Claude Code chat names in the mobile/web app don't match desktop session names
Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Workaround ✓ Mentioned in thread ↓
Activity 4 comments · opened Jul 7, 2026
What happens: In the Claude app's "Claude Code" section, the chat/session names are vague and generic. For the same sessions, the names shown on Claude Code desktop are different (more specific), so the two don't line up. It's hard to tell which app-side entry maps to which desktop session.
Expected: Session names should be consistent across surfaces — the name shown on desktop for a Claude Code session should match the name shown in the app for that same session.
Impact: Can't reliably find a specific session from the app; the vague auto-generated names give no clue which conversation they refer to.
Environment: Claude app (mobile/web) "Claude Code" section vs. Claude Code desktop.
4 Comments
More detail on the pattern (values below are redacted placeholders, not the real strings):
1. Names look like a device-identity fallback. Several sessions render with what appears to be the local machine's hostname (e.g.
<device-hostname>…) instead of a descriptive title. In the same list, other sessions do show meaningful titles. So the app seems to fall back to a device/host identifier when it doesn't have the desktop session's real name, producing multiple near-identical rows that are impossible to tell apart. On desktop, those same sessions have distinct descriptive names.2. No way to expand the full name. Titles are truncated with an ellipsis and nothing expands them (no tap-to-expand, tooltip, or wrap). Because of that I can't even tell whether the host identifier is the entire session name or just a prefix in front of the real title that's being cut off.
Expected: show the same descriptive session name the desktop shows, and provide a way to view the full (untruncated) name.
Hitting this daily on 2.1.153 (macOS). Concrete pairs from today, each one the SAME session with two independently generated titles:
So the local client and claude.ai each run their own title generation over the same conversation and never reconcile. With remoteControlAtStartup enabled, the phone list becomes the primary way to reach a machine's sessions, and none of its names line up with the desktop.
Adjacent open issues that look like the same root cause (no single canonical title field): #76206 (name passed to /remote-control silently dropped for hostname auto-name), #68488 (renames from mobile don't persist to the local CLI), #78264 (ai-title overrides custom-title locally). One canonical per-session title that every surface reads and writes (custom beats AI, latest write wins, synced both directions) would close all four.
Workarounds tried: CLAUDE_REMOTE_CONTROL_SESSION_NAME_PREFIX only fixes the prefix of unnamed RC sessions; manual renames on claude.ai work but drift again as titles regenerate.
Confirming this is still happening as of 2026-09-15. Same account, same sessions.
Setup:
Impact: I can't tell which app-side entry maps to which laptop session. I have to match by content or recency instead of name, which slows down remote work from my phone.
Expected: the name shown on desktop for a session should be the same name shown in the app for that same session.
---
_Generated by Claude Code_
Confirming this is still happening as of 2026-09-15. Same account, same sessions.
Setup:
Impact: I can't tell which app-side entry maps to which laptop session. I have to match
by content or recency instead of name, which slows down remote work from my phone.
Expected: the name shown on desktop for a session should be the same name shown in the
app for that same session.