Chrome Remote Desktop

This was a breeze to set up. I just followed the instructions and was able to remotely access my MacBook Air from my iPad within minutes. The only problem, however, is that the on-screen keyboard within the app as well as BT keyboard support is VERY limited. How limited, you ask? Well, the arrow keys don't work, so typing is kind of wonky and interrupted with frequent tapping to put the cursor where you want it. Pressing delete will work as a backspace, but pressing fn+delete does not work, neither do any other fn+ shortcuts. Other shortcuts like CMD+C or ctrl+C to copy/paste don't work either. Google, thanks for the free product, but please update keyboard support! Thanks.

I have been using this app for a while now and it has been incredibly useful in so many situations but there is one thing that bugs me so much; The app needs is own custom Keyboard, a semi transparent, customizable keyboard. It bugs me quite a bit that they haven't thought to do it yet because it is nessessary! How is anyone supposed to use Esc or any of the other essential keys?! A 4 layer keyboard would be great, first layer has the letters, backspace, Shift/CapsLock, space bar, return/enter and the main punctuation marks ( like most regular keyboards); And again like most keyboards there would be a second and third layer of numbers and other symbols and then ANOTHER layer that has all the Esc, Ctrl, Shift, Windows, Tab, Print Screen, F1-F12 buttons among others. That would really bring it all together, and instead of having it integrated make it a custom Keyboard that you have to enable in settings and all that but have its option settings in the app. I hope you would take this suggestion into consideration because it would be so helpful to most of not all users of the Chrome Remote Desktop app. Thank you, A loyal customer.

i've been using this app for years for various reasons. and while i will always prefer to use my laptop directly, through various changes in laptops and phones, this app hasn't caused me any major problems as of yet. it's nice to at least be able to check in on my laptops when i'm away from it, especially during processes that'll take a long time. in my experiences, i can only ever use it in trackpad mode, since it actually shows the mouse and allows for the usual trackpad functions, but it tracks mouse movements almost perfectly, works with multiple display fine, and has easy zooming in and out for ease of use and accessibility. my only complaints are that audio quality is still choppy even on good connections, the UI is lackluster — perhaps even a little dated, having to constantly switch between showing and hiding the keyboard is annoying, and it doesn't take long for the session to disconnect itself if/when i briefly leave the app running in the background for any reason.

BEAUTIFUL APP!! 100 percent efficient. FAST AND EASY TO USE. It's really easy to reconnect just takes about 5-10 seconds depends on wifi connection. Been using this app for 5 minutes and i cant believe how amazing it is. This app will definitely be used 90 percent of the time while im at home due to the fact i use my pc for everything as far as tv, music, gaming, working, and school. It feels like im in the metaverse... Wow! I never knew till this day that i could control most of the things on my computer with this app from my phone... And it screen shares the whole desktop... I'm so glad i don't have to go sit at my desk just to control my pc or have to buy and use a wireless mouse and keyboard even tho i'm still going to get a wireless keyboard and mouse i think i will still use this app a lot more.. Just mind-blowing to me because i had my pc 3 years now and im barely finding out about this. This app will help me so much starting today and forever on. Thank u.

I want to start by saying that I love the potential an app like this brings, being able to access my computer from anywhere, even if it is just to check a date or a password etc. However, the app isn’t at all useful to me because of one thing: there is no option to change display. For some reason when I connect to my desktop it defaults to showing the second monitor only. That’s not useful because when I open windows they default to the primary window, and guess what, I can’t see them. I’ve googled this problem and everyone says the solution is to change which monitor to display. Apparently that option isn’t there anymore. The only display option I have is to resize desktop to fit. Because of this, I have to rate it 1 star because it is simply UNUSABLE for me in its current state. And no I’m not going to just unplug my second monitor every time I walk away from my computer in case I need to connect with Remote Desktop. Because of Googles track record with product support, this will never get fixed and thus I will never use this product.

Needless to say, this is a wonderful app to have, definitely more than 5 stars. I'm not on the go much and when I do end up on the go I either bring my laptop with me or have no use for it. But this app is still pretty fun to play around with. There are only a few things that I would say could be done with the app: - Latency can be reduced. I have a feeling it is something to do with the app, because it will lag on my iPod while my laptop is running quite fine. - Add mouse wheel, left click, and right click buttons off to the side when using the mouse. That would be a nice addition and add more functionality to the mouse. - Fix the mouse sync. When I move the mouse on my iPod, it is in sync with my laptop, but when I move the mouse on my laptop, it does not sync with the mouse on my iPod. - Add full screen support. I noticed that apps in full screen will not appear on my iPod. - Earlier I said I like to toy around with it. It is pretty fun to play games on my laptop through my iPod. This goes along with the mouse sync part, but it would be nice if the mouse in the app would go to the center of the screen when playing games. It makes it a little hard to play games when, depending on where your mouse is, you constantly make a hard left. Oh well! If you did these things, it would still be worth more than 5 stars! Keep up the good work, Google!

