Codex Mobile Released and It's Insane
TL;DR
ChatGPT on iPhone can now remote-control Codex on your computer — Riley calls it “the biggest update to ChatGPT maybe ever” because the mobile app can now connect to OpenAI’s Codex desktop app and, through that, control your full machine.
Setup is simple but finicky: update both apps, restart Codex, and stay on the same Wi‑Fi — once connected, your Codex chats sync into the ChatGPT mobile app, where you can start new chats, use voice mode, and monitor long-running agents.
Plugins work on mobile, but visible skills don’t — at least for now — typing @ exposes tools like documents, spreadsheets, presentations, browser, Chrome, and computer use, while / doesn’t surface skills even though Codex can still invoke them via natural-language requests.
The key unlock is Riley’s ‘YOLO mode’ skill, which auto-deploys every app change to Vercel — that solves the big mobile limitation that localhost apps won’t open on your phone, turning Codex mobile into a real vibe-coding workflow with live links.
He demos full app building from a phone, including a Trello-style notes app with Supabase auth and database — the app is created, deployed, opened on mobile, and then resumed inside Codex on desktop for iterative editing.
Because Codex has file and computer access, the use cases go beyond coding — Riley shows an agent scanning his Downloads folder, pulling the 50 most recent photos/videos, and publishing them as a shareable “party downloads” photo album site.
Summary
Riley’s big claim: this is basically remote control for your whole computer
Riley opens hot: Codex is now inside the ChatGPT mobile app, and because Codex can control his laptop, ChatGPT on his phone can now effectively control his whole computer. He frames it as OpenAI’s answer to Claude Code and says it’s his favorite way to run agents locally.
Getting Codex Mobile connected without getting stuck
The setup is straightforward but very specific: update Codex, update the ChatGPT iOS app, restart Codex, and make sure phone and computer are on the same Wi‑Fi. Once connected, the Codex chats on desktop and mobile should mirror each other “in perfect sync,” which is the signal that everything is working.
What actually works in the app: voice, notifications, and plugins
Inside the mobile app, Riley likes voice mode most — he gives a spoken prompt asking the agent to research the Codex update, search the web and social media, and compile everything into a document. He points out the nice mobile touches too: spinny indicators while agents work, blue when they finish, and useful notifications for jobs that can take 10 to 30 minutes.
The weird limitation: plugins show up, skills don’t
Typing @ brings up plugins like documents, spreadsheets, presentations, browser, Chrome, and even computer use, and those work on mobile. But typing / doesn’t expose skills, which Riley calls out as a current gap — although if you know a skill exists on desktop, you can still ask for it in plain English and Codex will use it anyway.
Full-access mode and the local app problem
Riley recommends switching Codex from default permissions to full access if you’re comfortable with it, because he wants it to “just go crazy” and fully control the machine. The bigger issue is that vibe-coded apps run on localhost, so if Codex builds a landing page on your laptop, that localhost link won’t open on your phone.
‘YOLO mode’: the 30-second fix that makes mobile vibe coding real
His solution is a custom skill he calls YOLO mode: every app change gets auto-deployed to production, usually via the Vercel plugin, and the public link is sent back immediately. He sets it up by enabling Vercel in desktop plugins and then telling Codex to create a skill that deploys every change because he’s likely coding from his phone.
From pizza pages to a Trello-style app with Supabase
He first demos a simple landing page, then asks Codex to make it dark mode and improve the font — same link, updated result. Then he goes bigger: “create a full notes app on YOLO mode, mobile optimized… use Supabase for DB and make it look like Trello,” and the result includes authentication, database-backed lists, and a working mobile experience he can log into from the phone.
The fun part: turning your Downloads folder into a party photo app
To close, Riley shifts from coding to playful computer-use automation: from a party, he could ask Codex to grab the 50 most recent images or videos from Downloads, build a little site, caption its favorite five, and deploy it. Watching the screenshots update as the agent rummages through his files is part of the appeal, and the final result is a shareable live link he can instantly send around.
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