Phone Harness lets AI agents drive a real iPhone or a rented one in the cloud
Solo founder Shawn Pana, previously on growth at Browser Use, is selling agents persistent cloud phones after open-sourcing the harness for personal devices.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Primary source: x.com
Why it matters
Phone Harness attacks the gap between browser agents and native mobile apps, where logged-in sessions, real phone numbers and SMS 2FA still block automation. Persistent cloud iPhones and Androids give Pana a rental business and put spending, messaging and identity actions inside an agent's reach.
Shawn Pana (@shawn_pana) launched Phone Harness on November 4th in a thread on X. He pitched it as a way for AI agents to use a personal iPhone or Android, or a hosted phone in the cloud, to test mobile apps, send messages, make calls and retrieve two-factor authentication codes. Pana is the solo founder and CEO of Phone Harness, which he lists as a Y Combinator Fall 2026 company.…
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