--- title: "Agent that does tasks on my iPhone while I'm away | Mobster" description: "Schedule a Mobster workflow on your awake Mac with your iPhone plugged in and unlocked. By default, sends, posts, purchases and deletes wait for your OK." canonical: "https://mobster.dev/blog/run-iphone-automations-on-a-schedule" last-updated: "2026-11-14" --- Schedule a Mobster workflow on your awake Mac with your iPhone plugged in and unlocked. By default, sends, posts, purchases and deletes wait for your OK. # How to run iPhone automations on a schedule while you're away To run an iPhone automation on a schedule, save the task as a workflow in Mobster for Mac and give it a **Schedule** step. Mobster then runs it by itself at the times you pick, while your Mac is awake and your iPhone is plugged in and unlocked. Mobster reuses learned steps when the screen matches. If the screen differs, the model takes over from that step. In the test on an iPhone 15 Pro, “Open Settings › General › About” takes 3.91 s with learned steps against 7.87 s without. These are medians of 4 runs each way. The test covers one short task in Settings. These times do not predict how long other tasks take. A scheduled task can run while you’re away. By default, a send, post, purchase or delete waits for your OK on the Mac. 8 November 2026 ## Set up a schedule in Mobster for Mac 1. Type the task with when it repeats, such as `Every weekday at 8am, open Calendar and tell me my first meeting`. Mobster offers **Make this repeat** under the task box. Choose it to open a draft workflow based on your words, with the schedule filled in. 2. Or run the task once without a time. Under an answer you want to reuse, choose **Save as workflow**. On the workflow’s page, double-click the canvas and pick **Schedule** under **How it starts**. Drag from its output dot to the first step to join them. 3. Select the Schedule step. Under **When it runs**, pick **Repeat** and **Time**. **Advanced** takes a cron schedule and a time zone. 4. Give every blank a default, such as `{city: Boston}`. A schedule fills each blank with its default, so every blank needs one first. 5. Choose **Save workflow**, then **Publish**. A schedule runs the published version only. 6. In Settings › General, turn on **Open at login**, so schedules run after a restart without you opening Mobster. The workflow’s row on the **Workflows** page shows its schedule. After a run, it shows the result or what needs your attention. ## Keep the Mac and the iPhone ready - **The Mac stays awake.** From 10 minutes before a scheduled run until it ends, Mobster keeps your Mac from going to sleep on its own. A closed laptop on battery still sleeps. - **The iPhone stays unlocked.** Set Auto-Lock to **Never**. A locked iPhone stops a scheduled run with “Your iPhone is locked. Unlock it and try again. No action was taken.” Mobster never enters your passcode. It can’t get past Face ID or a CAPTCHA. - **A missed time is skipped.** It isn’t run late. The Schedule step’s **When the Mac slept through it** can run it once when Mobster is back instead. - **Your own use comes first.** For 2 minutes after you unlock the iPhone or switch apps, Mobster refuses a scheduled start with this message: “You’re using your iPhone right now, so Mobster didn’t start this task. No action was taken.” ## What happens while you’re away - **Approvals wait for you.** A step that sends, posts, buys or deletes shows an approval in Mobster for Mac. While Mobster is in the background, you also get a macOS notification with approval buttons, such as **Send** and **Don’t send**. If nobody answers within 10 minutes, the run ends without that step. - **Alerts tell you.** Put an https address in `MOBSTER_ALERT_WEBHOOK_URL`, in Settings or the env file. Mobster posts there when a scheduled run fails or stops before it finishes. It also posts an alert if an approval remains unanswered. Slack, Discord and ntfy get their own format. A post never holds the answer, a screenshot or anything Mobster typed. `mobster alerts test` sends a test post. - **Spending stops at a limit.** Each workflow stops a run at its own spending limit, **$5.00** by default. Mobster documents a [Remote setup](https://docs.mobster.dev/remote) for handing your iPhone tasks from a cloud assistant to Mobster for Mac. The ChatGPT steps follow OpenAI’s docs. They are marked “not yet run by us”. Approvals for Remote tasks always stay on your Mac. ## The same workflow from a terminal, an agent or the API - **Terminal:** `mobster chat --workflow "First meeting" --set city=Boston` runs a saved workflow once. It exits 0 when the run completes, 1 when it doesn’t, and 4 when it still runs after `--wait` seconds. - **Your coding agent, over MCP:** `list_workflows` and `run_workflow`. - **HTTP:** `POST /api/workflows/{id}/run`. In a workflow’s graph, `trigger.schedule` takes `cron`, `timezone`, `missed` (`skip` or `run_once`) and `overlap` (`skip` or `queue_one`). ## What iOS Shortcuts automations do instead Shortcuts on the iPhone runs automations on events such as a time of day, arriving somewhere or opening an app. Apple’s guide describes automations that ask you to run them and automations that can run without asking. Time of Day is on its list of automations that can run without asking. A Shortcuts automation lives on the iPhone itself, with no Mac and no cable. Mobster needs a Mac, and by default, a scheduled run needs the iPhone plugged into it. Each step in a shortcut is an action, and Apple describes actions as “the best features of the apps on your Apple devices, broken out into smaller parts.” When an app offers the action you need, Shortcuts is the simpler tool. When it doesn’t, Mobster works through the app’s own screens: it reads the labeled buttons and fields, then taps and types. ## What it costs Mobster for Mac is free on any number of iPhones. Each run’s model calls go to your own AI plan or API key. In the 11 Oct 2026 runs above, the first repeat makes one model call to check the screen. Later repeats make none. [Automate iPhone workflows with an agent](https://mobster.dev/blog/automate-iphone-workflows-with-an-agent) covers branches, loops, webhooks and the workflow file. ## Questions - ### Does a scheduled run work on a locked iPhone? No. It stops with "Your iPhone is locked. Unlock it and try again. No action was taken." Set Auto-Lock to Never on the iPhone that runs your schedules. - ### What happens when your Mac sleeps through a scheduled run? It's skipped, not run late. On the workflow's Schedule step, set When the Mac slept through it to run it once when Mobster is back. - ### Can a scheduled workflow send a message with nobody there? Not by default. The send waits for your OK in Mobster for Mac. If nobody answers within 10 minutes, the run ends without that step. ## Sources - [Mobster docs: workflows, schedules and alerts](https://docs.mobster.dev/schedules) - [Mobster docs: build a workflow on its canvas](https://docs.mobster.dev/workflows) - [Mobster docs: what it can and can't do](https://docs.mobster.dev/capabilities) - [Mobster docs: approvals and safety](https://docs.mobster.dev/safety) - [Mobster docs: Mobster Remote](https://docs.mobster.dev/remote) - [Apple: intro to shortcuts with automations on iPhone or iPad](https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/intro-to-automation-shortcuts-apd690170742/ios) - [Apple: add automations to Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad](https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/add-automations-apdfbdbd7123/ios) - [Apple: intro to Shortcuts on iPhone and iPad](https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/intro-to-shortcuts-apdf22b0444c/ios) ## Try it on your own iPhone Download Mobster for Mac ## More from the blog ### [Automate repetitive iPhone tasks with an agent](https://mobster.dev/blog/automate-iphone-workflows-with-an-agent) 2 Nov 2026 ### [Automate iPhone tasks from your Mac, with approvals](https://mobster.dev/blog/automate-iphone-from-mac) 7 Oct 2026 ### [USB and Wi-Fi for iPhone automation](https://mobster.dev/blog/iphone-automation-usb-vs-wifi) 13 Oct 2026