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Which remote desktop app? and Why. (in alpha order)

  • Connect to PC

    Votes: 6 1.6%
  • Desktop Connect

    Votes: 33 8.8%
  • iTap RDP Client

    Votes: 23 6.1%
  • LogMeIn Ignition

    Votes: 162 43.2%
  • RDM+

    Votes: 5 1.3%
  • WinAdmin iPad edition

    Votes: 11 2.9%
  • Wormhole Remote

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Wyse Pocketcloud

    Votes: 24 6.4%
  • I switched from _____ to ______

    Votes: 2 0.5%
  • Other (see my post)

    Votes: 108 28.8%

  • Total voters
    375
Thanks for all the great posts and comparisons. It's been a big help.

I've got my list of RDP apps narrowed down to 3 -- Wyse Pocketcloud, Jump Desktop, and iTap RDP.

The pros and cons between the 3 overlap so much, trying to figure out which one to buy is starting to make my head spin! Touch, mouse control, speed. It's hard to figure out which ones are better based solely on reviews.

iTap is tempting since it's the cheapest, but Wyse has a special "promotional price" that is tempting, also. Jump is the most expensive. Of course, that only means its a few dollars more than the others.

I'd like to hear which one people prefer assuming you've used all 3. Unfortunately, I can't justify buying all 3, so I need to make a decision that I hopefully won't regret later ;)

Thanks!
 
I've finally decided on Jump desktop.
They are responsive to bug reports and it has frequent updates.
It is universal between iPhone and iPad.
Next update adds VNC to existing RDP support.
Copy and paste is nicely integrated with phone.
 
I've finally decided on Jump desktop.
They are responsive to bug reports and it has frequent updates.
It is universal between iPhone and iPad.
Next update adds VNC to existing RDP support.
Copy and paste is nicely integrated with phone.

Should have gotten jump.

I bought desktop connect and its not working too well, lots of shutting down by itself and have problems with EasyConnect. :(

Ip address was entered manually but also cannot connect, had to connect via the unstable Easy Connect method instead.
 
Just purchased Jump 5 minutes ago and am very impressed. Easily the best i have used to-date. Supports my 5760*1080 desktop very very nicely. The mouse integration works real good for me.

On the large desktop support, I would love to see it auto-scroll the screen while dragging. Ie, to expand a window to about 4000 wide requires you to expand the window, shift the screen over, expand the window more, rinse n' repeat. Small issue really though.

Worth every penny.


Edits: ahhh, my appologies, Jump actually already has the functionality I desired above, just needed to get it figured out and move a bit slower. A bit difficult to manage, but functional. Such a nice app.
 
This thread is EXACTLY what I was looking for. When I first got my iPad I jumped on winadmin and have been using it ever since. I think I can do better, and so my quest begins. For me there are some key features:

1. NO ADDED SOFTWARE. Anyone who's anyone in IT knows the more junk you install on your machine the worse off you are, especially if you are administering enterprise class servers. I'd fire anyone installing 3rd party apps to access servers unless they had a really good reason. Maybe for personal desktops its a bit different but why. Logmein is always on top of the ratings in the app store but... without being too insulting.. feels like the remote desktop client for the non technical.

2. RDP support is a requirement. 99% of what I access is Windows based. I do have a few Macs and we will be introducing more Macs and Mac servers into the environment (and at home in my test lab) soon so VNC is a nice to have. I would almost rather get the best of the best RDP and the best of the best VNC and not sacrifice just to get both.

3. iPad support first but if its a universal app for the iPhone and all other things are equal then universal wins.

Here is where things get a bit tricky.

Working with static IPs I need the client to work with RDP but utilize different ports so I can do port forwarding. OR, do any of these work with an RD gateway? Now we have one IP and port to forward and can access any internal system on any port via the RD gateway.

My home desktop is 2560x1600. Most reviews I see don't list the supported graphics modes. Winadmin is only 1024x768 and uses its real estate poorly so higher graphics modesl would be nice.

Active Directory authentication (or native PC/Mac user), not some odd gmail access or a required 3rd party login.

Sound and video support is a plus.

I see someone from Jump Dektop here in the forums. Thats a huge plus. When you get access to developers and they are willing to listen it says a lot. I do see there have been no updates recently from them and no iOS4 support on the iPhone, so that concerns me a bit - otherwise I was almost ready to pull the trigger on Jump. Seems like its highly regarded here. I don't like the mouse circle idea at all and did anyone answer if this could be used without the extra software and gmail step that their web site suggests? Again, I don't need granny's remote desktop app.
johnredcorn's AWESOME review makes me think iTap would be the way to go for both Windows and Mac functionality in one. But is it the best at either? For me it extends to the developers web site and their app icon because it shows attention to detail. This one has the worst looking icon and a horribly lacking web site. I'm pretty sure they have an app for the iPad but you wouldn't know it by looking at their web site... I don't see a mention of it anywhere.

Frustrating... it seems each has its positive but nothing does it all and does it well.
 

