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It can be useful in a variety of situations such as screen sharing , working from home , fixing a computer remotely , system administration or network monitoring of computers. All the remote desktop apps reviewed here are suitable for connecting from Mac to Mac as well as Mac to PC or from mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone and Android to Mac. For example, if you try to access your Mac remotely with your iPad on maximum resolution settings, the screen may look blurry.
In most cases, this can simply be fixed by lowering the resolution settings to give a much sharper image. Some of the nice advanced touches in Zoho Assist include remote printing and custom branding of your company or organization. Zoho Assist is also one of the most secure remote desktop tools for Mac users with no prior installation required at either end. You can try Zoho Assist free to see for yourself.
You can also read our full review of Zoho Assist for more. As a result, GoToMyPC is a particularly popular choice among companies and corporations that allow employees to work from home. We also like the fact that GoToMyPC allows you to temporarily invite another user into a session which is useful if you need tech support to fix a problem with your Mac or PC. RemotePC has an excellent Mac desktop client which allows you to easily connect to other PCs, Macs and mobile devices instantly.
You can chat online during remote sessions, print to remote printers and even record your remote sessions. One thing we like with RemotePC on Mac is that you can toggle between either Better Quality or Better Speed depending on how the remote connection is performing. You can try a 30 day free trial of RemotePC to see for yourself. ManageEngine Remote Access Plus allows IT help desk technicians and system administrators to remotely manage and troubleshoot Mac, Windows, and Linux computers anywhere in the world.
ME Remote Access Plus is suitable for those that need to offer high level remote support and reduce troubleshooting times. You can also try ManageEngine for free to test it for yourself. LogMeIn for Mac is one of the most powerful remote desktop apps for Mac users of all abilities and needs.
LogMeIn for Mac offers specific tools for individuals , small businesses , IT professionals and help desk technicians and is the best on the market when it comes to enterprise remote desktop support. LogMeIn offers a range of remote networking solutions, including the popular GoToMeeting video conferencing software for Mac. If unauthorized or failed logins are detected in a brute force attack , LogMeIn will also automatically lock accounts to protect them.
Although not optimized for retina displays, connections between Macs and iPads using LogMeIn are surprisingly crisp and smooth. There are also plans for Power Users and Small Businesses which allow access to up to 5 and 10 computers respectively. You can try a free trial of LogMeIn Pro which lasts for 14 days. Splashtop is a user-friendly way to connect to another computer or device.
Splashtop is particularly good for gaming needs as it streams 3D graphics, sounds and video across local devices extremely well. For example, if you need to play a 3D game from your iPhone or iPad Splashtop for iPad is also available , Splashtop enables you to play it on your Mac with almost no noticeable lag. The downside is that Splashtop is only really free for local use because for remote access features across the internet, you must purchase in-app upgrades.
You can also currently get 30 days extra for free added to your plan. Jump Desktop is easily one of the slickest and easiest to use remote desktop solutions for Mac users with a dedicated Mac client. In fact, Jump Desktop is unique in using your Gmail account to automatically setup and configure a remote connection without any further effort on your part.
All you need is a Gmail account to get started:. One of the smartest things about Jump Desktop is that it can map Mac keyboard shortcuts to make them work on Windows. You can also copy and paste between macOS and Windows and vice versa which is really helpful if you work on both Mac and Windows constantly. TeamViewer is easily one of the most popular remote desktop tools in the World users making it simple enough for anyone to connect to another PC or Mac.
The free version of TeamViewer is probably the most popular desktop sharing tools out there for gamers on both Mac and PC. TeamViewer is extremely easy to setup. Once installed, you simply ask the person you want to connect to for their Partner ID to establish a connection. Alternatively, you can give someone your partner ID and password to allow them to connect to you.
Note that unfortunately, the Mac version of TeamViewer does not support sound or remote microphones. You can only hear sound if the remote computer you are connecting to is Windows. For those new to remote desktop connections, it guides you clearly through the setup process. You can store connection profiles via iCloud backup and even access printers from your remote Mac using Remotix.
You can also set a master password to protect all of your connections rather than have to enter individual passwords for each one. Royal TSX for Mac is focused firmly on system administrators or professionals that need a remote desktop solutions with a very high level of security.
