Android phone control over USB
Plug an Android phone into your computer and a bot can read its screen, open apps, tap, type, swipe and take screenshots. No pairing, no Tailscale, no phone app.
Set up the phone once
The steps live in the Android tab of the bot's computer panel, under First-time USB setup.
Step 1
Turn on Developer options
On the phone, open About phone and tap Build number seven times.
You're done when: Developer options appears in the phone's Settings.
Step 2
Turn on USB debugging
In Developer options, turn on USB debugging.
You're done when: USB debugging is on.
Step 3
Plug it in and accept
Connect the phone with a data-capable cable (a charge-only cable looks the same and does nothing) and keep it unlocked. The phone asks Allow USB debugging. Accept it. You can choose Always allow for this computer so it does not ask again.
You're done when: the Android tab shows the phone.
Ask the bot
Once the phone shows in the tab, ask any bot that can use Murage's tools to open an app or do a task on the phone: "open WhatsApp and read me the last message from Dana", "take a screenshot of my home screen". The bundled Phone Harness skill loads on its own for phone requests. You do not switch it on.
Keep the phone unlocked and in view while the bot works, at least the first few times. Watch what it does the way you would watch a new assistant with your phone in their hand.
What the bot will not do
The Phone Harness stops before sending, posting, buying, booking, deleting or changing an account unless you approved that exact action, and it never enters passwords, payment details, government identifiers or one-time codes. If a task needs one of those, it hands the phone back to you.
- Android only. A bot cannot control an iPhone over USB. On an iPhone, talk to your bots in the phone web app or Telegram, and the iPhone app when it ships.
- One phone, plugged in. Control runs over the cable. Unplug it and the bot loses the phone.
- Not every engine. Use Fuigo, Claude Code, Codex or another engine from the engines table that takes Murage's tools. A bot on an engine that brings its own tools does not get the phone.
- Separate from pairing. The phone app, Tailscale and pairing codes are for using Murage from your phone. This page is the other way round: the bot using your phone.
Troubleshooting
You see
The Android tab shows no phoneDo this
Try another cable; many are charge-only. With the phone awake and open, unplug, plug back in, and look for the Allow USB debugging prompt on the phone. If you tapped Deny earlier, turn USB debugging off and on again in Developer options to get the prompt back.
You see
The bot says the device is unauthorizedDo this
The computer was not accepted on the phone. Accept Allow USB debugging, then ask again.