What happened
On October 21, 2026, Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet on iOS, Android, and claude.ai. Access starts with Pro and Max subscribers in the United States, through a waitlist. Anthropic says the preview is included in those plans and uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. The post says Duet is designed around Claude Opus 5.5. It sends a morning brief, checks connected accounts every few hours, and runs tasks on a virtual machine with its own browser, so the phone or laptop does not have to stay on. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document, or deletes anything, it waits for approval. Anthropic says it can use the more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace.
Why it matters
The change is who starts the turn. Claude has been a conversation the person opens. Duet messages first and keeps a machine running after the app is closed. That work still draws on the same plan limits, and Anthropic says a background check counts. A reader on Pro or Max in the US can test one recurring job. Everyone else is still on the waitlist, and Anthropic says the preview can misread a thread or misjudge what is urgent.
Anthropic says a few actions stay off limits even with approval, including trading securities and moving money between accounts. Purchases can go through Link, which asks for a separate approval and pays with a virtual card.
The post says Duet cannot yet show its browser, lives in its own app rather than the main Claude app, and is weaker at personal errands than at work tasks. Those are Anthropic's limits on the preview.