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[Bug] Android Remote became unusable: Windows host appears disconnected and long tasks do not open #39947
Description
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
ChatGPT/Codex Desktop for Windows 26.814.5167.0; bundled codex-cli 0.148.0-alpha.15.
Android controller: latest ChatGPT build offered by Google Play on 2026-08-21; Google Play reports no update available. The exact Android build, OS version, and device model were not captured yet.
What subscription do you have?
Paid ChatGPT account (exact tier intentionally omitted).
What platform is your computer?
Host: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
Controller: ChatGPT for Android.
What issue are you seeing?
Codex Remote from ChatGPT Android became effectively unusable over approximately the last 24 hours after working reliably about 48 hours ago.
There are two reproducible failure modes:
-
In most attempts, Remote does not connect to the Windows host at all. The host is shown with a red/offline indicator even though ChatGPT/Codex Desktop is open, awake, online, and signed in. Android displays:
Failed to connect to ChatGPT desktopMake sure the ChatGPT desktop app is open, then try again. -
When Remote does connect, it lists the tasks currently running on the Windows host. Short/small tasks open normally, but selecting a long task does not open the transcript and eventually shows the host/task as disconnected. This makes the tasks that most need remote supervision inaccessible.
The regression began around 2026-08-20. Other users known to the reporter independently describe the same recent Android Remote failure. The OpenAI status page showed no Remote Connections incident when checked on August 20 and 21.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Keep ChatGPT/Codex Desktop
26.814.5167.0open on an online Windows host with Remote enabled. - Open ChatGPT for Android, using the latest build available from Google Play.
- Enter Remote and select the paired Windows host.
- Frequently, observe the red/offline host indicator and the
Failed to connect to ChatGPT desktoperror despite the Desktop app being open. - Retry until the connection succeeds and the host task list appears.
- Open a small/recent task; it normally loads.
- Open a long-running task with substantial history; it remains unavailable or transitions to disconnected instead of rendering the transcript.
What is the expected behavior?
Android Remote should reliably connect to an awake, online, paired Windows host. After connecting, every visible task should open at least a bounded recent transcript tail without requiring the complete history to hydrate first. Long tasks must not block or tear down the host connection.
Additional information
A screenshot captured around 2026-08-21T14:28Z shows the paired Windows host offline and the exact connection error above. The host name, account information, task names, IDs, and contents are omitted from this public report. A sanitized screenshot and diagnostics can be provided privately.
Related issue #38023 documents Android Remote failing to hydrate an idle large task and a turn/start timeout. The long-task symptom overlaps with that report. This issue is distinct because the primary regression frequently occurs before any task is selected: Android marks the Windows host disconnected and cannot enter Remote at all.
Related issue #37126 documented old Android chats not opening, but the reporter closed it after adopting shorter chats as a workaround rather than after a confirmed product fix.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Aug 21, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
Transport unavailable#39915Powered by Codex Action
[-]Android Remote became unusable: Windows host appears disconnected and long tasks do not open[/-][+][Bug] Android Remote became unusable: Windows host appears disconnected and long tasks do not open[/+]DiscoStew6082 commentedon Aug 21, 2026
there appear to be lots of duplicates because this issue hasn't even been looked at by the dev team because I'm hitting it too daily until last night when it's stopped working completely and now even the new chat takes 30 seconds to connect
adamczhang commentedon Aug 21, 2026
Devs please! How can you ignore a remote connection bug. Please fix this.
dhar174 commentedon Aug 21, 2026
Same here. Duplicate or no, this needs attention
jrf1001 commentedon Aug 21, 2026
Yes, started happening in the last few days, incredibly annoying.
The app clearly gets SOME form of connection sometimes, because I can see the updated thread list and start new threads, but since yesterday or the day before, thread loading from the app is like 95% failure rate.
My theory is that it's doing something with the full chat history because it blew out hundreds of MBs of mobile data as it just sat spinning...
DiscoStew6082 commentedon Aug 21, 2026
I was able to reproduce my issue and it matches #39916 from my desktop logs have codex look into it for you for each individual issue. There are a ton to go around though 8)
milbrandnicolas-cloud commentedon Aug 21, 2026
Same..
Quantum-Quagmire commentedon Aug 21, 2026
I'm having the same issue and can reproduce it with the same steps on the latest builds.
hanjunjeong commentedon Aug 21, 2026
same
martin-ritchie commentedon Aug 23, 2026
Same here for 2 days
pmzzs commentedon Aug 26, 2026
same for 2 days
Quantum-Quagmire commentedon Aug 29, 2026
FYI, it has started working reliably for me now. After not working for days it just fixed itself. I didn't change anything. I tried every possible way to fix it for days and nothing helped. Is it working for anyone else who was having the problem before?
I'm on Android and codex is on windows.
zeevenn commentedon Aug 31, 2026
Same for me.
martin-ritchie commentedon Aug 31, 2026
Works now, but keeps disconnecting and reconecting alot
ArrayKnight commentedon Sep 7, 2026
Additional Android reproduction that may connect several of the related Remote reports
I'm seeing multiple symptoms reported across the related Android Remote issues on the same device/setup, which makes me wonder whether these are separate manifestations of a common Android Remote lifecycle/state regression rather than entirely independent failures.
Environment
1.2026.237Observed sequence
This appears to overlap with #40008, #39856, #39954, #39974 and the connectivity behavior described in this issue.
The interesting data point is that pairing, authentication, host discovery, project enumeration and thread enumeration all demonstrably succeed. The failures occur afterward in Android navigation/session lifecycle and when a remote turn is initiated.
Since one Android installation is reproducing several symptoms described across these issues, it may be worth treating them as a related Android Remote regression cluster even if they ultimately remain separate issues for tracking/root-cause purposes.
charles1w commentedon Sep 10, 2026
For the failure before the task list appears, we reproduced one concrete cause: the desktop spends too long reading huge helper-agent histories, including agents that will not even appear in the list. The phone's request times out while the desktop itself remains usable.
Keeping old inactive helper histories out of that scan, while preserving their contents and original access paths, reduced listing from over 25 seconds to about 1.2 seconds, and the phone loaded tasks.
Detailed findings, reversible workaround and recommended code fix; the earlier scan-timeout report is #36416. The recommendation is to use the existing fast task index and skip excluded agents before reading their history. This finding does not explain the separate symptom where the list loads but an individual long task will not open.
martin-ritchie commentedon Sep 10, 2026