Microsoft Remote Desktop app comes to iOS and Android

Today, Microsoft went ahead and launched the app for Android and iOS. A lot of third-party applications were available for the same and now Microsoft has pushed out an official app to smoothen things out.

Microsoft has been using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for years now across its series of Windows desktops and servers to connect to a PC. The latest Android and iOS app are no different and use the same RDP method to connect to a remote Windows machine in which Remote Desktop option has been turned on.

One of the limitations of using the remote desktop application has been that controlling the entire desktop from a small screen was tough and that problem continues to persist even in the official app. But using the Metro mode on the small screens is considerably better than the desktop mode. The app makes sense because both Android and iOS versions support tablets and hence using Remote Desktop can be much better in a bigger display. Another limitation of the app is that there is no automatic way for the app to find out Windows PCs on the same network and you have to enter the IP address of the device manually. You can browse the remote machine at its native resolution along with the a keyboard that has various standard Windows keys like Ctrl, Shift, Alt and the traditional Windows key.

Both the apps are now live on their respective stores and you can go ahead and download them.

Android | iOS