Softonic covered Anthropic’s rollout of Claude Cowork onto Android and the web, framing it as the moment agentic AI stopped being desktop-only. The framing is right in spirit: for the past year, “AI agents” meant a browser tab on a laptop that took orders and produced multi-step output. Mobile changed the pitch. When the agent can run while you are on the train, in a queue, or between meetings, “the assistant does the work in the background” starts to mean something. We tested the eight best mobile AI agent apps on Android to see which ones actually complete tasks without a keyboard.
What to look for in a mobile AI agent app
An AI agent is only useful on mobile if it can operate without a desk. A good pick does at least three of these:
- Runs while the app is closed. Push notifications when the task is done, not “come back and press continue.”
- Has real tool access. Web browsing, files, calendar, email. An agent that can only talk is a chatbot.
- Handles interruptions. If you close the app mid-task, it should either pause cleanly or keep going server-side.
- Long context by default. Mobile input is short. The model has to hold the intent across brief exchanges.
- Respects data privacy. Personal photos, calendar entries, and location deserve an explicit trust model.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free tier | Starting price/mo | Standout agent feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | Long-running background work | Yes | $20 | Cowork runs multi-step tasks in the cloud |
| ChatGPT | Widest tool ecosystem | Yes, limited | $20 | Custom GPTs, connectors, Operator mode |
| Perplexity | Web-grounded agents with citations | Yes | $20 | Comet-style browsing summarised on device |
| Google Gemini | Deepest Android integration | Yes | $19.99 | Assistant-level access to Gmail, Docs, Maps |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft 365 automation | Yes | $20 | Actions across Outlook, Teams, and Word |
| Poe | Multi-model agents in one app | Yes, limited | $19.99 | Route the same job to GPT, Claude, or Gemini |
| Manus | Autonomous research agent | Trial | Varies | Runs long tasks unattended, delivers a report |
| Genspark | Multi-agent web tasks | Yes | $19.99 | Spawns parallel sub-agents per subtask |
The 8 best mobile AI agent apps on Android
1. Claude — best long-running background work
Claude on Android added Cowork this month, and the difference from a chat app is real. Assign a task, close the app, and get a notification when it lands. The cloud-side agent takes multi-step instructions and returns a synthesized answer with attachments where relevant. Projects group related work and remember context across sessions. For research, drafting, and analysis, Claude’s mobile agent handles the whole loop.
Where it falls short: Tool coverage is narrower than ChatGPT’s. Cowork is metered by message quota, not compute time.
Pricing:
- Free: capped daily messages
- Paid: $20/month Pro, $100/month Max
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, native desktop.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: Pick Claude when the task needs to run while you are away from the phone.
2. ChatGPT — best widest tool ecosystem
ChatGPT carries the widest set of built-in tools and connectors. Custom GPTs run scoped agents against your data, Actions call third-party APIs on your behalf, and Operator handles browser tasks server-side. Advanced Voice, Vision, and file upload all sit inside the same app on Android. Nothing on this list touches the size of the ChatGPT ecosystem when the definition of “agent” is “call the right tool for the job.”
Where it falls short: Operator sits in the higher paid tier. Custom GPT authoring is web-first.
Pricing:
- Free: capped messages, no Operator
- Paid: $20/month Plus, $200/month Pro
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, desktop.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: The pick when the agent has to reach a lot of different tools.
3. Perplexity — best web-grounded with citations
Perplexity treats the web as the agent’s workspace. Pro Search runs multi-hop research across sources, and the Comet browsing layer inside the app now summarises pages in the background. Every claim comes with a source, which matters for anything you plan to share with a colleague. The mobile app runs the same agent as the desktop client.
Where it falls short: Not much of a tool-calling agent outside browsing. Personal file agents are limited.
Pricing:
- Free: quick searches, capped Pro
- Paid: $20/month Pro
Platforms: Android, iOS, web.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: Pick Perplexity when the agent has to defend its answer with sources.
4. Google Gemini — best deepest Android integration
Google Gemini is the only agent on this list with system-level Assistant privileges on Android. Ask it to draft a reply to that email, add the calendar hold, and pull the directions, and it reaches across Gmail, Calendar, and Maps directly. The Live mode keeps a conversation open while the agent works. On Pixel and increasingly other OEMs, Gemini replaces Assistant entirely.
Where it falls short: Non-Google workflows do not see the same depth. Longer autonomous tasks are gated to paid tiers.
Pricing:
- Free: yes, with limits
- Paid: $19.99/month AI Pro, higher tiers add Deep Research and video generation
Platforms: Android (system assistant), iOS, web.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: The pick if the tasks live inside the Google account.
5. Microsoft Copilot — best Microsoft 365 automation
Microsoft Copilot runs on Android as the mobile face of the Microsoft 365 agent story. Actions reach into Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel for anyone signed in with a corporate account. Copilot Pages hold agent-generated work across the desktop and mobile clients. For a knowledge worker whose day is Microsoft’s day, Copilot is the shortest path.
Where it falls short: Non-Microsoft integrations exist but the agent is less confident there.
Pricing:
- Free: yes
- Paid: $20/month Copilot Pro, higher for Microsoft 365 Copilot enterprise
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, web.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: Pick Copilot when the day is Outlook, Teams, and Word.
6. Poe — best multi-model in one app
Poe is the multi-model gateway, and the agent story is the same. Set up a “bot” that runs a specific model, tool set, and system prompt, and route the same task through GPT, Claude, or Gemini to compare outcomes. Message credits pool across models on the paid plan. Poe is not the best single agent, but it is the only place a single mobile app agent can run the same brief through several models in one session.
Where it falls short: No system-level integrations. Tool coverage varies by model.
Pricing:
- Free: limited daily messages
- Paid: $19.99/month
Platforms: Android, iOS, web, desktop.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: Pick Poe when hearing three model opinions on the same task matters.
7. Manus — best autonomous research
Manus is the autonomous agent that runs long tasks unattended and comes back with a document. Give it a research brief and the agent spins up a browsing session, gathers sources, drafts a report, and delivers it. The Android app is the front end to the cloud runner. Runs can take minutes; you close the app and get a notification.
Where it falls short: Runs can consume significant credits fast. Longer tasks have a real dollar cost.
Pricing:
- Free: trial credits
- Paid: pay-per-run credits, subscription tiers vary
Platforms: Android, iOS, web.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: The pick when the ask is a full report, not a chat reply.
8. Genspark — best multi-agent web tasks
Genspark runs a fleet of parallel sub-agents against a single task, then aggregates. On a “compare the top five NAS drives for 2026 and summarise pros and cons” prompt, Genspark spawns per-subtask agents to research each option and stitches the results into a single answer. On Android, the queue is visible so you can watch the fleet work.
Where it falls short: Cost is credit-based; heavy tasks add up. Some sub-agent outputs need reconciliation.
Pricing:
- Free: yes, with daily credit caps
- Paid: $19.99/month, higher for teams
Platforms: Android, iOS, web.
Download: Google Play · Aptoide
Bottom line: The pick when the task is embarrassingly parallel and the agent has to fan out.
How to pick
Start with Claude if the goal is a long-running background task that lands as a notification. Pick ChatGPT when the agent needs the broadest reach of built-in tools. Choose Perplexity when the questions are research with cited answers. Rely on Google Gemini for anything living in the Google account, and Microsoft Copilot for the Microsoft 365 stack. Try Poe to compare model behaviour on the same task, Manus for autonomous multi-hour work, and Genspark when the job splits into parallel sub-tasks. A single agent app rarely covers every scenario, so combining two of these is normal.
