Android Remote Control pairing fails with Windows Codex 26.721.41059 / ChatGPT Android 1.2026.202 (25)

Hello,
I'm experiencing exactly the same issue.
Environment
ChatGPT Pro subscription
ChatGPT Windows app (latest version)
ChatGPT Android app (latest version)
Windows 11
Android
Description
The Remote Control feature worked perfectly until I factory reset my Android phone.
Since then, I have been unable to pair any Android device.
The pairing process always behaves the same way:
Enable Remote Control in the Windows app.
Scan the QR code using the ChatGPT Android app.
The phone displays "Authorize this phone".
Tap Authorize.
Instead of completing the pairing, the app immediately returns to "Pair this phone" and starts the process again.
The pairing never completes.
Additional information
On Windows, I also receive:
Unable to update connected device availability.

Sometimes I also receive:
Unable to enable Remote Control. Make sure only one instance of ChatGPT is running.

Troubleshooting performed
I have already:
Reinstalled the ChatGPT Windows application.
Cleared local application data.
Logged out and back into my account.
Revoked all active sessions.
Tested on two different Windows PCs.
Tested on two different Android devices (phone and tablet).
Verified my network configuration.
Verified that SSH works correctly.
Recreated the SSH connection.
Confirmed that the QR code is always recognized correctly.
The issue is identical on all devices, which suggests it is not related to a specific computer or Android device.
It appears to be either an account-specific pairing issue or a server-side regression in the Remote Control service.
I hope this information helps with the investigation.
Thank you.

@miredinjp-rgb Your authorize loop matches #36268 exactly (mine was triggered by an app reinstall rather than a factory reset — both destroy the previously-authorized device state, and your 2-PC/2-device testing points the same direction: account-side stuck state, not the phone).

What unstuck it for me: pairing from the desktop app's flow — notably, it prompted me to enable MFA on the account before pairing succeeded (the Android/CLI flows never surfaced that). Immediately after that first successful desktop pairing, the same previously-looping Android phone paired first try.

I can't tell whether the fix was the MFA enrollment itself or the first successful desktop pairing resetting server-side state — if you try it, whether you also get an MFA prompt would be a useful data point.

Thanks! I can confirm that I also managed to get it working after enabling two-factor authentication (MFA). So there may indeed be a connection between MFA activation and the pairing issue.

In my case, once MFA was enabled, the pairing process completed successfully. It's hard to say whether it's the MFA enrollment itself or whether it resets something on the server side, but it's definitely another data point that points in the same direction.

Confirmed similar Remote pairing failure on a current Windows ChatGPT/Codex desktop host with the ChatGPT Android app.

Observed:

• Desktop Remote setup can enable “Control this PC” and generates a phone QR code.
• The phone scans the phone QR code from the ChatGPT Remote flow, but then shows a generic “Pairing failed / something went wrong while pairing” message.
• The desktop is signed in to a personal workspace; the phone was checked against the same ChatGPT account/workspace.
• Both desktop and mobile apps report that they are fully updated.
• A fresh QR code was generated and the desktop app was restarted. The failure remains.
• The desktop-to-desktop manual code is not being used for the phone flow.

Expected: the Android device should pair with the Windows host and make it available in Remote.

No account identifiers, QR payloads, device identifiers, local paths, or screenshots are included here.

Follow-up: the affected account already had authenticator-app MFA enabled before the pairing attempts. The MFA toggle is confirmed on in the account security settings. Therefore, the previously reported MFA-enrollment workaround does not resolve this instance.

Additional current Windows/Android reproduction after a previously working pairing stopped.

Environment

• Windows 11 Pro x64, build 26200
• Microsoft Store package OpenAI.Codex 26.814.5517.0
• ChatGPT for Android (the exact mobile build is not available from Windows-side diagnostics)

Observed

• The Android device had previously been paired and Remote was working.
• The user observed that the pairing became unusable around the time of the desktop update and has remained unusable for approximately 18 hours. This is a timing correlation only; the update is not claimed as the root cause.
• Windows Remote remains enabled and the host reaches the connected state.
• A fresh QR pairing session is generated successfully.
• The desktop setup request completed successfully in approximately 1.63 seconds.
• During the following approximately 78 seconds, the desktop checked the connected-device list 58 times, but no Android registration appeared and the phone did not become usable again.

Expected
A previously authorized Android device should reconnect, or a fresh QR pairing should register it again.

This places the observed failure after QR generation, during the mobile/account enrollment step rather than during Windows host setup. No account identifiers, device IDs, host names, QR contents, local paths, screenshots, or raw logs are included.

For what it’s worth, the issue was resolved on my side after I enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) on my account. After setting up 2FA, Android Remote pairing started working again. Sharing this in case it helps others experiencing the same issue.

Current cross-platform reproduction from 21 Aug 2026: this is also affecting a Mac host, not only Windows.

• ChatGPT Android 1.2026.223 on an OPPO Pad 5 Pro (OPD2511, ColorOS 16.1 / Android 16)
• A Vivo Android phone fails against the same host as well
• Mac ChatGPT/Codex 26.818.22352
• ChatGPT Remote on iPhone works normally against the same Mac, account, and network

A fresh QR enrollment succeeds and the Mac host receives initialize, but the Android client closes the transport in the same second. There is no Android crash.

Reproduced after Android uninstall/reinstall, full app-data wipe, fresh login and pairing, desktop-app restart, home Wi-Fi, and an iPhone hotspot. The iOS success plus two unrelated Android manufacturers makes a Mac, OPPO, Vivo, Tailscale, or local-network cause unlikely.

There is also a same-day community incident with Android failures reported against both Mac and Windows: https://www.reddit.com/r/codex/comments/1vu8gvz/is_codex_remote_not_working/

This looks like a current Android Remote client or relay regression.