Microsoft released Windows 8.1 today and announced a number of new Windows-friendly apps, including its first-ever remote desktop app for Android and iOS. Like other third-party remote desktop apps from Citrix, LogMeIn, SOTI or others, Microsoft Remote Desktop lets you access your remote PC from your phone or tablet– anywhere you have an internet connection.
Microsoft’s Remote Desktop has a simple interface but a solid set of features, including multi-touch, gesture support, and data compression for smoother streaming of video and sound from the remote PC. The app lets you choose between your remote desktops, remote resources, gateways, certificates and trusted hosts. You can scroll around a remote PC at its native resolution, and use an onscreen keyboard with buttons to trigger function, shift, ctrl, alt, esc, tab, and even the Windows key.
The app also provides a secure connection using Network Layer Authentication, and uses the same Remote Desktop Protocol that Microsoft has used for years in its Windows desktop and server releases. The app supports all Windows PCs that have Remote Desktop turned on, which you can select in Windows Control Panel. But, like other remote desktop apps, it won’t automatically detect PCs on a network, so you’ll have to know the IP of the machine you want to connect to.
Although Microsoft Remote Desktop is oddly not yet available for Windows Phone, Android and iDevice owners can download the app for free in Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
