How to use Claude Duet: setup, apps, approvals and fixes

How to use Claude Duet: get an invitation from the waitlist, install the app on your phone, sign in with your Claude account, connect the apps you want it to work in, and start with small jobs that end in an approval. This guide follows Anthropic's Get started with Claude Duet help article and its safety, privacy and security page, as of October 31, 2026.

Duet is a research preview. You message it like a person, by text or voice, and it works in the apps you connect. By the end of this guide you will have it installed, connected to your email and calendar, and know what it will and won't do without asking you.

What you need before you start

Anthropic lists these requirements:

• A Pro, Max or Ultra plan. Team and Enterprise are not supported yet. Our piece on whether Claude Duet is free covers the cost.
• A Claude account in the US. The preview is US-only.
• An invitation. Invitations go out from the waitlist in waves, with no guaranteed date. Our waitlist explainer covers who can join.
• A matching email. Access is tied to the email you gave the waitlist. If it doesn't match your Claude account, or the Google or Apple account on your phone, you may not get in.

How to set up Claude Duet

1. Open the Claude Duet product page and join the waitlist. Use the email on your Claude account if you already have one.
2. Enter your name and email, choose your plan and phone type (iPhone or Android), and optionally say what you would hand off first.
3. Wait for the invitation email. Open it on your phone.
4. Follow the iPhone or Android steps, using the Apple or Google account tied to that email.
5. Open Claude Duet and sign in with your Claude account. The app can take a few minutes to appear after you accept.

On admission you also get one full reset of your five-hour and weekly limits, available until November 30, 2026.

How to connect apps

Duet uses the connectors you have already set up in Claude, and you manage them in Claude settings. Anthropic's examples include Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Docusign and Calendly. Microsoft 365 is not available yet, and some connectors, Slack among them, have limits.

You start every connection yourself. Turning an app off in one place turns it off in both Claude and Duet. Disconnecting stops new access at once, but what Duet already learned stays until you reset its memory in the app's settings.

For websites with no connector, Duet uses its own cloud browser. It can't hand that browser to you, and you can't watch it. When it needs a password, you type it into a form in the Claude app. Anthropic says the model never sees or stores it.

What to ask Duet first

Start with jobs where a mistake is cheap and you can check the result. Anthropic's own examples are clearing your inbox, checking Stripe for unpaid invoices and drafting reminders, and preparing a company brief before a meeting.

• Connect Gmail and Calendar, then ask for a morning brief. Each morning Duet reviews your email and calendar, highlights priorities and may draft replies for you to review.
• Ask for a research brief or a slide deck. Larger jobs come back as editable files in the Make tab.
• Use separate channels by topic. They share memory, so you don't repeat yourself.

The Tasks tab shows ongoing work and anything waiting on you. Duet may suggest a task is finished, but only you can mark it complete.

How approvals work

Before it sends a message, pays, signs a document or deletes anything, Duet shows you the action, where it goes and what it contains, including every recipient. It waits for your approval. If you can't answer right away, it finishes other work and brings the request back later.

A separate automated check runs alongside each action to judge whether it matches your intent. Anthropic says it runs outside the model, so instructions hidden in a web page can't influence it. Some actions are blocked even with approval: trading securities, moving money between accounts and using someone else's account. Paying, deleting an order and creating an account can't be set to "don't ask again."

For purchases, Duet pays with a one-time card from Link by Stripe or Shop Pay, limited to one purchase. Your real card number isn't shared with Duet or the merchant.

Common problems and fixes

• No access after the invitation. Check that the email you used on the waitlist matches your Claude account and your phone's Google or Apple account.
• You hit usage limits sooner than expected. Duet counts against your five-hour and weekly limits at the chat rate, and background work such as the morning brief counts too.
• Urgent items arrive late. Duet checks accounts at set intervals, not continuously.
• It picked the wrong product, store or option. Contact Claude support. For a Link or Shop Pay charge problem, use those services' support. For order or return problems, contact the store.
• It got something wrong. Review every draft and approval request. Anthropic says Duet can make mistakes and that prompt injection, hidden instructions in emails or pages, is still a risk, which is why approvals matter.
• Anything else. Tell Duet in plain words what happened, and it passes the report to the team.

Where to go next

If you are choosing between agents, see Claude Duet vs Meta Muse. Duet runs on Claude Opus 5.5 and you can't pick another model. Anthropic says approval frequency, sign-in methods and the accuracy of its sensitive-information checks are still changing, so check the help article again before relying on a detail here.