Screen text and touch control
Lets an agent work with visible iPhone content and perform core interactions such as tap, type, and swipe.
iphone-use
Freemium
Open-source, self-hosted iPhone control for AI agents on macOS.
What is iphone-use?
iphone-use is an open-source tool for giving AI agents control of a physical iPhone. It exposes screen text and interaction primitives—including tapping, typing, and swiping—through a Rust-based, self-hosted system intended to run on macOS. The project is designed for agents that need to observe a mobile interface and perform actions on the device rather than interact only with a simulator or static test fixture.
What can iphone-use do?
Custom XCTest runner
Includes a custom XCTest-based runner as part of the device-control stack for driving iPhone automation.
Multiple control interfaces
Provides a command-line interface, HTTP API, and MCP integration so an agent workflow can use the interface that best fits its runtime.
Browser takeover
Supports browser-oriented workflows in which an agent can take control of an existing mobile browsing session.
Replayable flows
Supports recording or defining repeatable interaction flows that can be run again instead of reconstructing every action manually.
Rust and self-hosted operation
The project is implemented in Rust and is positioned for local operation on macOS, keeping the control service in the operator’s environment.
Use Cases
“Mobile UI agent workflows”
Build an agent that reads an iPhone screen, chooses an action, and executes taps, text entry, or swipes against a real device.
“Repeatable app flows”
Turn a multi-step interaction into a replayable flow for recurring checks, demonstrations, or internal automation.
“Browser session takeover”
Let an agent continue work in a browser session that is already open on the iPhone, rather than starting from an empty context.
“Tool integration for coding agents”
Expose phone actions through the CLI, HTTP API, or MCP so they can be connected to different agent runtimes and orchestration setups.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does iphone-use control?
It is intended to control a real iPhone, with support for reading screen text and performing taps, typing, and swipes.
How can an agent connect to it?
The project provides a CLI, an HTTP API, and MCP integration as control and integration surfaces.
Where does it run?
The project describes itself as self-hosted on macOS. The supplied source does not provide a complete compatibility matrix for macOS or iPhone versions.
Is iphone-use open source?
The repository is public and lists an MIT license. The source does not establish a separate hosted pricing plan for iphone-use.
Quick Facts
- Product type
- Open-source mobile automation and AI-agent control tool
- Primary device
- Real iPhone
- Host platform
- macOS
- Implementation
- Rust
- Agent interfaces
- CLI, HTTP API, and MCP
- License
- MIT
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