Royal TSX is very well designed and makes it straightforward to manage connections in the left-hand sidebar with convenient tabs to control sessions. Other enhanced secure features include built-in credential management, safe team-sharing features and the ability to share a list of connections without sharing your personal credentials. NoMachine is a slick Remote Desktop Client which tends to go under the radar when Mac users are looking for remote desktop software but is definitely worth a look.
The good thing about NoMachine is all you need to connect to another machine over the internet is its IP address and port number. A setup wizard clearly takes you step-by-step through the connection process. NoMachine for Mac is free for personal use but there are paid Enterprise and Cloud editions available.
The following solutions all have free versions which can be used either free for personal use or with limitations. To start a session with that desktop, simply double-click it to begin. Be your company's Microsoft insider by reading these Windows and Office tips, tricks, and cheat sheets.
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Jump Desktop is easily one of the slickest and easiest to use remote desktop solutions for Mac users with a dedicated Mac client. In fact, Jump Desktop is unique in using your Gmail account to automatically setup and configure a remote connection without any further effort on your part. All you need is a Gmail account to get started:.
One of the smartest things about Jump Desktop is that it can map Mac keyboard shortcuts to make them work on Windows. You can also copy and paste between macOS and Windows and vice versa which is really helpful if you work on both Mac and Windows constantly. TeamViewer is easily one of the most popular remote desktop tools in the World users making it simple enough for anyone to connect to another PC or Mac. The free version of TeamViewer is probably the most popular desktop sharing tools out there for gamers on both Mac and PC.
TeamViewer is extremely easy to setup. Once installed, you simply ask the person you want to connect to for their Partner ID to establish a connection. Alternatively, you can give someone your partner ID and password to allow them to connect to you. Note that unfortunately, the Mac version of TeamViewer does not support sound or remote microphones.
You can only hear sound if the remote computer you are connecting to is Windows. For those new to remote desktop connections, it guides you clearly through the setup process. You can store connection profiles via iCloud backup and even access printers from your remote Mac using Remotix. You can also set a master password to protect all of your connections rather than have to enter individual passwords for each one.
Royal TSX for Mac is focused firmly on system administrators or professionals that need a remote desktop solutions with a very high level of security. Royal TSX is very well designed and makes it straightforward to manage connections in the left-hand sidebar with convenient tabs to control sessions. Other enhanced secure features include built-in credential management, safe team-sharing features and the ability to share a list of connections without sharing your personal credentials.
NoMachine is a slick Remote Desktop Client which tends to go under the radar when Mac users are looking for remote desktop software but is definitely worth a look. The good thing about NoMachine is all you need to connect to another machine over the internet is its IP address and port number. A setup wizard clearly takes you step-by-step through the connection process.
NoMachine for Mac is free for personal use but there are paid Enterprise and Cloud editions available. The following solutions all have free versions which can be used either free for personal use or with limitations. Most of them offer Business and Enterprise plans for those that need unlimited features and functionality.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Remote Desktop is mainly designed for Windows users and has various problems on Mac although admittedly is has improved in recent versions. Citrix Receiver for Mac was discontinued in but we think the software featured here are much better value alternatives to Citrix.
Note that there is also no version of the popular Windows remote control support app UltraViewer on Mac. After years focusing on Windows, Devolutions also has a Remote Desktop Manager for Macs which offers a limited free version for individual use with some powerful features for Enterprise environments.
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager is a little bit like Royal TSX see review later and is definitely suitable for system admins and small businesses and has all you need to manage a network of computers. The interface is also well designed allowing you to organize sessions by groups or folders and if you already use the Windows version, you can connect to the same databases with the Mac version so you can access all previous sessions.
You can use Devolutions Remote Desktop for free but there are limitations compared to the Enterprise version. You can see a comparison of the Free edition with the Enterprise version here. Simply install the Chrome Remote Desktop plugin and you can connect to any other user with Chrome installed on any type of computer or mobile device including iOS.
Just enter the ID of the computer you want to connect to, and it will connect instantly. Note that Google does not record any of your activity using Chrome Remote Desktop — it uses SSL and connections are directly from host to remote session with no Google interference in the middle.
