Apple Remote Desktop questions

[Faloude]

When I'm traveling, I'd like to remotely, using my macbook, log onto my iMac at home over WAN. I'm tempted to buy Apple Remote Desktop and configure port forwarding on my router however I have some basic questions that I couldn't find answers for

1. Is ARD a bad solution for WAN in terms of performance because the lack of data optimisation?
2. Does ARD work when my Mac is on standby?
3. Are there serious security hazards I'm overlooking?
4. Is there an alternative app for accessing all files on the iMac @ home remotely without screen sharing?

 

[chrfr]

When I'm traveling, I'd like to remotely, using my macbook, log onto my iMac at home over WAN. I'm tempted to buy Apple Remote Desktop and configure port forwarding on my router however I have some basic questions that I couldn't find answers for

1. Is ARD a bad solution for WAN in terms of performance because the lack of data optimisation?
2. Does ARD work when my Mac is on standby?
3. Are there serious security hazards I'm overlooking?
4. Is there an alternative app for accessing all files on the iMac @ home remotely without screen sharing?

Remote Desktop isn't what you need for that. Get something like Jump Desktop or Screens instead. You wouldn't want to leave the Remote Desktop ports open and forwarded on your router, but if you were to do that, you could just use the built in screen sharing functionality without having to pay for Remote Desktop.
If you just need to access files on the remote computer, consider just using cloud storage (iCloud/Dropbox/OneDrive) instead.

 

[DJLC]

+1 for Jump Desktop. ARD used to be great for managing a fleet of Macs on a local network, but I don't think Apple's paid it much attention in the last decade, and it certainly was not intended to work well over WAN.

I definitely would not pay cash money for ARD in 2022.

 

[MikeDr206]

I use Splashtop, which works quite well. All of these solutions are at core glorified VNC apps. The benefit of using them over VNC proper is you don’t have to configure ports on your router. Instead, a small app on your Mac periodically pings to the service’s server, and when you want to remote in, your client device contacts the server to broker the connection.

I wouldn’t play games or video over a remote connection, but for general business use, the latency is more than acceptable even when one side of the connection is limited to 5 mbps. I’ve used my phone’s hotspot to remotely log into my Mac at home without issues, for instance.

essentially how these products work is that they compress the image shown on the screen and send it to the client. At first it takes a few seconds for the image to be shown. But after that generally just the portion of the image that has changed is compressed, so the frames per second is pretty reasonable.

 

[svenmany]

I use JumpDesktop and ARD. For screen sharing, JumpDesktop is the superior product and wouldn't require you to open any ingress ports on your router.

ARD does support waking remote computers, but only those on the local LAN. It uses a standard broadcast which doesn't get routed beyond the LAN. If you really need to wake the computer when you're away from home, you might have to set up some VPN solution to get "inside" your home network to do that broadcast.

If you are really only after getting access to your files, have you considered a cloud sync service like iCloud drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive?

If you really need to access every file on your home Mac, then you might do some port forwarding on your router for that, or better yet, set up some VPN access to your home.

I'm playing with it now and I can't see a way for JumpDesktop to transfer files. I'm probably missing something.

 

[chrfr]

I'm playing with it now and I can't see a way for JumpDesktop to transfer files. I'm probably missing something.

As far as I can tell Jump Desktop doesn't support file transfer, but Screens by Edovia does– you can simply drag and drop files the same way Apple's native Screen Sharing works.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I use JumpDesktop and ARD. For screen sharing, JumpDesktop is the superior product and wouldn't require you to open any ingress ports on your router.

ARD does support waking remote computers, but only those on the local LAN. It uses a standard broadcast which doesn't get routed beyond the LAN. If you really need to wake the computer when you're away from home, you might have to set up some VPN solution to get "inside" your home network to do that broadcast.

If you are really only after getting access to your files, have you considered a cloud sync service like iCloud drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive?

If you really need to access every file on your home Mac, then you might do some port forwarding on your router for that, or better yet, set up some VPN access to your home.

I'm playing with it now and I can't see a way for JumpDesktop to transfer files. I'm probably missing something.

I contacted JD support a good while back (close to a year) about file transfer and was told they are working on it, whatever that means.

JD works seamlessly for me when I remote into the U-Verse connected Mac mini. When I try Screens, I can't ever get it to connect over cellular.

 

[chrfr]

JD works seamlessly for me when I remote into the U-Verse connected Mac mini. When I try Screens, I can't ever get it to connect over cellular.

Are you using the Screens Connect client on your Mac mini? I haven't had issues with it but Jump Desktop is usually my preferred connection– Jump just seems to be faster. I do use Screens to connect to some remote servers primarily because of the autofill password function in Screens, and I use Screens when I know I may need to transfer a file.

 

[ssmed]

A good quality VPN set up on your router/firewall is the most comprehensive solution, but takes a little expertise to set up. If this is for work and essential it might be worth doing. However for both security and convenience an encrypted hard disk with the relevant files with applications on both machines would be secure and much more convenient. You don't need ARD - just screen sharing once the connection is secure. Also be aware when you log into a machine at home the screen is unlocked and everything visible on the Home Screen without additional settings so there is a lack of privacy in some situations. Microsofts Windows version is much more slick.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Are you using the Screens Connect client on your Mac mini? I haven't had issues with it but Jump Desktop is usually my preferred connection– Jump just seems to be faster. I do use Screens to connect to some remote servers primarily because of the autofill password function in Screens, and I use Screens when I know I may need to transfer a file.

Yea, I have the client installed. It seems I have to manually do port forwarding as the setup can't complete as is. It works fine on Wifi.

 

[rpmurray]

If you don't need to actually SEE the screen then you could set the home Mac to be an FTP host and access the files that way.

 

[chrfr]

If you don't need to actually SEE the screen then you could set the home Mac to be an FTP host and access the files that way.

Opening up ports for FTP usage is tremendously insecure. Cloud services are the best option here.

 

[svenmany]

I guess there are two approaches for connectivity. The connection could be made directly to the home computer, or the connection could be (effectively) made through a third party.

If the connection is to be made directly to the home computer, I think a VPN server, running on the router, would be the safest approach. This is the most powerful access and even supports waking the home computer. Once you have a VPN tunnel up, FTP or SMB can be used to get access to files on the home computer. Native screen sharing can be used to get access to the home computer's desktop. There's no cost to all of this (assuming your router supports a VPN server).

There are a number of choices if the connection is made through a third party. iCloud drive is an example for file sharing. Jump Desktop is an example for screen sharing.

If you do go the route of direct access, then you either need a static IP address or some dynamic DNS service so that you can find your router from the internet.

 

[tarsins]

Another vote for Jump Desktop. I use it connect to my local Windows PCs and my company's remote Windows Server's. It's the only product as far as I have found that will correctly scroll with a touchpad and it connects to Windows better than Microsoft's own RDP. Best money I've ever spent.

 

[Faloude]

Thank you all for your contributions. I gave it some thought and I think that iCloud is the best solution after all.