I’ve been using Chrome Remote Desktop for a couple years and it has worked very well, consistently. Just tried this new version and I can definitely see the performance improvement. That’s very nice. The bad news is that Google changed the user interface. It takes two presses to bring up the keyboard or change the mouse mode, instead of one. (I wish there was a “shortcut” press [3D?] to quickly change mouse mode or toggle the keyboard.) Also, the new titles given to the two mouse modes are not helpful. In the previous version and this new version, iOS dictation and keyboard shortcuts (like auto-capitalization at the start of a sentence and adding a period after pressing two spaces) do not work. Still all in all, a great app that I love and highly recommend.

Really is a great lightweight app, can almost always connect to the machine I need to, responds fast, doesn't slow down the machine, etc. My main suggestion would be multi-tasking, it can take 10-15 seconds to connect and if your phone locks, you switch apps (perhaps you need to check something in your email, Notes or a text message, etc) it disconnects you and you need to connect all over again. Other suggestions include ability to add a button for Ctrl (other special keys as well but this is probably the most needed / common), and finally clipboard support would be great. But overall is a solid free method for connecting to a machine remotely.

For me this app works great. Before this one I tried several remote desktop-apps, also pay-apps, but in my case they all did not work. I wanted the Windows Media Center-screen from my Windows 10 Pro-computer, besides via HDMI on my smart TV, to show on my iPad. So I could choose. Nothing worked till I tried the Google Remote Desktop-app. Easy to install, free and it worked right away! Not five stars but four because after two hours or so the connection drops. Looked everywhere at the cause. Still can not find if it’s the app on the iPad or the connection of the desktop (of course both are on the same – fast 5GHz – network). Reconnection is easy made, however.

Overall this app works great! I can control my laptop from pretty much anywhere, which is so cool. The app runs smoothly, but there are a few flaws. My laptop’s aspect ratio isn’t the same as my iPad, and there is no ability to have black space on the top/bottom of my remote device’s screen so I don’t have to scroll over to see things on the other side of the computer screen. Also, there is no ability to scroll down easily, you have to click downwards on the scroll bar which is a big hassle. Somewhat included in that problem is the lack of ability to drag and drop. Other than those few problems, great app!

Don’t retire the app! It works great and has been enormously helpful during times of illness and other times when I had to remote control my computer from my bed! If you retire this, then I will be reduced to being unable to use my computer from the bed if I need to. Bad move, Google! I don’t want to control one computer from another! Mine are literally right next to each other and soon I will be getting rid of one, so how will switching to a web app help me? Answer: it won’t! Please leave this app as an option!!

I would give this a 5 star if there were some improvements like.. 1. Try to make it less laggy if you can 2. I don’t know if you can fix this but I want to be able to boot up my computer and not have to open chrome just to use the Remote Desktop feature. Those are basically it but sense it says that the Remote Desktop app will just be the web app, I feel like you guys should add touch mode to that sense the app has that but the web app doesn’t. I love the app a lot so you should keep it if you can unless you transfer all features from the app to the web version.

I’m pretty sure google has abandoned this software or has a skeleton crew on it because nothing new ever comes to it. The iPad app suffers from a lot of the things that rob it from being a productivity tool. - Inconsistent mouse and keyboard support - No scroll wheel support (kinda the biggest bother for me) - Random disconnects even when both connections are stable - Very rare, but crashes on occasion using the iPad mini (haven’t had it crash on the M1 Pro yet) - Less command support/input support Compared to the desktop app, this one feels like it was never meant for power users, just Johnny logging in to help grandma uninstall candy crush for the third time. Even then that’s a bit of a stretch. Since I have no choice but to use this one for work, I’m stuck with it. But I’m really hoping that google can get a wake up call. That or they’ll discontinue this service like they do everything else, either way. I hope to see improvements in the following areas that will improve this app drastically: - BT mouse and keyboard support improved - Scroll Wheel support - Stability improvements

I really love this app and it allows me to get work done from almost anywhere, however, there are some limitations that need to be corrected. I typically use this on my iPad with a bluetooth keyboard, but there are many keys on my keyboard (and from the on-screen keyboard) that won't send to the computer being controlled. For coding purposes, its a real pain that I can't use any F keys, the accent key, or my arrow keys while typing. Also, keyboard shortcuts with control, option, or alt do not send either. This app could be my most used app of all time if the keyboard functionality were improved. As for now, I'll have to continue to copy and paste from character map.

