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The LabEx app brings hands-on labs to your iPhone and Mac. You learn in a chat-first flow: step instructions, Labby AI, checks, and optional virtual machines when a lab needs a terminal. Download on the App Store Download on the Mac App Store This guide focuses on the main path a new user follows. For how LabEx works on the web, see Welcome and Quick Start.

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Install and open

Install LabEx from the App Store on your iPhone or Mac. The store page shows the minimum system version required on your device. When you open the app, you start from the learning-first sign-in experience:
  • On iPhone, you see the learning home welcome, then the same sign-in choices described below.
  • On Mac, if you are not signed in yet, you see a login screen first with the same choices; after sign-in, the Learning / Courses shell appears.
The product is built around learning first, not the full course catalog as the very first screen.

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Sign in (learning home)

You need a LabEx account to use the app. Sign-in starts from the learning-first entry (welcome on the learning home for iPhone, or the Mac login screen), not from the course list or profile alone. After a short welcome sequence, you choose how to sign in:
  1. Sign in with Apple
  2. Sign in with Google
  3. Email and password
Email sign-in uses a single screen for your credentials. You can go back to pick another method.
If a link opens the app for Google sign-in, the app handles that callback first, then continues with your lab or link target.

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After you sign in: where the app takes you

Once you are signed in, the app picks a starting lab in this order:
  1. Running VM
    If you already have an active virtual machine session for a lab, the app opens that lab so you can continue.
  2. Continue learning
    If you have an in-progress course on LabEx with a current lab, the app opens that lab.
  3. Getting started lab
    If neither applies, the app opens a default Quick Start with Linux entry lab so you can begin immediately.
If the app cannot refresh this entry (for example, a network error), you will see an error and a retry option. It does not silently switch you to a random lab. On iPhone, once you are in the signed-in shell, the sidebar highlights Learn and Courses and lists Recents below (Mac follows the same ideas with a desktop layout). LabEx content links can open in the app when configured on your device:
  • Course links open the course lab list first. You choose a lab, then enter the learning screen.
  • Lab links open the learning screen for that lab directly.
  • Pricing links inside step text open in-app pricing on iPhone (sheet) or Mac (pricing window).
Links on labex.io (and www.labex.io), optional language prefixes in the path, and labex:// style links are supported where applicable.

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Live Activity (iPhone only)

On iPhone, when you have a qualifying running VM, the app can show a Live Activity with the lab name and session time. After the VM stops, the activity may show a stopped state until it is replaced or cleared (for example, after sign-out or a new running session). This feature is not available on Mac.

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Mac at a glance

On Mac, the main window uses a sidebar for Learning and Courses, similar in spirit to iPhone but laid out for a desktop. Account and pricing open in separate windows instead of full-screen sheets.