Running AI agents on a dedicated Mac Mini is practical. Checking what those agents are actually doing while you're away from your desk is not - until now.
Astropad's new Workbench app rethinks remote desktop software for a different use case: instead of IT support, it targets people running autonomous AI workflows on Mac Minis who need to monitor and intervene via iPhone or iPad. The core feature is low-latency video streaming from the Mac to your mobile device, so you can see what's happening in near-real time and take control when needed.
This solves a genuine problem. AI agents frequently get stuck on unexpected UI states, misinterpret instructions, or loop on a task that's going nowhere. Without any monitoring, you come back hours later to find two hours of the wrong work done. Workbench gives you a way to catch that on your phone, pause the agent, and correct course.
Astropad has real credibility here. The company built Luna Display, which turns iPads into secondary Mac monitors using a hardware dongle - low-latency display streaming over USB-C and Wi-Fi is genuinely their core competency, not a bolt-on feature.
The use case is still early. Most people running AI agents are not doing it on dedicated Mac Minis yet, but that number is growing as computer-use agents - which let AI models control a computer's screen and keyboard the way a human would - become more capable. If you have already built that kind of setup, Workbench looks like the obvious missing piece.
What the announcement does not address: pricing, whether the app works over cellular data outside your home network, and how it handles security when the Mac Mini has access to sensitive accounts. Those details matter a lot for the deployment scenario this product is targeting, and Astropad has not published them yet.