The iPhone app

The iPhone app, coming soon, puts Zero’s inbox and tasks on your phone. You answer asks, write to your tasks, start new tasks and save work for later. Your agents keep running on your Mac, so Zero must be open there and the Mac must be online.

How your phone reaches your Mac

Your phone reaches your Mac through a relay: a server on the internet that passes messages between the two. Zero’s own relay works out of the box, with nothing to set up.

To run your own relay, deploy apps/relay from Zero’s source code. Its README shows how. Then, on your Mac:

1. Go to Settings › Phone › Relay.
2. Click the Relay chip and choose Your own relay….
3. Type the relay’s wss:// address and click Use it.

Phones you paired before must pair again. To go back, choose Zero’s relay in the same chip.

Open Settings with ⌘ , or the gear at the foot of the window’s left rail. The Relay row shows the state of the connection under its name:

Pair your iPhone

You pair once. After that, the phone finds your Mac by itself.

1. On your iPhone, open Zero. It shows the Pair with your Mac screen.
2. On your Mac, go to Settings › Phone and click Pair phone, beside the Phones heading.
3. Click Next. The Mac shows a QR code.
4. On the phone, tap Scan the code and point the camera at the QR code.

The code lasts five minutes, and the Mac counts down the time left. When it expires, click New code. Copy link copies the same code as a link, for a phone that can’t scan it. Copy the link to your phone and tap Paste a pairing link. A wrong link shows That isn’t a Zero pairing link.

When the phone has paired, the Mac says so with the phone’s name. Click Done. The phone then shows in Settings › Phone › Phones, with the date you paired it.

How your messages stay private

Messages between your phone and your Mac are encrypted end to end. The relay passes them on but can’t read them. When you pair, the phone gets your Mac’s key from the QR code, and the Mac keeps the phone’s key. Each side uses these keys to check that it’s talking to the other.

Notifications are encrypted too. Your Mac sends each one through the relay to Apple’s push service. Both carry only “Zero: A task has news”. When the notification arrives, your phone decrypts the real text.

A relay of your own sends notifications only when it has an Apple push key. Its README shows how to add one.

When the phone can’t reach your Mac

While the phone connects, it shows Connecting to and your Mac’s name. When it can’t connect, it shows Can’t reach, your Mac’s name and when it last connected. It also says that Zero must be open on your Mac and the Mac must be online. The phone keeps trying by itself. To try at once, tap Try again.

While the phone isn’t connected, a line at the top of the app says Reconnecting to your Mac or Can’t reach your Mac. What the app already loaded stays on screen. To reconnect, pull down on a list.

Get around the app

The bar at the foot of the screen has three icons and a menu:

• Inbox: asks, steps for you and unread replies. A blue dot means something is waiting.
• Tasks: all your tasks.
• Later: work saved for later.
• ⌃⌄ opens the menu. It shows your workspace’s name at the top, then Inbox, Tasks, Later, Record your screen and Settings. Inbox shows the number of things waiting.

When you have more than one workspace, tap the workspace’s name in the menu to switch. The phone keeps its own choice of workspace, separate from the Mac’s.

The round + button beside the bar starts a new task.

Answer asks in the inbox

The inbox lists what needs you, in this order:

1. Asks from your agents, which you answer in place.
2. Tasks marked Over to you: they’re done, and a step is left for you.
3. Tasks with a reply you haven’t read.

When the inbox is empty, it says Nothing for you.

Each ask shows under its task’s name, with how long ago it came. Long details show three lines: tap them to read all of it. The option the agent recommends has a blue Recommended tag.

To answer an ask, tap one of its options. An option ending in “…” opens a box for your own words. An ask without options has Reply….

To change your answer, tap Take back right after you answer. When an answer doesn’t arrive, the card says Not delivered · Try again. Tap it to send the answer again.

The inbox has these cards:

See The inbox and asks for every kind of ask.

Browse your tasks

Tasks lists the tasks in your workspace, in the same order as the Mac’s sidebar. Each row shows the agent, the task’s state, its name, what it needs or does, and how long ago. A blue dot means a reply you haven’t read.

The states are the same as on the Mac: Needs you, In trouble, Working, Over to you, Waiting, Replied, Done, Paused, Idle and Offline.

• Swipe left for Archive and Pause. On a paused task, Pause is Resume.
• Swipe right for Rename.
• Touch and hold for a preview and the menu. The preview shows the task’s state, what it does now, what it needs from you and its asks. The menu has Pause or Resume, Rename, Save for later and Archive.

Archive asks you to confirm first. It puts the task away with all its workers. To bring an archived task back, use Archived tasks on your Mac.

Read and write to a task

Tap a task to open its conversation. It shows your messages, the agent’s answers, and its work folded under lines such as Worked for …. Tap a command to see its output. Scroll up for Earlier messages.

