Claude Duet is Anthropic's answer to Meta Muse and OpenAI dots, and it is the most deliberate of the three. It starts your day with a brief, chases what you have let slide, and stops to ask before anything leaves your name. Here is what it does, who can get it and where it still falls short.
What is Claude Duet?
Anthropic opened Claude Duet as a research preview on October 21, 2026 (Anthropic). It is a standalone app for iOS and Android, also available on claude.ai, that brings over the memory, skills and connected apps from your Claude account. One ongoing thread holds both quick replies and multi-week projects, and you can open separate channels for different topics that share memory.
Duet runs on a virtual machine with its own browser, so your phone and laptop do not need to stay on. Larger work, such as research briefs, financial models, slide decks and dashboards, comes back as editable files.
What a day with Claude Duet looks like
- Morning brief: the most important items across your email, calendar and connected apps, with first steps such as draft replies already started.
- Checks every few hours: Duet looks at your connected accounts on a schedule and messages you only when something needs attention. You choose what you hear about and how often.
- Follow-ups: it chases quiet threads, flags unpaid invoices in Stripe and drafts reminders for you to approve.
- Sources: it says which email, file or spreadsheet each figure or summary came from.
It connects to more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace, including Gmail, Google Calendar and Drive, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, HubSpot, Docusign, Calendly and Shopify. Approved purchases use one-time cards through Stripe's Link or Shop Pay.
How Claude Duet asks before acting
Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, Duet shows what it plans to do and waits. If you cannot approve straight away, it finishes other steps and asks again later. Some actions are off-limits even with approval: trading securities, moving money between accounts and accessing someone else's account. Passwords go into a separate form on your device and never enter the chat, and a classifier is designed to refuse sharing the most sensitive data, such as card numbers and government IDs (Claude Help Center).
Scorecard: 15/20
| Criterion | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomy | 4/5 | Proactive briefs, checks and follow-ups on its own VM; no calls, texts or browser takeover. |
| Control | 5/5 | Approval for every send, payment, signature and deletion, hard limits on money, and cited sources. |
| Reach | 2/5 | US waitlist only, personal Claude plans only. |
| Value | 4/5 | No extra cost on Claude Pro ($20 a month), but background work uses your limits. |
Scores are editorial, from Anthropic's documentation through November 5, 2026, not hands-on benchmarks.
Where Claude Duet falls short
- Waitlist and region. US accounts only, invited in waves.
- No company plans. Team and Enterprise are promised for later.
- Checks on a timer. An urgent email can wait until the next check.
- Microsoft 365 missing. Outlook-based teams are not covered yet.
- It can misjudge urgency. Anthropic says so itself; review drafts before you approve them.
Claude Duet vs the alternatives
- OpenAI dots: more autonomous and reachable in Slack and Teams, but from $100 a month and not in Europe.
- Gemini Spark: available in more than 160 countries with Google AI Pro, and stronger on Google accounts.
- Meta Muse: better for personal errands and WhatsApp, with a free plan.
- Grok Bot: lets you watch its computer and run several bots at once.
What is Claude Duet?
Claude Duet is a separate app from Anthropic in which Claude works as a proactive agent. It comes to you with what needs attention, completes tasks you give it by text or voice, keeps working when you step away, and checks with you before acting on your behalf. Anthropic opened it as a research preview on October 21, 2026.
How do I get Claude Duet?
Join the waitlist on the Claude Duet product page. It is open to Claude Pro, Max and Ultra subscribers with a US account, and invitations go out in waves. The waitlist email must match your Claude account and the Apple or Google account on your phone. Team and Enterprise plans are not supported yet.
How much does Claude Duet cost?
Nothing extra during the preview. It is included with Claude Pro, Max and Ultra and uses the same five-hour and weekly limits as chat. Background work such as the morning brief and account checks also counts, so you may reach limits sooner. Anthropic has not said what Duet will cost after the preview.
What can Claude Duet not do?
It cannot make phone calls or send texts, you cannot watch or take over its browser, and it cannot trade securities, move money between accounts or access someone else's account even with your approval. Microsoft 365 is not supported yet, Slack works with limits, and personal errands such as booking tickets are weaker than work tasks.
Which model does Claude Duet use?
Anthropic's help center says Duet runs on Claude Opus 5.5 and sets its own effort level for each job. You cannot choose a different model.
Ready to Find the Right AI Tools?
Browse our data-driven rankings to find the best AI tools for your team.