Controlling a Computer From Your Phone: How It Works

Why you would want this

The computer is at home or at the office and all you have is a phone. With RudyDesk the phone shows that machine's screen and can drive it — grab a file, restart a program, finish an email.

How to connect

1. Open RudyDesk on the phone — in the browser or as the installed app
2. Enter the computer's nine-digit number
3. Enter the machine's password
4. The desktop appears on your phone

The phone as a trackpad

The screen behaves like a laptop touchpad:

• One tap — left click
• Double tap — double click
• Drag a finger — move the pointer
• Two fingers — scroll

The keyboard

The keyboard button on the bottom bar opens on-screen typing. Plain text works, so do shortcuts such as Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, the service keys — Enter, Tab, Esc, arrows — and a separate button for Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Watching only

The eye button switches control off: you still see the screen, but your touches no longer reach the machine. Handy when the phone is in a pocket, or when you are showing someone else's work.

To make it smoother

• Wi-Fi gives a noticeably sharper picture than a mobile network
• Turn the phone sideways and the desktop fills the screen
• If the picture stalls, lower the quality in session settings: smoothness matters more than sharpness
• Allow notifications, otherwise the phone cannot be reached while its screen is off