Anthropic releases Claude Duet mobile agent for professionals

Anthropic has released Claude Duet, a personal agent available on iPhone and Android, positioned for small business owners and busy professionals. The application is currently in research preview and early access, syncing directly with Claude to inherit existing plugins and connectors such as Gmail, Google, and Figma. Key features include task lists, first-class support for artifacts like HTML and slides, and a 'channels' system for sub-threads inspired by Slack. The interface is described as exceptionally polished, with a smooth onboarding process that distinguishes it from competitors like OpenAI's Dots at launch.

However, the agent faces significant operational criticism. Reviewers noted that Claude Duet lacks a desktop app, limiting its utility for synchronous work environments. More critically, the agent exhibits high latency; tasks such as checking email or purchasing tickets took over 10 minutes to complete or request permissions. This slowness is attributed to the underlying Opus 5.5 model, which, while intelligent, feels unreliable in a personal agent context compared to faster alternatives like Muse and Codex. Additionally, the agent fails to be proactive, rarely pushing notifications or engaging users after initial setup. Reviewers argue that while the design is elegant, the combination of slow response times and passive behavior prevents it from competing for user attention, as users prefer faster agents even if they perform slightly worse on complex tasks.