Grok mobile vs web: features, differences, and performance in 2025

Grok offers unified intelligence, but the experience shifts dramatically between app and browser.

Grok 4, developed by xAI, powers a growing ecosystem of products—from web access to mobile apps and direct integration inside the X platform. While the same core models (including Grok 4 Heavy) run across surfaces, the feature set, tools, and workflow experience vary significantly between mobile and web. In particular, voice interaction, camera vision, and image generation are tightly integrated in the mobile app, while document handling and long-form workflows are better suited to the desktop.

Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy are available across all platforms for eligible users

All Grok surfaces—web, mobile, and inside X—support access to Grok 4, with Grok 4 Heavy available to SuperGrok+ subscribers or enterprise users. There is no functional gap in reasoning quality, language modeling, or retrieval capabilities between platforms. Web and mobile users operate the same model, with only context limits varying slightly depending on how Grok is used (e.g., X vs API vs standalone app). Typical consumer-facing apps provide up to 128k tokens, with 256k reported in API settings.

Voice mode is mature on mobile and in development for the web

Grok’s voice mode is fully implemented in the iOS and Android apps, offering a speak-and-listen experience where users can talk naturally and hear replies. During voice sessions, users can invoke Live Camera to let Grok “see what you see” in real time—ideal for contextual help, object description, or document feedback. On the web, voice interaction is in early rollout, with some users accessing microphone-based input and screen sharing in Chrome-based environments. However, it remains mobile-first, and not yet standard in the browser version.

Camera tools and real-world input are strongest on mobile

The Grok mobile app is designed for live visual input. Through the built-in Live Camera feature, users can stream visual data to Grok while speaking, enabling the model to interpret documents, menus, packaging, or real-world scenes. This functionality is central to the app experience and is not available on the desktop version. Early indicators suggest screen sharing may be coming to mobile in future updates, but current capabilities are focused on camera-based vision.

File and image upload work across platforms, but features are more discoverable on web

Grok supports file uploads and image analysis on both web and mobile. Users can upload PDFs, text documents, and images, with recent upgrades increasing support for larger PDFs and structured files like CSV or JSON. The mobile app supports both image input and image generation, with a strong UI for picture-based tasks. On the web, these capabilities are equally powerful, but more oriented toward text documents, data files, and multi-step reasoning.

Live web search and real-time retrieval are consistent across devices

Real-time search is a core Grok feature, available in both mobile and web environments. Grok’s strength lies in live knowledge retrieval—pulling data directly from the internet and surfacing results in-stream. This capability works identically across platforms and does not require separate configuration. Search latency and content fidelity are shared, although desktop users may find it easier to navigate links and citations in multi-tab sessions.

Grok Imagine unlocks image and video generation, with full support in the mobile app

Grok’s Imagine feature allows users to generate images from prompts, and in some cases, extend this to video generation (image-to-video). This functionality is fully supported on mobile, with users able to generate visuals by speaking or typing. The mobile version is particularly suited to this feature due to its integration with camera input and voice mode. The web version supports these tools as well, but the interactive flow is smoother on mobile. “Spicy Mode,” an optional looser filter for image generation, is also managed in-app for those with eligible accounts.

Notifications and OS-level integration are limited to the mobile experience

The Grok mobile app supports push notifications for completed chats or background tasks. These appear in standard mobile notification trays. However, OS-level integration (such as replacing Android’s default assistant or system-wide voice commands) is not yet supported. Grok operates as a standalone app on both Android and iOS, without deeper tie-ins to system functions like Siri or Google Assistant.

Offline mode is not available, but Grok Nano is in development separately

The current Grok experience is entirely cloud-based—requiring an active internet connection to function. There is no offline mode for the app or browser version. Discussions around local small models (similar to Gemini Nano or Apple on-device LLMs) are ongoing, but Grok does not yet provide a public offline capability for consumer use.

Each platform fits a different mode of work and interaction

The mobile app shines in real-time conversation, vision tasks, and image creation, especially when paired with voice input and Live Camera. It is ideal for mobile users capturing content on the go, exploring creative prompts, or interacting hands-free. The web interface, in contrast, is stronger for long-form reasoning, file-based problem solving, and document analysis, especially when used in a research or technical environment. The experience is streamlined for multi-tab usage, code work, and copy-paste flows.

____________

FOLLOW US FOR MORE.

DATA STUDIOS

datastudios.org