How to let Claude control an iPhone (with MCP)

The short version

Claude can't touch an iPhone on its own. It needs something on the Mac that can see the phone's screen and press on it: iFarm, a free Mac app that runs real iPhones from one Mac. Claude is the brain, iFarm is the hands.

There are two ways to put them together:

	Auto mode inside iFarm	Connect Claude Code
Where you type	A phone's page in iFarm	A Claude Code chat, for example the Claude desktop app's Code tab
What Claude controls	The phone you handed it	The whole farm: every phone, automations, schedules
Brain	Anthropic API key, or your own Claude Code	Your own Claude Code
Good for	One clear task on one phone	"Do this on all phones", planning schedules, sending media

Both run on your own Mac. iFarm has no servers and no accounts.

What MCP is, in one paragraph

The Model Context Protocol is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external tools and data. Its own docs compare it to a USB-C port for AI apps: one standard plug instead of a custom cable for every tool. iFarm is a standard MCP server on your Mac. It listens on a private address (127.0.0.1) with a secret key, so Claude Code, or any MCP-capable AI app on that same Mac, can use iFarm's phone tools. Nothing on the internet or on your Wi-Fi can reach it.

The brain and the hands

When Claude drives a phone, it works in a loop:

1. Look. Claude asks for a screenshot. iFarm takes one from the phone, shrinks it to 400 pixels wide and hands it over.
2. Decide. Claude reads the picture: "TikTok is open, the search icon is top right."
3. Act. Claude asks for a tap, swipe or some typing at a spot in that picture. iFarm converts it to the right spot on the real phone.
4. Look again to check it worked, and repeat until the job is done.

When Claude only needs the words on screen, it can ask iFarm to read the screen instead: your Mac reads the text off the screenshot and sends back each line with its position. That's faster and uses less of your Claude plan. The full walk-through is on How Claude works with iFarm.

Way 1: auto mode inside iFarm

Use this when you want to hand one phone one task and watch it happen.

1. Set up iFarm and connect your phones (setup guide).
2. In the toolbar, open AI brain and choose Claude:
   • Anthropic API key (pay per use). Create a key at console.anthropic.com and paste it in. It's kept in your Mac's Keychain only. Pick the model: Claude Opus 5.5 is the most capable, Claude Haiku 5.5 is by far the cheapest.
   • Your own Claude Code (uses your Claude plan). iFarm launches your own, unmodified Claude Code, signed in with your account, and gives it only iFarm's phone tools. Press Sign in to Claude Code; iFarm never sees your Claude sign-in.
3. Open a phone's page, type the goal in plain words in its Claude box (or pick one of the suggestions) and press send (⌘↩).
4. Watch it live on the tile. Each action appears in the run log.

Tip: Turn on Save as automation before you send. When Claude finishes, iFarm saves every step as a normal automation ("Built by Claude: …"). From then on it replays without Claude: fast, free, on any phone and on schedules.

Way 2: connect Claude Code and drive the whole farm

Use this when you'd rather talk to one chat and have it work across every phone.

1. In iFarm, open AI brain and turn on Let Claude Code control iFarm.
2. Press Connect Claude Code. iFarm gives your Claude Code the private address and a secret key, which Claude Code saves in its own settings on your Mac.
3. Start a new Claude Code chat (Terminal, or the Claude desktop app's Code tab).
4. Ask in plain words.

iFarm must be open while you do this. To remove it, press Disconnect or turn the switch off.

Example requests

• "List my iFarm phones."
• "Show me Phone 2's screen."
• "Run the niche warm-up on all phones for 20 minutes."
• "On the 13 Pro Max, open Safari and search for my site."
• "Warm up all phones every evening between 7 and 10."
• "What's scheduled?"
• "Put this video in the Photos of the phones in Farm A."

What Claude can do through iFarm

Area	What it can do
Phones	List phones and automations, start a phone's helper
Screens	See a phone's screen, read the text on it
Control	Tap, swipe and type
Automations	Run an automation, hand a phone a task (iFarm's own AI then does it), check progress, stop
Schedules	list_schedules, schedule_automation (once at a time, or N times a day inside a window on chosen days), remove_schedule
Media	send_media puts a video or photos into phones' Photos; post_media also posts them to Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook or X with your caption

Schedules Claude creates are ordinary iFarm schedules. They show in Plan → Schedules, use random times inside the window, retry busy or in-use phones, skip runs that are over an hour late, and only run while iFarm is open.

Safety: what Claude can't do

Every action goes through iFarm first, so iFarm's rules apply no matter which chat or model sent it:

• Ask before posting, sending or following is on by default. Before a tap that posts or sends, you get Allow / Don't allow on the phone's tile and in Waiting for you, with the text shown. No answer in 3 minutes means no. You approve each post.
• iFarm never buys anything. Taps on Buy or Pay are always refused.
• iFarm never types passwords and never changes system settings or the phones' network settings.
• Stop on a tile, Stop all, or ⌘. on the Mac.
• Emergency stop on the phone: hold volume up + volume down together. iFarm stops everything on that phone within a second, and nothing runs there again until you press Resume.
• Every action shows in the phone's run log and in History.

iFarm doesn't hide automation from apps: no spoofing, no detection tricks. Only automate phones dedicated to the farm, and follow each app's rules.

What it costs

iFarm itself is free, with every feature and no account. The AI is the part you may pay for:

Brain	How you pay	Notes
Anthropic API key	Pay per use, billed by Anthropic	Every step sends a small screenshot (about 400×865), so long or frequent runs add up. Set a spending limit in the console.
Your own Claude Code	Uses your Claude plan	Anthropic's terms say apps should use API keys, so check this use fits your plan. Each phone Claude Code drives adds about 200–400 MB of Mac memory.
Local model (Ollama, LM Studio)	Free	Weaker at long tasks; see running a local model.

Each look, tap or swipe is a step, about one a second. A run from a phone's Claude box can take up to 500 steps (about 10 minutes) by default; you can raise it under Longest run in the AI brain settings, up to 2,000 (about 40 minutes). Longer runs use more of your plan or API credit.

The cheapest pattern: let Claude do a new task once, save it as an automation, and replay that for free. Keep Claude for tasks that need judgment every run.

Other MCP apps, and other MCP iPhone projects

Claude is one choice, not a requirement. Press Copy setup for other AI apps in iFarm and paste the result into another app's MCP settings; any AI app on the same Mac that supports MCP can then use the same tools. The setup contains the secret key, so keep it private.

You'll also find other open-source MCP servers for iPhones. Several target the iOS Simulator rather than physical phones, for example ios-simulator-mcp (as of November 2026). They're useful when you're testing an app in the simulator. iFarm is for real iPhones, many at once, with scheduling and the safety rules above.

Frequently asked questions

Can Claude control an iPhone without a jailbreak?

Yes. iFarm installs a small helper app (WebDriverAgent, open source) on each stock iPhone, signed with your own Apple developer team. Claude asks iFarm, and iFarm drives the phone through that helper.

Can I control my phones with Claude when I'm away from the Mac?

Not directly. iFarm only accepts connections from the Mac it runs on. To work remotely, connect to the Mac with Screen Sharing or a remote-desktop app, or start a Claude Code session on that Mac with Remote Control. A version you can reach from anywhere is planned.

Where do the screenshots go?

To the AI provider you chose, under your own account or key: Anthropic for Claude. They don't go to iFarm's developer or to any other iFarm user. With a local model they never leave your Mac.

Will Claude post things without asking me?

Not by default. Ask before posting, sending or following is on until you turn it off in Setup → Preferences, and Claude never buys anything either way.

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