Copilot on your phone — more than PRs

GitHub’s phone app used to be the place where Copilot mostly helped around pull requests. On April 8, GitHub changed that, so the same cloud agent can now research a repository, sketch a plan, and write code on a branch from a mobile session before any pull request exists. (github.blog) A cloud agent is GitHub’s version of a remote worker that runs away from your laptop. GitHub says the agent gets its own temporary development environment, powered by GitHub Actions, where it can inspect code, edit files, and run tests and linters without using your phone as the computer. (docs.github.com) That setup matters because a phone is good at giving instructions and bad at doing full software work. GitHub Mobile now lets you send the task from your pocket while the heavy lifting happens in GitHub’s hosted environment. (docs.github.com) The new mobile flow starts with research. GitHub says you can ask Copilot to analyze your codebase first, which is closer to telling a contractor to walk the building before bringing tools inside. (github.blog) After that, the agent can produce an implementation plan before it writes code. GitHub added that planning-first workflow to Copilot cloud agent on April 1, and the April 8 mobile update brings that same behavior into the phone app. (github.blog 1) (github.blog 2) The other big shift is branch-first work instead of pull-request-first work. GitHub says the mobile app can now let Copilot make code changes on a branch, show you the diff, and keep iterating until you decide it is ready for a pull request. (github.blog) (docs.github.com) If you already know the task should end as a pull request, you can still say that in the prompt. GitHub says Copilot will automatically open the pull request when the session finishes, so the old review-centered workflow is still there when you want it. (github.blog) This mobile change lands in the middle of a broader rebuild of Copilot from autocomplete tool to asynchronous coding worker. GitHub’s docs now describe the cloud agent as something that can take work from an issue or chat, research the repository, make changes, and hand back a reviewable result instead of just suggesting the next line. (docs.github.com 1) (docs.github.com 2) GitHub also says the feature is available on paid GitHub Copilot plans, including Pro, Pro+, Business, and Enterprise, though Business and Enterprise users need an administrator to enable the cloud agent first. That means “code from your phone” is really “dispatch work from your phone” for teams that have already turned on the agent system behind it. (docs.github.com) (github.blog) The practical use case is not writing a whole feature with two thumbs on a subway. It is noticing a bug in an issue, asking Copilot from the GitHub app to inspect the repository, letting it prepare a branch and diff, and getting back to a desk with the first draft already waiting. (docs.github.com) (github.blog)