Works great for me, I haven’t used it extensively but when I use it on my laptop to log into my desktop that seems to work excellent. Now being on the iPad it seems pretty well I’ve only used it for a few weeks now but all in all it does exactly what it needs to do. I have a feeling it’s not as good as screens but for what I use it for at all I need. Screens is still my go to but this has actually been more reliable. UPDATE, screens has actually been less reliable lately (2 months) so this has been my go to. I’m hoping that is a bug in Screens.

This is a great Remote Desktop app for iPad. Probably better than the one that Microsoft provides. The problem is that with Windows 10 and support for tablet mode and stylus, there is no support for the Apple Pencil. If it was possible to make it so that the Apple Pencil is supported and treated as a stylus in windows, PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN. It would be the best thing! Also, for trackpad mode, it would be nice if it supported the default Windows 10 gestures. Finally, please add support for the wake on lan feature. This way those desktop computers that this is used for often do sit there running all day! Thanks!

CRD is pretty good in terms of simplicity and connectivity. What is annoying about the iOS app however is the bugginess with the keyboard and lack of key features. There is no way to invoke the arrow keys or special keys remotely, which can be a major issue in command line situations. Further, if you have a Bluetooth keyboard, often keystrokes will not register on the other end unless you do a full disconnect and reconnect. This happens frequently and is a showstopper. I wish some TLC was put into the app to tune it up a bit, because it is a very good low-latency remote access system otherwise.

I love this app. I'm new to google products, been an apple man, however Google has made such wonderful free products I've considered switching. I tried splashtop Remote Desktop and was going to pay $10 and $15 yearly subscription until I found this app. Highly recommended for anyone with a desktop at home. Now I get use out of my desktop!!! Only problem is no audio playback, but that could be my settings, still experimenting but same issues with Splashtop. Either way FREE and works great!!! Keep up the great work Chrome-Google. #Winningcustomers

Thank you so much for this. I’m shocked it doesn’t have 5 stars across the board. Microsoft made it so that windows 10 home can’t have a remote connection unless you upgrade to windows 10 pro for $99. I explored another DIY method by downloading a GitHub RDP wrapper which seemed to work for everyone else on the internet but me, so that failed and took me hours! Then all of a sudden I try this and boom not only does it work instantly but is intuitive and anything else I can figure out easily. It was exactly what I needed, thank you.

Hello, we need thes updates to using awesomely. Add mouse inputs as ipad pro has mouse functions. Ipad pro keyboard cases has arrow icons -we need to get something when we press these arrows on the keyboard. I dont know how but can you add mouse drag option on the touch screen commands so we can use without mouse -mouse drag functions. I use this to control my desktop for 3D Drawings. I can open control move add or delete but no dragging or turning the 3D object on the 3D view. Thank you,

Do not pay attention to the star ratings, sort by most critical and you will see that the 1 star ratings are from 3 years ago. I have used many remote desktops, they worked well but all seemed overly complicated. Google Desktop Remote does exactly what you want a remote to do - it lets you feel like you are sitting in front of your monitor. You simply need to try it and you will understand why simplicity is better than dozens of features.

By far the smoothest, easiest, most stable remote assist app I've ever used. The scrolling is so smooth on both sides I can even use it just as a remote control for my PC from across the room to amaze people. The screen share is MUCH better then teamviewer. HOWEVER, there is no file transfer part of the app. So you cannot simply view a list of the files on your remote client to transfer to your device. You would have to email the files to yourself from the computer you are controlling. Other then that it's awesome.

I can agree with many reviews about the keyboard layout, but mind you this app isn't meant to replace your desktop! I work from home with a 3 monitor setup. This app makes it easy for me to leave my desk if I need to go somewhere with someone or run errands around the house but still take my 3 monitor setup with me virtually. If there are special keys that I need to use, I just pull up the virtual keyboard from the computer and use that temporarily.

This was wonderful for years but it doesn’t work on my iPhone anymore. There’s something wrong with the screen resolution. I can’t tap anything on the computer I’m connecting to. I use this to connect to my PC and Mac from my iPhone and my PC is even worse: I only get to see one monitor out of two and I still can’t click anything. Something really bad happened in a recent update

Why can’t I use chrome Remote Desktop when my computer cover is closed Well a good idea is to add a power button of course because I want my computer closed not open because it would be much easier so we can turn it on instead of going to the computer and opening the cover please add this So we can use chrome Remote Desktop easier and safely and securely instead of when someone’s using it and then you didn’t know they were using it when the cover is open

As a student who can't always bring his PC to class, this is a reliable and efficient alternative. I can basically get Windows on my iPhone with this app. One recommendation for the developers: Chromecast support. Imagine being able to cast a desktop to a tv while using the phone as a trackpad along with a Bluetooth keyboard. I can already get similar functionality with airplay, but I think with the Chromecast handling the actual visual link to the desktop, latency can be reduced.