Wyse Pocketcloud and Jump Desktop will likely make your shortlist.

I chose Wyse and in their setup you can specify which IP/domain and subsequently the port.

Default port is 3389 and you probably already know that every Windows RDP is defaulted at 3389 so that has to be changed at each terminal (3390, 3391, etc) as well as in the router (just for passthru to the terminal)
 
Default port is 3389 and you probably already know that every Windows RDP is defaulted at 3389 so that has to be changed at each terminal (3390, 3391, etc) as well as in the router (just for passthru to the terminal)

One thing that I've found helpful is setting up different external (WAN facing) ports on the router which all port forward to the same internal (LAN facing) RDP port (3389) but to different computers.

For example, external port 1234 is setup to forward to internal port 3389 at IP 192.168.100.2, while external port 4567 is setup to forward to internal port 3389 at IP 192.168.100.3. So you can target different computers on your LAN without having to change their individual default RDP ports.

This is easily setup if your router supports Tomato, DD-WRT, etc.
 
One thing that I've found helpful is setting up different external (WAN facing) ports on the router which all port forward to the same internal (LAN facing) RDP port (3389) but to different computers.

For example, external port 1234 is setup to forward to internal port 3389 at IP 192.168.100.2, while external port 4567 is setup to forward to internal port 3389 at IP 192.168.100.3. So you can target different computers on your LAN without having to change their individual default RDP ports.

This is easily setup if your router supports Tomato, DD-WRT, etc.

I had tried that one time and it didn't work for me. It looks like I may have missed a half step there though :D
 
I am looking for remote desktop - the app has to be smooth, fast, not expensive (something in range ~ $5, if there is no good app for this price, could be a bit higher) but also pretty cheap and has to support Mac OS X 10.6 (and it will be good if it will support Windows 7) and it will be great if there is no required sliding through the whole screen - instead where I touch there appears a mouse.
 
Try VNC

I am looking for remote desktop - the app has to be smooth, fast, not expensive (something in range ~ $5, if there is no good app for this price, could be a bit higher) but also pretty cheap and has to support Mac OS X 10.6 (and it will be good if it will support Windows 7) and it will be great if there is no required sliding through the whole screen - instead where I touch there appears a mouse.

VNC is the best remote desktop client/server software available. And its free.
 
Guess what? - I downloaded it an hour ago and I really like it, but sometimes the grey rectangle appears that takes about 1/4 of the screen - don't know why, but found out, that I have to move screen a little left/right and it's ok :)
 
Jump Desktop 3.0 is out today.
Adds support for VNC, iOS 4, iPhone 4 retina display, external keyboard and more.
 
Hello,

@appleecosys: Trackpad support - we'll consider adding this in the next major release.

@gillybean: Thanks for the idea about the extra keys in the keypad. Stay tuned.

Jump Desktop 3.0 is out today.
Adds support for VNC, iOS 4, iPhone 4 retina display, external keyboard and more.


I'm going to plug Jump Desktop 3.0 here and try to explain some of the new features. Mods: please let me know if I'm out of line.

The big feature for 3.0 is VNC support. We've tested the VNC implementation against TightVNC, RealVNC, UltraVNC and even Mac OS X 10.6 screen sharing. Mac OS X is not fully supported in this release - we'll have full support in 3.1. Although we do feel that OS X support is very functional in 3.0 (full support for all mouse movements - but some keyboard shortcuts may not work).

Other interesting things:

- Better encryption for RDP
- Initial support for iOS 4 Multitasking. We have a few more ideas for the 3.1 release around this, so stay tuned.
- Ability to use encrypted SSL tunnels with VNC to help provide better security for VNC (this will be available once we release our updated PC client next week). I don't think other VNC clients support encryption without running a SSH server.
- Transparent keypads for the iPad (someone here suggested we do this).
- Even better integration with bluetooth keyboards - users can now simulate Ctrl shortcuts, Function keys and the Esc key (in addition to arrow key support and Alt shortcuts we introduced in 2.0).

One interesting thing that we've tried to do with the VNC implementation is have it progressively update the screen while the data is downloaded. Some VNC implementations have to wait for a entire chunk of the screen to be transferred over the network before they can show it to the user. In our implementation we've tried to push the updates as soon as we have enough data for a vertical chunk. The effect is there is lower latency (you'll see the screen update start very quickly), however the downside is there might be more 'shearing' of display (i.e you'll see a noticeable vertical update of the screen as the data is streamed in from the network). I'm not sure if anyone will notice this behavior and wanted to know what people think. We think this will be beneficial on slow connections.

As usual feedback is welcome. We'll try to keep re-visiting this thread but if you want a guaranteed response please go through: http://support.jumpdesktop.com

Thanks!

-----
Btw - has anyone tried TightVnc 2.0? Very impressed with the speed and quality of the new server implementation these guys have put out.
-----
 
I am loving Jump! It's increased my love of the iPad 3x :)

Does anyone know if Logmein Ignition uses RDP or VNC?

