---
site: steel.dev
collection: blog
canonical_url: https://steel.dev/blog/mobile-mode
markdown_url: https://steel.dev/blog/mobile-mode.md
content_signal: ai-input=yes, ai-train=yes, search=yes
related:
  - https://steel.dev/blog/launch-week-v2-recap.md
  - https://steel.dev/blog/profiles.md
  - https://steel.dev/blog/more-browsers.md
title: "Mobile Mode: Simpler Interfaces for AI Agents"
description: Run sessions with mobile UA and viewport for simpler DOMs, faster vision agents, and mobile-only auth paths. Keep separate profiles for clean context.
date: 2025-10-14
authors:
  - Hussien Hussien
category: Product
launch_week: v2
minutes: 2
tldr: 'Steel sessions can run as a mobile device: pass deviceConfig: { device: "mobile" } and the user agent, viewport, touch events and fingerprint all match a phone. Mobile sites have simpler DOMs and linear flows, which can improve agent task completion and lower token costs, including for vision models.'
topics:
  - Mobile browser emulation
  - Browser fingerprinting
  - AI agents
  - Token costs
  - Browser automation
entities:
  - Steel
  - Steel Cloud
  - steel-browser
  - Playwright
  - steel-sdk
answers_questions:
  - How do I run a Steel browser session as a mobile device?
  - Why do mobile sites help AI agents complete tasks?
  - Why is overriding the user agent string not enough to look like a mobile device?
  - Does Steel mobile mode work with proxies and CAPTCHA solving?
---

# Mobile Mode: Simpler Interfaces for AI Agents

Today we're releasing mobile mode for Steel sessions. Pass `deviceConfig: { device: "mobile" }` when creating a session and the browser appears as a mobile device: user agent, viewport, touch capabilities, and browser characteristics all aligned to look like a phone instead of desktop.

Most websites serve fundamentally different experiences to mobile devices. Desktop sites have nested navigation, hover menus, and complex interactions. Mobile sites strip these away into linear flows and touch-optimized interfaces. For AI agents, this simplification can directly improve task completion.

## How it works

```ts
import Steel from 'steel-sdk';
import { chromium } from 'playwright';

const client = new Steel({ steelAPIKey: process.env.STEEL_API_KEY });

const session = await client.sessions.create({
  deviceConfig: { device: "mobile" }
});

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(
  `wss://connect.steel.dev?apiKey=${process.env.STEEL_API_KEY}&sessionId=${session.id}`
);

const page = await browser.contexts()[0].pages()[0];
await page.goto('https://example.com');
```

The session automatically configures mobile viewport dimensions, touch events, and a full mobile device fingerprint. Sites see a consistent mobile device visiting from a browser app, not a desktop browser with a spoofed user agent. Before this, you could override the user agent string, but the rest of the fingerprint wouldn't match - sites would detect the inconsistency.

Mobile mode works with all existing features - proxies, CAPTCHA solving, and session persistence.

## Why this matters

Mobile sites present content sequentially rather than using nested menus or hover states. An e-commerce checkout that requires navigating dropdown menus on desktop becomes a vertical list on mobile. Fewer interactive elements means clearer action spaces and less chance of mistakes.

Mobile sites also load faster: fewer widgets, less aggressive lazy-loading, and have simpler DOM structures. Less HTML for your model to process means lower token costs. If you're using vision, it means fewer image token cost too.

Without mobile mode, your sessions use desktop fingerprints by default.

## Get started

Mobile mode is available now in Steel Cloud and will be in steel-browser v0.4.4.

- [API Docs](https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api/mobile-mode)
- [Examples](https://github.com/steel-dev/steel-cookbook/tree/main/examples/claude-computer-use-mobile)
- [Dashboard](https://app.steel.dev/)

Questions? [Discord](https://discord.gg/steel-dev) or [@steeldotdev](https://twitter.com/steeldotdev).

*Part of Steel's launch week. More at* [*steel.dev/launch-week*](https://steel.dev/blog/launch-week-v2-recap)*.*