Pretty ridiculous that you can’t use this to focus on on a certain display, like you can do on a PC. I have a Mac running Boot Camp, and I want to use my iPad Pro as a second monitor like I do with macOS Sidecar. I have a virtualized second screen in Windows (USB Mobile Monitor by Amyuni), but it’s a much smaller resolution than my 4K monitor. Trying to zoom in on it while both screens are crammed together in one view is weird. I’d like to focus on just the virtualized screen and have that automatically adjust resolution to fit my iPad.

its amazing but the app disconnects for no reason if you leave the app it disconnects even if you’re in the app it does the same thing and about that keyboard you need to make a custom one since we don’t have everything on the keyboard but i don’t really have an issue with that my main issue is the disconnecting part i've been searching a lot for an app like this so i hope you see these reviews and fix the problems we will appreciate that sooo much thank you.

I’ve tried this between my iPad and my MBPro and my iPad and my Windows PC. Both say “device is offline” even though I’m sitting right next to them and they’re both clearly online. What does one do when one has a problem? Google for a cure, of course. Alas, there you will find many, many people with the same problem and I have yet to see a response from Google. I was hoping this would be a good solution for me to be able to take my iPad on the road with me for sales calls and still be able to access our specialized software on my office PC, but alas, Google has let me down. Too bad because I’ve always been pleased with Chrome and Gmail.

Good concept but needs improvement. The onscreen cursor does not actually correspond to where the cursor is on the screen. For example putting your cursor over an X, to close a window, will not actually close it because that is not anywhere near where the cursor is actually located on the desktop. In my opinion TeamViewer is a much better FREE Remote Desktop program. TeamViewer is easier to set up and manage a personal network. You also do not need to be signed in after setting up. TeamViewer supports multitude of devices beyond computers allowing remote management capabilities on the go from mobile phones.

The app is at the time of this review, one of the best Remote Desktop app there is, and it’s free. The track mode is awesome to use and there is minimal to no lag, given that you have a decent WiFi connection. However, what it lacks is the ability to use ctrl, alt and other function keys! This is definitely a big draw back that most of time you can live with. If somehow the on screen key road can be transparent, it will make the app even better but this is not something essential.

This app is so easy to use and I've used a lot of the other ones including some of the paid ones. I don't need access to my work and home computers very often, because I use Google Drive. But I used to use logmein which was free for basic features for a long time, but then they went to a paid version and locked me out. I tried other paid versions and they pail in comparison to Google Remote Desktop.

I would like to start off by saying this would be helpful to me if what’s being displayed on ny computer was interactive with my screen reader. I am an iPhone user & i was looking for an easier way to get around my computer with using google meet & the Remote Desktop. Another thing that makes me confused is when I don’t have my PC turned on the app tries to connect me when i press the connet button & it says “host is off line.” I thought this app was to make it easier to access your computer regardless of if it’s turned off or on or if your far or near.

This app works ok. On the plus side I can remote into my computer even through a VPN. The enhancement that is like to see is an expanded keyboard. One that includes an esc key, function keys, alt key, ctrl key, arrow keys, page up, page down, you get the picture. When I'm connecting to a windows PC, I need keyboard functionality that simulates sitting in front of a PC. Look at a typical PC keyboard and give us that kind of functionality. Only then will this app will begin to be useful.

Great app and I love it but a bug that hasn’t been fixed in over 2 years misaligns the cursor between iPhone and Mac computers. Tons of threads with same issue back to 2019. The only way I can use the app is to login first to my PC and then link to Mac which fixes the mouse coordinate issue. Present on 3 iPhones and an iPad Pro across 3 iMac/MacBook devices with exact same behavior, so safe to say it’s not isolated incident. I would love Google to fix this issue but I’ve given up hope. It was amazing prior to this behavior so I know how good the app really can be. I depended on it as a single business owner on many occasions.

There’s no adds like remote mouse and you can just basically use a computer from a phone or tablet. Audio is a bit behind but it’s over WiFi so there’s nothing can really be done there, only a few milliseconds but I wish I could have audio playing in the background when I don’t have this app open and not disconnect from my pc if I’m messaging people on my phone. Just kinda wanna have it stay connected in the background.

