Mobile remote task repeatedly blocked by safety system; suggested /approve recovery is unavailable

Summary

While using the mobile interface to work on a Mac-hosted Codex task, the user repeatedly received:

This request was blocked by our safety systems. Reason: Potentially unintended activity.

The warning interrupted assistant responses to ordinary follow-ups, including a question about whether to start a new agent. The visible UI does not identify the triggering action or provide a usable recovery control.

Observed sequence

1. An existing local development task reported an earlier denied diagnostic command.
2. The assistant instructed the user to type /approve and select that denial for one reviewed retry.
3. On the user's phone, typing /approve displayed a skills menu, not an Auto-review Denials picker. A screenshot confirms this observed UI; this report does not claim the command is unavailable on every mobile version.
4. Subsequent follow-ups included Get started please and Should I just start a new agent?.
5. The UI repeatedly displayed the safety warning above, including after partial assistant responses. It is not possible from the screenshots to determine whether the block affected a proposed tool call, response generation, or another layer.

Expected behavior

• Distinguish an action awaiting permission, an automatic-review denial, and a broader safety interruption.
• Provide an actionable, supported recovery/reporting path on the interface being used.
• Avoid directing mobile users into a command that does not expose the required picker in their session.
• If a task cannot continue, permit a safe explanation of the blocker or make the necessary user action clear in the UI.

Please investigate whether this is a false positive or task-state/recovery problem. This report does not request disabling or bypassing safeguards. The original diagnostic's safety and the underlying trigger have not been independently established.

Environment / evidence

• Mobile interface on iPhone, connected to a Mac-hosted local Codex task.
• Observed September 3, 2026, approximately 9:44–9:50 PM America/Los_Angeles.
• App build, iOS version, and model version were not verified.
• The affected user supplied screenshots and explicitly authorized publishing this sanitized report to openai/codex on GitHub.
• Private task identifiers, screenshots, source code, credentials, and session transcripts are omitted from this public report. They can be supplied through a private support channel if requested.

Related

Possibly related: #42523 reports the same warning preventing task resumption on Windows. This report additionally concerns mobile access to the proposed /approve recovery UI.

Start by reproducing the reported iPhone flow for the safety warning and /approve command, then compare its behavior with the related Windows report in #42523. Done means identifying whether the interruption is a false positive or recovery/state problem and documenting an actionable supported recovery path; the payload names no source files or tests.