Anthropic is testing a new Claude app called Claude Duet that acts as a proactive agent, coming to you with what needs your attention instead of waiting for you to open a chat. It runs on iPhone, Android and the web, but for now only US subscribers can get in.
That’s according to Anthropic, which announced the Claude Duet research preview on Wednesday, October 21. In a post on X, the company said the app “comes to you with what needs your attention, completes tasks you ask of it, keeps working when you step away, and checks with you before it acts on your behalf.”
Each morning, Claude Duet sends a short brief on the most important items across your connected apps. After that, it checks in every few hours and messages you only when something needs you. You can also hand it tasks by text or voice, from scheduling meetings to building dashboards and sales forecasts. It works on its own virtual machine with a browser, so your iPhone or Mac doesn’t need to stay on while it works.
In a follow-up post, Anthropic said it “designed Claude Duet around Claude Opus 5.5” and that the app “carries over the memory, skills, and connected apps from your Claude account, so there’s little to set up.” That includes more than 6,000 connectors, such as Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks and Shopify. It’s the latest step for an assistant that already works directly in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
On the safety side, Anthropic says Claude Duet “never directly sees your passwords,” and a new classifier blocks it from sharing things like credit card numbers. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, the app shows you exactly what it plans to do and waits for your approval. Anthropic says sign-ins using logins saved in 1Password are coming soon, building on the 1Password and Claude login feature from July.
Claude Duet is “an early research preview, available through a waitlist on Pro and Max plans in the US,” according to the last post in the thread. Its background checks count toward your plan’s usage limits. Claude Pro is US$20 per month, or US$17 per month billed annually, while Max starts at US$100 per month.
There’s no word on when Claude Duet will reach Canada or what it will cost here, so Canadian Pro and Max subscribers will have to wait. Anthropic also admits the app “can still misjudge what’s urgent.”
Claude Duet puts Anthropic up against Meta’s Muse, SpaceXSI’s Grok Bot and OpenAI’s Dots, which also give their agents a cloud computer to keep working in the background. Muse reached Canada on September 18, 10 days after its US launch, and Grok Bot is already available here on iPhone and iPad. OpenAI launched Dots on September 29 for ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium users.
Would you let an AI agent watch your inbox and calendar and message you first, or is that too much?
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