I wanted to use this to manage chrome cast from a computer while I’m in bed. It works great, Don’t expect to be able to do everything with this, I was honestly surprised to see just how well it does work. There is also very little lag which is impressive. Again though this is an app streaming your desktop. It has to deal with your internet connection, and two OS’s.

Setup is easy and it works quite well. But I gave to say that that right-clicking only works if you tap with two fingers juuuust right. It could cause a repetitive stress injury with trying over and over. And sadly there's no way to adjust it or change the gesture. UPDATE-- Make sure you're in Trackpad mode (the mouse icon) and keep your fingers wide apart. Tap once & lift. Works better that way.

I don’t trust so many of the Remote Desktop apps out there. Having a Google one that is secure enough for their employees to use for work, protected by your google account with mfa, and basically zero configuration is fantastic. I installed it on my Mom’s PC and it connects instantly whenever she has an internet connection, even before login.

Thankfully I have one of those ipad magic keyboards, so I haven‘t had any of the issues other folks have had. I am able to log into my home laptop from my ipad while at work or on the road and do things like gaming and logging into my military stuff (leave my CAC there at home in the reader). This makes it super easy to check email and complete online assignments.

I had to make an emergency fix to a document I host on my website. The clicks were not registering unless I clicked at a precise, random moment or point, both from iOS and from Windows 10. In further attempting to resolve the clicks, I found my hand hurting from all the precise click I had to make. My connection was fine on both ends, one of which was Optimum Wi-Fi, which is iron strong, and the other is from a 5G connection. I use this app so that I don’t have to keep creating accounts with various entities and thereby further exposing my personal info to identity thieves. I hope it is fixed immediately.

1. The main issue is about the resolution and scaling. When connecting from an iPad to a Retina iMac, the APP will automatically convert into the “resize the remote desk top to fit”. The resultant resolution is awful. This APP should give the user more control about the resolution. 2. The APP need update to fix issues with keyboard and mouse. In particular, the IOS system is supporting mouse. Implementing left and right click would be very useful.

It doesn't disable auto-lock on my phone so every 15 seconds the app allows the screen to return to locked. The software keyboard doesn't have an esc key and others. So you use a hardware keyboard over bluetooth for 15 seconds and then your screen locks. If you have a bluetooth gamepad connected to your phone it can't plumb the commands into the remote computer like it can with other commands.

Very inconsistent in getting connection after the first month of use. I guess their servers must get overloaded with connection requests after 6pm or something because it doesn’t work at all after that. Not ready for prime time. I will try other more stable options. UPDATE OCT 10, 2020: Nearly completely useless. Lasts about 15 seconds at the most before theres no response on screen. Chrome doing what it does best... being garbage. Please mozilla, create a firefox remote. PLEASE. UPDATE OCT 22, 2021: Still garbage.

If this app worked 100% of the time I’d give it 5 stars easy. But they’ve had the same bug pretty much since it launched in 2012 I believe? 6 whole years of the same issue. I’ve had this app on multiple phones and always the same issue. More than occasionally you’ll try and open the app and get nothing but a black screen on your device. You have to literally close the app and reopen it a hundred times to try and get it to work once. Other days it works fine, I don’t understand it. -iPhone 6s user

I like the app, I love it's concept. But we got some problems. I'm totally blind, and i use a screenreader on my iPhone called VoiceOver. The problems. 1. Whenever i connect to a computer the trackpad gets in the way, ruining voiceOver support. It says, tap with 4 fingers. I do that twice, click show keyboard, and there's no tab, control, alt, windows, or anything like that. The window become fully inaccessible. Thanks in advance.

I use CRD daily and the older version on iOS was extremely old and buggy. This runs @ 60fps, you can now choose between trackpad and touchscreen mode, it holds the connection while multitasking and offers intelligent iPhone X support. Thank you so much Google, i thought CRD might have been on its way to retirement internally. It’s a Fantastic tool.

.. once connected I’m not able to do anything. I can see my Notebook-PC Desktop on my device screen, but each time I’ve tried to access my folders etc. it just won’t budge. I’m giving Google the benefit of the doubt, so they get a 4 Star rating. The issue here is likely a user error and I just haven’t seen the answer listed in the Help Section.

I would love for a load more settings like a super duper expert pro mlg nerd mode and make it able to transfer files and play sound on phone not desktop when connected I had a size problem but Iam on phone so that's why but make it to where when you connect like most remote programs it sets desktop to resolution of remote device like 800x350 set auto

If you are connected on the same network and you are not able to connect to your PC even though it’s showing as online, try disconnecting from WiFi so you can connect to your PC and reconnect your phone back to your wifi. It worked for me.