As a professional tool for system administrators to manage Apple devices on a network however, it gives you a lot of power to install software and updates such as Flash and Java, push UNIX commands and update macOS remotely. Because of the explosion in more user-friendly remote desktop apps, ARD has become an increasingly unpopular remote desktop solution except among IT users.
You may also find that despite it being an Apple product, ARD for Mac is also frustratingly slow at times compared to most of the other remote desktop software featured here. There are many issues with Microsoft RDP on Mac such as instability, usability issues and glitches that make it frustrating to work with. However, if your company or organization requires you to use it — like many do — you may have no choice.
As you can see, there is a wide range of Remote Desktop Connection Managers for Mac although this list is by no means exhaustive. For all round remote access and help-desk support, Zoho Assist is another excellent remote desktop solution for connecting to both PCs and Macs. For value for money, RemotePC for Mac offers the best value on the market. For professionals that need an easy to use robust remote desktop solution on a Mac, LogMeIn Pro is a solid remote software solution.
If you have any suggestions for other remote desktop software for Mac that should be included in this article, or have any experiences or questions with the Mac remote apps reviewed here, let us know in the comments below. Splashtop is nice. It can do Mac to PC with audio no problem. No workarounds.
Why they are in this list, I have no idea. Thanks for your comments on Splashtop and Teamwviewer. In the beta client, select Microsoft Remote Desktop Beta at the top, and then select Check for updates. Subscribe to the feed your admin gave you to get the list of managed resources available to you on your macOS device. Once you've subscribed to a feed, the feed's content will update automatically on a regular basis.
Resources may be added, changed, or removed based on changes made by your administrator. You can export a remote desktop connection definition and use it on a different device. Remote desktops are saved in separate RDP files. Remote resources are RemoteApp programs, session-based desktops, and virtual desktops published using RemoteApp and Desktop Connections.
You can create and manage your gateways in the preferences of the app or while setting up a new desktop connection. When you connect to a desktop or remote resources, you can save the user accounts to select from again. You can manage your user accounts by using the Remote Desktop client. If you're running macOS X Drive redirection is supported for remote resources, so that you can save files created with a remote application locally to your Mac.
The redirected folder is always your home directory displayed as a network drive in the remote session. In order to use this feature, the administrator needs to set the appropriate settings on the server. By default, the remote session will use the same keyboard locale as the OS you're running the client on. If your Mac is running an en-us OS, that will be used for the remote sessions as well. If the OS keyboard locale is not used, check the keyboard setting on the remote PC and change it manually.
Windows Server R2 introduced support for a new authentication method, Remote Desktop Gateway pluggable authentication and authorization, which provides more flexibility for custom authentication routines. You can now try this authentication model with the Mac client. Custom authentication and authorization models before Windows 8. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info.
The free version of TeamViewer is probably the most popular desktop sharing tools out there for gamers on both Mac and PC. TeamViewer is extremely easy to setup. Once installed, you simply ask the person you want to connect to for their Partner ID to establish a connection. Alternatively, you can give someone your partner ID and password to allow them to connect to you. Note that unfortunately, the Mac version of TeamViewer does not support sound or remote microphones.
You can only hear sound if the remote computer you are connecting to is Windows. For those new to remote desktop connections, it guides you clearly through the setup process. You can store connection profiles via iCloud backup and even access printers from your remote Mac using Remotix. You can also set a master password to protect all of your connections rather than have to enter individual passwords for each one. Royal TSX for Mac is focused firmly on system administrators or professionals that need a remote desktop solutions with a very high level of security.
Royal TSX is very well designed and makes it straightforward to manage connections in the left-hand sidebar with convenient tabs to control sessions. Other enhanced secure features include built-in credential management, safe team-sharing features and the ability to share a list of connections without sharing your personal credentials. NoMachine is a slick Remote Desktop Client which tends to go under the radar when Mac users are looking for remote desktop software but is definitely worth a look.
The good thing about NoMachine is all you need to connect to another machine over the internet is its IP address and port number. A setup wizard clearly takes you step-by-step through the connection process. NoMachine for Mac is free for personal use but there are paid Enterprise and Cloud editions available. The following solutions all have free versions which can be used either free for personal use or with limitations.
