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Open claude.ai in a browser and install the desktop app side by side, and for the first ten minutes you will not find a difference. Same chats, same Projects, same models, same everything. A conversation started in one continues in the other mid-sentence. The difference is not the conversation. It is reach. A browser is deliberately sandboxed away from your computer. A native app is not. Everything on this page falls out of that one fact.

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Interrogate both windows

Ten capabilities, two windows. Click each capability and watch how the two surfaces answer. Green means built in, gold means partly there, red means not on this surface.
The scoreboard is lopsided on purpose. Anything that lives in the cloud, which is most of the product, is identical on both. Everything that touches your machine belongs to the app. And the web keeps the one card the app can never hold: it works on any computer on earth, including the one you do not own.

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The decision, compressed

You are on a borrowed laptop, a locked-down machine, or Linux. Or you just need an answer and you are already in a browser.Web
Chat, writing, research, Projects. The work is words and it lives in the cloud.Either. Truly.
Claude needs to read a folder, edit real files, run local tools, or work for hours through Cowork or Code.Desktop
Most heavy users stop choosing at all. The app stays open all day for real work, and the browser handles everything else. There is no penalty for using both, because there is nothing to keep in sync. It is one account.

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Get Claude on every machine

macOSUniversal .dmg. Apple silicon and Intel, with a Quick Entry global hotkey.Download WindowsStandard x64 installer plus a native ARM64 build for Snapdragon laptops.Download iOS + iPadOSSame app on iPhone and iPad. Voice capture, review, and steering on the move.App Store AndroidPhones, tablets, and most Chromebooks via Google Play.Google Play WebNothing to install, works in any browser. The only door on Linux.Open claude.ai

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Three facts people learn the hard way

  1. There is no native Linux app. Linux users work at claude.ai in a browser, and lose nothing except local file reach.
  2. The desktop app’s local connections belong to that machine. Install the app on your work laptop and your home desktop, and each one reaches only its own files. Your phone reaches neither.
  3. Chat history is cloud-side on both surfaces. Uninstalling the app deletes nothing, and clearing your browser deletes nothing. Your account is the source of truth.

Surfaces map

Now that you know where Claude runs, meet what it runs: Projects, Artifacts, Research, Cowork, and Code.