Answer what the task is waiting on

The task’s questions, approvals and asks are in its own inbox, not in the conversation. Tap the inbox button at the top right, beside the … menu. A blue dot on it means something is waiting.

The button opens a sheet titled Waiting on you, where you answer each ask. An approval from the agent itself reads Allow this command? or Allow this change?, with the agent’s own choices as buttons. When nothing is left, the sheet closes by itself. To close it before that, tap Done. Opened with nothing waiting, it says Nothing waiting on you.

In the conversation, a step with an ask that is still open shows as one line with Answer. Tap Answer to open the same sheet.

Opening a task marks its reply as read on the phone and on the Mac, and clears its notification.

The … menu at the top right has:

• Details: the task’s State, Workers, Where, Branch, Ticket, Agent, Model and Permissions, and any Attributes its agent set. Tap a link in an attribute to open it.
• Save for later: asks the agent to write down what’s left, in Later.

Write to the task in the box at the foot, Write to this task. When you leave the task, Zero keeps your draft.

Messages that wait for the end of the turn show above the box under Queued. Tap one to edit or delete it, or tap Steer to send it now. After you stop the task, these messages show as Held. Tap Send to send them.

Start a task

Tap the round + button.

1. At the top, tap the folder to pick where the task works. The list has your Mac’s project folders. Zero remembers the last one you used.
2. Type the job in What should it do?.
3. Tap the agent chip to pick Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode and its model. Claude Code is the default.
4. Tap the permissions chip for Auto or Unrestricted. Auto is the default.
5. Tap Start.

The task starts in the workspace your phone shows, and opens.

Come back to saved work

Later holds work that your agents saved for you. Open and Done at the top switch between what’s left and what you finished. Notes an agent saved without you asking show under Suggested.

Swipe a note to mark it Done or Not done. Tap it to read all of it, with its links and the agent’s write-up. From there:

• Send to a task sends the note to one of your tasks, and that task’s agent takes on the work.
• Done or Not done marks it.
• Copy copies it.

To save a task’s work, choose Save for later from the task’s menu.

Record your screen

To show an agent something on your phone, open the menu and choose Record your screen.

• Tap the red button to start a screen recording. To speak while you record, turn on the microphone in the system’s sheet. To stop, tap the same button or the red pill at the top of the screen.
• Or pick what you already have: up to 10 Photos, or Recordings.

Then add a line in What should it look at?, choose the task under Send to, and tap Send. The agent gets the recording as pictures, each with its time, and the words you said.

Check the phone’s settings

Open the menu and choose Settings.

Get notifications on your phone

The first time you open Tasks, Zero asks to send notifications.

Your phone gets a notification when a task has news and you’re away from your Mac. Zero counts you as away when one of these is true:

• Zero isn’t in front on the Mac with its window open.
• The Mac’s screen is locked or asleep.
• You haven’t touched the keyboard or mouse for two minutes.
• You used the phone more recently than the Mac.

How notifications behave:

• Each task has one notification at a time. News replaces the old one.
• After you see the news on the Mac or the phone, the notification goes away on both.
• Tap an ask’s notification to open the inbox. Tap a task’s notification to open the task.
• Press and hold a task’s notification for Reply. Type in Reply to this task and tap Send. While the task works, your reply waits until its turn ends.
• While you’re in the app, notifications play their sound but don’t show a banner.

Send pictures and videos from other apps

Zero is in the iPhone’s share sheet twice: as Zero among the apps, and as Ask Zero among the actions. Both do the same thing.

1. In Photos or another app, select up to 10 pictures or one video and tap Share.
2. Choose Zero or Ask Zero.
3. Write the agent’s job in What should it look at?. When the box is empty, Zero sends “Have a look at this.” For several pictures, it sends “Have a look at these.”
4. Pick a task under Send to a task, or a folder under Or start one in to start a new Claude Code task there.
5. Tap Send.

A video goes as pictures taken from it. When the phone can’t reach Zero on your Mac, it shows Can’t reach your Mac: Zero needs to be running there.

Use Siri and Shortcuts

Each action works through Siri and in the Shortcuts app. In the phrases below, Login fix stands for your task’s name.

Ask Siri to send a message to a task by its name, or reply to a task’s notification with Siri. Siri answers “Sent to” and the task’s name.

When the phone can’t reach Zero on your Mac, Siri says Zero can’t reach your Mac. Zero needs to be open there.

Unpair your iPhone

On the phone, open the menu, choose Settings, tap Unpair this phone, then Unpair. To unpair from the connecting screen, tap Paired with and your Mac’s name at the foot, then Unpair this phone.

After that, the phone can’t reach your Mac until you pair it again. Unpairing on the phone leaves it in the Mac’s list.

To cut a phone off from the Mac’s side, for example after you lose it, go to Settings › Phone › Phones on the Mac and click Remove next to the phone.