ā ļø Phone Control Warning (New in v2026.2.9)
OpenClaw can now control your phone via the /pair command in Telegram. Your agent can tap, swipe, open apps, and send messages on your device.
Before enabling phone control:
ā Set strict boundaries in your soul.md
ā Never grant access to banking or payment apps
ā Never grant access to email or messaging without approval rules
ā Test with non-critical actions first
ā Keep Kill Switch ready at all times
If your phone starts doing things you didn't ask for:
- Hit Kill Switch immediately (even from another device)
- Revoke Telegram bot access
- Check what actions were taken
- Review and tighten your soul.md boundaries
Remember: Your phone has access to everything ā banking, email, social media, photos. An unrestricted agent with phone control is a massive security risk.
Set up boundaries first ā Mission 7: Give Your Agent a Soul
If Your Agent Is Acting Strange
- Hit the Kill Switch (red button in the top navigation)
- Don't panic ā the agent is now stopped
- Check the logs in your Status dashboard
- If you're unsure what happened, use "Wipe Everything" for a fresh start
If You Suspect a Security Issue
- Hit Kill Switch immediately
- Revoke your API key at your provider:
- Change your SETUP_PASSWORD in your hosting environment variables
- Change your OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN
- Review agent activity in your logs
- Do NOT restart until you understand what happened
If You Get a Surprise API Bill
- Hit Kill Switch immediately
- Check your budget settings ā was auto-pause enabled?
- Check which model was running (Opus/GPT-4 cost much more than Haiku/GPT-4o-mini)
- Set a lower budget limit before restarting
- Set spending limits at your API provider (Anthropic and OpenAI both allow this)
Prevention Checklist
ā Budget limit set ($10-15 recommended for testing)
ā Auto-pause at 100% enabled
ā Safe Mode enabled (agent asks before acting)
ā Using a burner email, not your real one
ā API key has spending limits set at your provider
ā Start with read-only permissions for external services
Need More Help?
If you're stuck or something unexpected happened, ask Larry (the chat assistant in the bottom right) or open an issue on GitHub.
