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One Way Tools: iPhone to Desktop

One Way Tools: iPhone to Desktop

Most use cases for iPhone/desktop communication are covered in the two-way section above. The one remaining: Remote controlling your desktop from your iPhone.

Remote Desktop Control

When partial measures won’t do and you need full access to your home or work computer, you’ll need an iPhone app capable of VNC or RDP (both are common protocols for remote controlling desktops like you’re sitting in front of them). These tend to be pretty expensive, but you do have some options.

Mocha VNC Lite

If you’re aiming for free, you’re looking at Mocha VNC Lite. It’ll get the job done, for the most part. It seems to be better than it once was, but memory errors were pretty common when I first started using it. It’s not terribly feature-rich but it does work if you’ve got a VNC server running on your desktop machine. If you’re okay with setting up a VNC server yourself (which is pretty easy), it’s a good option for occasional remote access. [Free, iTunes App Store]

VNC for the Wealthy

If you’re welling to shell out some cash—we weren’t—the two highest rated VNC apps on the iTunes App Store are iTeleport ($25) and LogMeIn Ignition ($30). Both come with native apps for both the iPhone and iPad, so that makes the cost seem mildly more reasonable, but it’s a tough decision to sink $25-30 into an app you can’t even try first. Nonetheless, both have rave reviews outside of the app store as well. If you’ve used either and have some thoughts, be sure to share them in the comments.

Other options include RealVNC, ezDesktop VNC and RDP, and iTap VNC.

Parallels Mobile

For the niche group looking to connect to their virtualized Windows environment running in the new Parallels 6, Parallels Mobile is a free app (that requires Parallels 6) that’ll let you do just that from your iPhone. It takes care of all the networking stuff for you and works surprisingly well. If you already own Parallels 6 and remoting in to your virtual Windows PC is all you need, it’s a great, free alternative to picking up a pricier or poorer VNC app.
[Free, iTunes App Store]

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