Remote Control WorkBuddy from Your Phone

On Mobile It's Not a Cut-Down Version — It's the Same WorkBuddy

By the end of this article you'll be able to keep work moving with only a phone: assign tasks through the WeChat mini program or the mobile app, and when necessary have it drive WorkBuddy on the office computer.

The prerequisite is understanding the two execution environments, or you'll run into the awkward situation where "the task finished, but the file isn't where I assumed".

Cloud Work vs. Connecting to a Computer

• Cloud work (default): tasks run in a cloud sandbox and don't depend on your personal computer. Good for writing documents, building spreadsheets, looking things up and producing reports — and your phone locking doesn't interrupt it.
• Connect to computer: your phone is just a remote control; the WorkBuddy desktop app on the computer does the actual work. Suits cases where you need to read local folders or use material already on that machine.

Simple rule: only use Connect to Computer when you need "something on your computer". Everything else goes to the cloud — more reliable and less to worry about.

Three Prerequisites for Connecting to a Computer

• The WorkBuddy desktop app on the computer is running, not asleep, and online.
• The phone and the computer are signed in with the same WeChat account — mismatched accounts simply won't connect.
• The network is working. If your corporate network is heavily restricted, try a phone hotspot once; it's usually the fastest way to tell whether the problem is the network or the configuration.

Steps to Connect

1. Open a task in the mobile app or WeChat mini program, find the execution environment option and switch it to "Connect to computer".
2. Select the computer you want to connect to as prompted; if you've only signed in on one, it's usually pre-selected.
3. Approve the prompt on the desktop. Once the phone shows connected, you can start assigning tasks.
4. During execution you can see a card for each step on the phone, expand it for detail, and ask follow-up questions mid-run.

What's Most Worth Doing While Traveling

• Turn a meeting recording into a minutes document and post it straight to the group chat.
• Have the Excel file on your computer produce a summary table and read the conclusions on your phone.
• Rename a batch of photos or scanned contracts by date and file them by project.
• Read a local template and produce a draft quote or proposal from it.

Security and Things to Watch

Connecting to a computer temporarily hands over the ability to operate on local files. A few habits are worth keeping:

• Disconnect when you're done, especially on public networks or when borrowing someone else's device.
• Authorize only the workspace folders you need — never a whole drive.
• For tasks involving sensitive data, confirm in advance where the output will be stored so it doesn't sit in a temp directory.
• Sleep, network loss and screen-lock policies can all break the connection; long-running tasks are better left to the cloud.

Common Questions

Can't find the "Connect to computer" entry? First confirm the desktop app is signed in and online, then check that both ends are on a recent version. As of 2026-11 this feature is still evolving and the entry point may move between versions.

Connected but can't read files? Most likely that folder hasn't been authorized as a workspace. Go back to the desktop app and grant it.

Task broke off halfway? Cloud tasks generally still let you view existing results; a task on a connected computer has to be re-issued after an interruption. Splitting big tasks into a few steps is more reliable.

To get comfortable with the desktop app first, see the basic introduction to Tencent WorkBuddy, then the concrete examples in the hands-on tutorials.