Your Claude subscription just got a lot more hands-on. Anthropic announced two new features today: Computer Use, which lets Claude physically control your Mac by clicking, scrolling, and typing, and Dispatch, which lets you assign tasks from your phone and pick up the results on your desktop.
The combination is the interesting part. You're on the train, you remember you need a morning briefing pulled together from three different apps. You tell Claude on your phone. Back at your desk, it's done - Claude opened the apps, grabbed the data, and assembled it while your Mac was running.
How Computer Use Works
Claude can see your screen and operate your mouse and keyboard. It opens applications, navigates browsers, scrolls through documents, and interacts with developer tools. Anthropic positions this as the fallback for when direct tool integrations don't exist - instead of waiting for an API, Claude just uses the software the way you would.
Every action requires your permission first. Some applications are restricted by default, and the system scans for prompt injection attempts (where a malicious website might try to trick Claude into clicking something it shouldn't).
The Catch: Research Preview, Mac Only
This is early. Anthropic is calling it a research preview, and they're being upfront that performance won't match Claude's other capabilities. Tasks may need retries. Execution is slower than using direct integrations. And right now, it only works on macOS with the desktop app running and awake.
Availability is limited to Pro ($20/month) and Max ($100/month) subscribers. No free tier access, no Windows or Linux support yet.
The Dispatch feature maintains a single continuous conversation across your phone and desktop, so context carries over. You don't start fresh each time you switch devices.
For daily AI tool users, the practical value depends entirely on reliability. A computer-controlling AI that works 95% of the time is useful. One that works 70% of the time is a novelty you'll stop using after a week. Anthropic is wise to label this a preview - it sets the right expectations while they improve accuracy. The phone-to-desktop handoff, though, fills a genuine gap that no other AI assistant handles this cleanly right now.