iPhone-use
让 Codex 通过 USB 操作真实 iPhone：引导安装、App 自动化、实时屏幕与截图回退。
The Lens
By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.
Updated Oct 2026
iPhone Use lets Codex operate your real iPhone over USB. Describe a task in plain language and the agent opens apps, reads the screen, taps, scrolls and types, while a sidebar shows the phone live. Under the hood it's Appium's WebDriverAgent on the phone, driven by a local MCP server (the plug-in protocol AI assistants use to call tools), with no separate Appium server. Free, MIT.
Setup is the hard part. You need a Mac with full Xcode (Command Line Tools won't do), Python, Node.js, Developer Mode on the iPhone, and an Apple account in Xcode to sign the WebDriverAgent runner. A free Personal Team works, but Apple expires those profiles after 7 days, so plan on rebuilding weekly. The setup skill walks Codex through it; Apple login, trust prompts and unlocking stay with you.
Solo: free, and it works with Codex, WorkBuddy or Doubao Work. Teams doing app QA: use a proper Appium setup or a real-device cloud like BrowserStack; this is built for one person's phone.
The catch: the Codex version sends anonymous usage analytics to the author's PostHog project by default. Phone images and typed text stay local, per the docs, and IPHONE_USE_ANALYTICS=0 turns it off.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
fully freeFree: MIT. The Codex plugin, local MCP server, setup and usage skills, and the live-screen widget are all in the repo, plus adapters for WorkBuddy and Doubao Work. No paid tier. The Codex version sends anonymous usage analytics to the author's PostHog project by default (opt out with IPHONE_USE_ANALYTICS=0 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1); the WorkBuddy and Doubao adapters ship with analytics off.
Self-hosted: Everything runs on your Mac: macOS, full Xcode with first-launch setup done, Python 3.9+, Node.js 20.19+, 22.12+ or 24+ with npm 10+, and an iPhone over USB with Developer Mode on. The phone runs Appium's WebDriverAgent, pinned to a verified 16.14.0 commit, which you sign with your own Apple account and team. A free Personal Team is limited to 3 apps/devices and its profiles expire 7 days after signing, so the runner needs a rebuild and reinstall.
Paid: No paid tier from the project. You pay for whichever agent drives it (Codex, WorkBuddy or Doubao Work under their own plans). A paid Apple developer team stretches signing past the 7-day free-profile limit.
Free and MIT. The real costs are the agent plan driving it and, on a free Apple account, re-signing the on-phone runner every 7 days.
What to do by team size
- Solo
- free; needs a Mac with full Xcode and your own Apple account to sign WebDriverAgent
- Small team
- free for personal phone automation; each Mac drives its own USB phone
- Medium team
- for app QA, use a standard Appium/XCUITest setup or a real-device cloud instead
- Large team
- not a fit; real-device clouds or device-farm tooling
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License: MIT License
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