> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mobster.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Questions and answers

> Short answers about what Mobster does, your iPhone, costs, safety and your plan.

## Getting started

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What can it do?">
    Two things. It tests the app you're building, on simulators and on your own iPhone. And it does your own tasks in the apps on your iPhone, signed in as you: it opens apps, reads the screen, taps, types and swipes, and a follow-up knows what the last task found. It can't get past Face ID, your passcode or a CAPTCHA, and games and apps that draw their own screens give it little to read.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What do I need?">
    An Apple silicon Mac with Xcode signed in to an Apple Account (a free one works), an iPhone with Developer Mode on, and a USB cable that carries data. Mobster's agent needs your own key or a plan you already pay for, such as Codex, Claude Code or Gemini CLI. The first install of Mobster's helper on a phone takes about 2 minutes. [Requirements](/requirements) has the table.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can Claude control my iPhone?">
    Yes, two ways. In Mobster for Mac, open Settings › Connectors and, under **Use Mobster from…**, press **Add** beside Claude Code or Claude Desktop, and Claude can read your iPhone's screen, tap and type, over USB from your Mac. Or give the task to Mobster's agent, which runs on your Claude key or your Claude Code plan and asks you before it sends, buys, posts or deletes. [Add Mobster to your agent](/agents) has the setup.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which agents work with it?">
    Mobster for Mac adds itself to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and Codex with one button in Settings › Connectors, under **Use Mobster from…**. Any agent you write connects through `mobster mcp`, `mobster run --json` or the local HTTP API. [Add Mobster to your agent](/agents) has the setup for Codex, Cursor, VS Code and nine more clients. Your agent can drive the phone itself, or hand a whole task to Mobster's agent with `phone_task`. Claude on the web or your phone, ChatGPT, Poke and other assistants in the cloud connect through [Mobster Remote](/remote).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How is it different from TapKit, Maestro or Appium?">
    Mobster reads each screen's accessibility tree instead of guessing from screenshots, keeps every command on your Mac, asks before it sends, and checks your app on your own iPhone as well as on simulators. [mobster.dev/compare](https://mobster.dev/compare) puts it beside TapKit, Maestro, Appium and XCUITest, with each tool's facts taken from its own pages.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it work on Android?">
    No. iPhones and iOS simulators.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which iOS versions?">
    Tested on an iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 26, and on iOS 26 simulators.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Your iPhone

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why does it need Developer Mode and Xcode?">
    Mobster drives the iPhone through WebDriverAgent, a runner built on Apple's XCTest testing framework, which runs only with Developer Mode on and an Apple signature. That's what lets it read every control by name and drive simulators too. Mobster for Mac builds and signs the runner and, with a free Apple Account, refreshes it before its 7 days run out.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it work over Wi-Fi?">
    The iPhone stays on a USB cable. Wi-Fi after one cable pairing is a preview that's off unless you turn it on, while it's tested on real phones: [Wi-Fi](/wifi).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I control a phone that isn't connected to this Mac?">
    Not directly. The phone stays connected to a Mac, by cable or on the same Wi-Fi, and Mobster drives it from there. With [Mobster Remote](/remote), an assistant such as Claude or Poke can hand that iPhone a task from anywhere, and you approve sends on the Mac.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can it run on a schedule?">
    Yes. Mobster for Mac runs saved workflows on a schedule while the Mac is awake and the phone is connected and unlocked. A step that needs your approval waits for you. [Schedules](/schedules)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Models and costs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What does a task cost?">
    Mobster's agent spends on your own key, billed by your provider, with a spend cap per task. On a Codex, Claude Code or Gemini CLI plan, a task costs nothing extra and counts toward that plan's limits. An agent you connect over MCP spends on its own model. Launch-only checks call no model at all. [Models and keys](/models-and-keys)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does it remember things about me?">
    Only what you tell it to. When you write something like "my gym is the one on 5th Street", Mobster offers to remember it, and saves nothing until you choose **Remember**. It stays on your Mac, you can edit or delete it in Settings › Memory, and it never remembers passwords, codes or card numbers. A task sends only the few things it needs to your AI account.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where do my screens go?">
    They stay on your Mac unless a model needs them. Mobster's agent sends what each step needs, the screen's text and a small screenshot, to the provider whose key you gave. An agent you connect over MCP sees what Mobster's tools return to it. There's no Mobster server between your agent and your phone, and no analytics. If you turn on Mobster Remote, tasks from apps you allowed pass through its relay, which stores none of them. [Privacy and your data](/privacy)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I attach files or talk to it?">
    Yes. Attach images, PDFs, text and CSV files, up to 25 MB each: Mobster reads them on your Mac and sends only what a task reads. In Mobster for Mac on macOS 26 or later, hold the mic or ⌥ Space and say the task. What you say becomes text on your Mac, and nothing is recorded.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Approvals and safety

