previews proxied unencrypted; treated separately
Desktop and Mobile Platform Coverage
Platform support is broader than most agent companions. The macOS desktop client is available now, Linux and Windows installers shipped with version 1.0.6 in October 2026, and a terminal-oriented Linux client targets server machines. On mobile, iOS with Apple Watch sync is available from the App Store, and Android is in internal testing with an APK download. Screen control currently supports Mac connections; other platforms rely on commands, approvals, and result delivery.
- macOS available now; Linux and Windows with 1.0.6
- Terminal client for server-class Linux hosts
- iOS and watchOS app live on the App Store
- Android in internal testing via APK
What BotBus Adds That Other Agent Controllers Miss
Most remote-control options stop at one agent or one machine. The app is built around the multi-agent, multi-computer reality: Codex and Claude Code plus Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw, and DeepSeek Harness, all visible from one phone with per-project auto-approve. The privacy posture also stands out — many agents phone home to a vendor cloud by default, while session content stays encrypted and off the relay server. Pairing watch-grade approval with live Mac screen control is not something the SSH-terminal companions offer.
- Multi-agent, multi-computer view from one phone
- Encrypted relay instead of vendor-cloud sessions
- Watch approvals plus live screen control combined
- Custom agents connectable through ACP connectors
Requirements and Limitations
The honest checklist: your computer needs an agent connector, the machine must be online for the phone to reach it, and feature availability depends on the connector and the task's state. Screen control is a Mac capability. Headless Linux servers get the terminal client, while the full desktop experience is on the GUI versions. Directory-style expectations like "works everywhere on day one" should be tempered by checking the per-platform page for your exact setup.
- Connector required on the host machine per agent
- Host must be online for remote tasks and approvals
- Screen control limited to Mac connections today
- Per-platform features differ; check the download page
Alternatives to BotBus
In this directory, [Catenary](/tools/catenary) orchestrates several coding agents on a spatial canvas and [49agents IDE](/tools/49agents-ide) wires terminals, editors, and git graphs into one agent workspace — both are desktop-oriented companions rather than phone-first control surfaces. [Claude Code](/tools/claude-code) itself is the agent this app controls, not a peer product. Externally, SSH terminal apps give raw access, Anthropic's own mobile experiences bring official Claude Code controls, and the open-source Happy project offers an encrypted mobile layer for Claude Code and Codex.
- Catenary — multi-agent orchestration on a spatial canvas
- 49agents IDE — desktop agent workspace
- Claude Code — the agent being controlled
- External: SSH apps, official mobile clients, Happy
Pricing & Plans
No published pricing tiers as of October 2026; the app is free to install. Desktop apps for macOS, Linux, and Windows plus iOS, Apple Watch, and Android are listed on the download page.
Free
The app is free to install with no published paid tiers as of October 2026. Desktop and mobile clients plus watch sync are included.
- Multi-computer task overview sorted by agent and project
- One-tap approvals and questions
- Start tasks with voice or text and choose model or worktree
- Encrypted relay with AES-256 on-device
- Apple Watch sync for approvals
Best For
Recommended use cases and scenarios where BotBus shines.
Pros and Cons
The app fills a real gap: agents now run long enough and touch enough state that answering an approval from another room is a workflow, not a gimmick. Multi-agent coverage, on-device encryption, and watch-grade approval UX are its strengths, while Mac-only screen control, connector-dependent features, and an Android client still in testing are the parts to check before relying on them. For developers with Macs running serious Codex or Claude Code sessions, the phone becomes a genuine control surface instead of a notification feed.
Pros
- Approvals and questions resolve from the phone in one tap
- Supports Codex, Claude Code, Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw, and more
- AES-256 encryption applied on-device before transmission
- QR-code pairing keeps keys only on your devices
- Live screen control and previews on macOS connections
Cons
- Screen control currently supports Mac connections only
- Features vary by agent connector and task state
- Android is in internal testing with an APK download
- New product — expectations should track the release cadence
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about BotBus, answered.
What is BotBus?
BotBus is a mobile and watch app that controls local AI coding agents like Codex and Claude Code from your phone — approvals, task starts, follow-ups, and result delivery without a laptop.
How does BotBus secure my sessions?
Payloads are encrypted with AES-256 on the sending device before transmission. The relay server sees ciphertext only, and keys are exchanged via QR pairing and stored only on your phone and computers.
Which agents does BotBus support?
Codex, Claude Code, Hermes, Pi, OpenClaw, and DeepSeek Harness are built in, and other ACP-compatible agents can be connected through the documented connector flow.
Can I control the agent's screen from my phone?
On macOS connections, yes. BotBus offers live screen control with input locked by default. Other platforms currently rely on approvals, commands, and delivered results.
Which platforms does BotBus run on?
macOS is available now; Linux and Windows shipped with version 1.0.6 in October 2026. Mobile covers iOS and Apple Watch from the App Store, with Android in internal testing via APK.
How much does BotBus cost?
The app is free to install with no published paid tiers as of October 2026. Model API usage and agent subscriptions bill through their own providers.
Reviews & Ratings
Loading reviews...
Similar Tools
More Coding tools you might like
Claude Code
Anthropic's agentic coding tool that lives in your terminal — plan, build, test, and ship software by describing tasks in plain English.
GitHub Copilot
AI coding assistant that suggests code completions and entire functions in VS Code, JetBrains, and Neovim.