Most of them offer Business and Enterprise plans for those that need unlimited features and functionality. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Remote Desktop is mainly designed for Windows users and has various problems on Mac although admittedly is has improved in recent versions. Citrix Receiver for Mac was discontinued in but we think the software featured here are much better value alternatives to Citrix. Note that there is also no version of the popular Windows remote control support app UltraViewer on Mac.
After years focusing on Windows, Devolutions also has a Remote Desktop Manager for Macs which offers a limited free version for individual use with some powerful features for Enterprise environments. Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager is a little bit like Royal TSX see review later and is definitely suitable for system admins and small businesses and has all you need to manage a network of computers.
The interface is also well designed allowing you to organize sessions by groups or folders and if you already use the Windows version, you can connect to the same databases with the Mac version so you can access all previous sessions.
You can use Devolutions Remote Desktop for free but there are limitations compared to the Enterprise version. You can see a comparison of the Free edition with the Enterprise version here. Simply install the Chrome Remote Desktop plugin and you can connect to any other user with Chrome installed on any type of computer or mobile device including iOS. Just enter the ID of the computer you want to connect to, and it will connect instantly. Note that Google does not record any of your activity using Chrome Remote Desktop — it uses SSL and connections are directly from host to remote session with no Google interference in the middle.
As a professional tool for system administrators to manage Apple devices on a network however, it gives you a lot of power to install software and updates such as Flash and Java, push UNIX commands and update macOS remotely. Because of the explosion in more user-friendly remote desktop apps, ARD has become an increasingly unpopular remote desktop solution except among IT users. You may also find that despite it being an Apple product, ARD for Mac is also frustratingly slow at times compared to most of the other remote desktop software featured here.
There are many issues with Microsoft RDP on Mac such as instability, usability issues and glitches that make it frustrating to work with. However, if your company or organization requires you to use it — like many do — you may have no choice. As you can see, there is a wide range of Remote Desktop Connection Managers for Mac although this list is by no means exhaustive.
For all round remote access and help-desk support, Zoho Assist is another excellent remote desktop solution for connecting to both PCs and Macs. For value for money, RemotePC for Mac offers the best value on the market. For professionals that need an easy to use robust remote desktop solution on a Mac, LogMeIn Pro is a solid remote software solution.
If you have any suggestions for other remote desktop software for Mac that should be included in this article, or have any experiences or questions with the Mac remote apps reviewed here, let us know in the comments below.
Splashtop is nice. It can do Mac to PC with audio no problem. No workarounds. Why they are in this list, I have no idea. Thanks for your comments on Splashtop and Teamwviewer. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Subscribe to MacHow2! Sign up to get reviews, tutorials and special offers on Mac software!
Email Address. Quick Navigation 1. If you're running macOS X Drive redirection is supported for remote resources, so that you can save files created with a remote application locally to your Mac. The redirected folder is always your home directory displayed as a network drive in the remote session. In order to use this feature, the administrator needs to set the appropriate settings on the server. By default, the remote session will use the same keyboard locale as the OS you're running the client on.
If your Mac is running an en-us OS, that will be used for the remote sessions as well. If the OS keyboard locale is not used, check the keyboard setting on the remote PC and change it manually. Windows Server R2 introduced support for a new authentication method, Remote Desktop Gateway pluggable authentication and authorization, which provides more flexibility for custom authentication routines. You can now try this authentication model with the Mac client.
Custom authentication and authorization models before Windows 8. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info. Table of contents Exit focus mode. Table of contents. Yes No. Any additional feedback? Note Curious about the new releases for the macOS client? Check out What's new for Remote Desktop on Mac?
The Mac client runs on computers running macOS The information in this article applies primarily to the full version of the Mac client - the version available in the Mac AppStore. Test-drive new features by downloading our preview app here: beta client release notes. Note In order to use this feature, the administrator needs to set the appropriate settings on the server.
Use Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac to connect to a remote PC or virtual apps and desktops made available by your admin. With Microsoft Remote Desktop, you can. Install and set up Remote Desktop · Mac computers must be running OS X or later. · Mac client computers must have version or later of the Remote. You can use the Remote Desktop client for Mac to work with Windows apps, resources, and desktops from your Mac computer.