Your phone becomes a live window into your PC's shell

All commands run on your PC. The CLIAnywhere daemon on the computer owns the shell session; the phone (or browser) only sends keystrokes and displays output. Nothing is executed on the phone, so the session is not tied to the phone staying online — close the app, lock the screen, or lose signal, and the shell keeps running on the PC until you come back.

Host

Your PC holds the session

The daemon on your Windows, macOS, or Linux computer runs the shell and every command you send.

Transport

An encrypted link carries it

Peer-to-peer DTLS when possible, encrypted WSS relay otherwise — encrypted end-to-end with AES-256-GCM either way.

Client

Your phone views and types

Attach from iPhone, Android, or the Web App and interact with the same session from anywhere.

Three ways to connect from your phone

A native app or a browser — whichever device you have in hand attaches to the same session.

iPhone

The iOS client attaches to any computer linked to your account — so it works for accessing a Mac terminal, a Linux box, or a Windows PC from your iPhone. Available on the App Store — see the download page.

Android

The Android client is available on Google Play. Sign in with the same account as the daemon on your PC, pick the computer, and you are in its shell.

Web App

No install at all: open webapp.clianywhere.com in a browser, sign in, and select your computer. Useful on a borrowed machine, or to continue a session from another computer.

How this differs from SSH on your phone

SSH client apps for iOS and Android exist and work well when the target machine is reachable — a cloud server, for example. The catch is session handling on a mobile network: each SSH connection creates a new session, and when the connection drops, that session and whatever was running in it usually end with it. Reaching a home PC over SSH also typically needs port forwarding, a VPN, or a public IP.

CLIAnywhere takes a different route: the session lives on your PC under the daemon, the phone attaches to it, and connections go over outbound P2P DTLS or an encrypted relay. Drop your connection and the session is unaffected — reopen the app and you are back in the same shell.

Example: pull the latest code and restart a service from your phone

Say a fix landed while you were away from your desk, and you want it deployed before you get back. You open CLIAnywhere on your phone, pick your PC, and type into the shell that is already running there:

# on your phone, running in the shell on your PC
$ git pull
Already up to date. ... 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+)
$ sudo systemctl restart myapp
$ systemctl status myapp --no-pager
  Active: active (running) since 14:02:07

Twenty seconds of typing on the phone, and the deploy is done — no laptop, no VPN, no open ports. If the phone loses signal mid-command, the session on the PC continues, and you reconnect into the same shell.

Platform and feature facts

What is supported, without the marketing.

Windows hostYes
macOS hostYes
Linux hostYes — desktop UI or headless CLI
iOS clientYes
Android clientYes — Google Play
Web clientYes — webapp.clianywhere.com
Shellsbash, zsh, fish, sh, cmd, pwsh, powershell
Persistent sessionsYes
Desktop–mobile session switchingYes
File browser and downloadYes
Localhost / LAN web accessYes
P2P direct connectionYes — DTLS
Encrypted relay fallbackYes — WSS
End-to-end encryptionSPAKE2 + AES-256-GCM
Port forwarding / public IP requiredNo
Open-source daemonYes
Account modelOne account, multiple PCs, per-PC local Security Code

Questions about using a PC terminal from a phone

Yes. CLIAnywhere has an iOS client that connects to the daemon running on your Windows, macOS, or Linux PC. The iPhone acts as a live window into the same terminal session, and the session keeps running on the PC if the phone disconnects. The iOS client is available on the App Store; see the download page for the link.
Yes. The CLIAnywhere app for Android is available on Google Play. Once you sign in with the same account as the daemon on your PC, you can select the computer and start typing into its shell, run commands, browse files, and download them to the phone.
Yes. CLIAnywhere has a browser-based Web App at webapp.clianywhere.com. Open it in any modern browser, sign in, and select your computer to attach to its terminal session. It works from another computer too, so you can continue the same session without installing anything.
Yes, SSH client apps exist for iPhone, and they work for reaching servers that are reachable on your network or over the internet. The limitation is session handling: each SSH connection creates a new session, and when the mobile connection drops, that session and its foreground processes usually end. CLIAnywhere instead attaches to a session that keeps running on your PC.
Install the CLIAnywhere daemon on the machine you want to reach — it runs on Linux as a desktop app or a headless CLI, and on macOS as a signed and notarized app from GitHub Releases. Then sign in from the iOS, Android, or web client on your phone and select that machine to open its shell.

Related guides

Your PC's terminal, in your pocket

Set up the daemon once, then attach from iPhone, Android, or any browser.

Download App Setup Guide