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Is it safe?">
    By default, Mobster's agent stops before a tap that would send, buy, post or delete, shows you what it's about to do, and acts only when you approve. **Full access**, in Settings › Safety, turns that off, except for the few things that ask in every mode. A message you type while it works, a file's text or your voice never approves anything. It can still do anything you approve, so use accounts you're comfortable handing to an agent. [Approvals and safety](/safety)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I use it to run many social media profiles?">
    Yes. Name each profile in [Profiles](/profiles) and say which iPhone it's signed in on, and a task for it runs on that phone as that profile. With **Ask before acting**, the default in Settings › Safety, you see each post, message and follow before it happens.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can it unlock my iPhone?">
    No. Mobster never enters your passcode or uses Face ID. A task you start on a locked iPhone waits up to 2 minutes for you to unlock it, and costs nothing while it waits.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Plans and refunds

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How much does Mobster for Mac cost?">
    \$12 a month, \$99 a year, or \$149 once. Every phone included. [Pricing and plans](/pricing)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is there a free trial?">
    Yes. You get 7 days free on your own iPhone, with no card. Mobster for Mac starts the trial once your iPhone is ready. When it ends, nothing is charged: you choose Monthly at \$12 a month, Yearly at \$99 a year or Lifetime at \$149 to keep going. One trial per account and per Mac. There's no free plan. [The free trial](/account#the-free-trial)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need an account?">
    For Mobster for Mac, yes: sign in with Apple, Google, GitHub or a code sent to your email, and your plan and your Macs live in the account. There's no password. [Your Mobster account](/account)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How many Macs does a plan cover?">
    One. Mobster runs on one Mac at a time; move it to another Mac in one click. Sign in on the other Mac and choose **Use on this Mac**, and your plan and your free trial come with it. Two Macs that run Mobster at the same time need a plan each. [One Mac at a time](/account#one-mac-at-a-time)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does Mobster for Mac contact your servers?">
    For your account, for updates, and for Mobster Remote when you turn it on. The plan check runs when you sign in and every 10 minutes while Mobster runs. It sends your sign-in, a hashed id for the Mac and its name, never a screen, a task or anything from the phone. Offline, every plan keeps working for 7 days after the last check, then starts no task until Mobster checks in again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I cancel a monthly or yearly plan or get a refund?">
    Cancel anytime in Settings › Billing › Manage subscription. Mobster keeps working to the end of the month or year you paid for. A lifetime purchase can be refunded within 14 days. [Pricing and plans](/pricing)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## For developers

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="I build iOS apps. What's in it for me?">
    `mobster test` runs your project's checks on simulators Mobster manages and on your own iPhone, with retries, flaky checks named, and JUnit and HTML reports for CI. Each verdict comes from assertions on the app's accessibility tree, never from a model, and your coding agent runs the same checks with `run_tests`. There's no per-device fee. [Run every check](/testing)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do the checks heal themselves?">
    A changed step does, and you review it. After a check passes, `mobster test` replays its recorded steps with no model. When a button moved or was renamed, Smart redoes that one step and the change waits in `<check>.heal.yaml` for you to accept or reject. A heal never changes an expectation, so a real bug still fails. `--no-heal` fails the check instead. See [Replay and heals](/testing#replay-and-heals).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will it touch my own simulators?">
    No. Mobster creates its own, named `Mobster · …`, and deletes only those.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

Can't find it? Write to [support@radish.software](mailto:support@radish.software). A person reads every message.


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