I'm on Win7 64-bit on a very fast computer (i7 4.3ghz, ssd, etc), using my home network for both iPad and computer. I love doing my browsing and other tasks on this thing now. Multi-tasking is great and not having to worry about lack of RAM crashes in tabbed browsing rules.

edit: the mouse circle is an incredible feature and having used it, i would not use a program that did not have it. the accuracy that it provides is fantastic. now that i'm doing so much sliding around on the screen, i need to get a nice matte cover... currently putting a thin layer of super glue on my finger which works very nicely.

I've gotten some weird bad lag inputting text for forum posting. The settings I use are 1024x768 with all features off except HQ font. I also turn my computer to auto-hide taskbar, and the notifications bar is set to default where it hides most of the icons. Highest bit color and no sound. This makes the remote experience very fast and very enjoyable. Of course videos, games suck. Scrolling kind of blows too, with two fingers. The page down/page up/arrows method works pretty well.

Two things for the developers if you're reading this:
-keyboard needs to have double tap space = enters period <--- how it works on iphone and ipad, you probably know already

-two finger scrolling can be unresponsive at times, and then when you're using it to scroll, look at something, then scroll elsewhere, all in one motion, it really is not good because the scroll is so sensitive that when you're stopped at one spot in the middle the scroll keeps micro moving up and down and it's impossible to read what you want, so you're force to make two motions out of it. i use that method on my macbook all the time and it's so natural and works so well, and is much easier/more enjoyable to do than splitting it into two scrolls. i'm guessing the sensitivity needs to be turned down.

-any other ways to increase speed besides turning down the color bits? i have everything off except hq font, which i like a lot. i currently use a port forwarded setup with both computer and ipad on the same network... is VNC faster than RDP?

All in all, great job to the Jump developers! After using the product for a few hours, I am happy to have funded you guys another $20 :)
 
just tested, ip address/port forward when on same network is much faster than the google method (this is referring to jump)

scroll lag is very annoying... a fast way to do page up/down and home/end,i and maybe also arrow up/down would be very nice

still getting intermittent mysterious keyboard lag. not sure why... itll freeze then enter in a bunch of text, nothing else works either when this happens, could be network problems but i doubt it as im on a tomato router

also sometimes gestures like scrolling are slow to respond and take a few tries to get it activated

still a great program :)
 
Awesome! i've just installed tightvnc 2.0 and i think its significantly faster than rdp!

all my weird keyboard and gesture lag issues are gone. though i think the mouse circle has a little lag when you first grab it now

the biggest problem for me on tightvnc is the scroll is too fast, much faster than on rdp, hard to use this way. fast as in the amount it moves, not the refresh rate

edit: i actually went back to rdp and i think its faster except i sometimes get that weird typing lag and sometimes gesture lag... still like tightvnc... i think with some time tightvnc could be faster than rdp. i may be imagining it too but i think text is more crisp on rdp than on vnc

ahhh !
im back on tightvnc! i turned off my theme and nifty effects in windows (the rdp does this automatically), and it's faster now. scroll is still much better on rdp. would be good if the vnc would turn off the extras automatically like rdp
 
Excuse me for possible naive question: but does Jump Desktop support Apple Remote Desktop? The description says it only works for Windows systems......
 
Does Jump Desktop support Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) now with the new VNC support?

I have TightVNC 2.0 installed, and I tried it with the free iPad app Mocha VNC Lite. It works ok, a bit laggy, but usable.

I'm wondering if Jump would be significantly faster?
 
Jump works GREAT.

Agreed. I way prefer using RDP to Tight vnc because it's faster... all my complaints about weird lag were actually solved by moving closer to the router. now i kind of want to get an n router :) or an ipad 4g when it comes out.

Jump is soo awesome to me. i just really love it. but i have one really simple change that would make it much better for me:

-the keyboard switching buttons (T / 123 / F1) should be on the right side instead of the left. that way when you need to use the home, end, page up/down keys, they are right there by your finger after you've switched. it may seem trivial but i use them so often that the time really adds up of having to go across the screen with my finger.

that change would be great! oh and the mouse circle does seem to lag sometimes when i first grab it, but that may be a router issue... though ive seen it when i dont have any of the other router issues... hmm maybe its just the way i grab it sometimes.

also, im going to get a frictionless screen protector for easier/nicer mouse circling. right now im thinking the power support anti glare. ill update later with results
 
Specific Q about remote desktop apps

Useful thread here, thanks for everyone's contributions.

I have a very specific question about which app to use: I am hoping to use my iPad to access my PC desktop -- from within the same office (10 feet away) -- if possible, accessing via my wireless network and NOT through the internet (due to security concerns, medical info being viewed). Is this possible? Which remote app makes sense for this? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Useful thread here, thanks for everyone's contributions.

I have a very specific question about which app to use: I am hoping to use my iPad to access my PC desktop -- from within the same office (10 feet away) -- if possible, accessing via my wireless network and NOT through the internet (due to security concerns, medical info being viewed). Is this possible? Which remote app makes sense for this? Any help would be appreciated.

Pick one of the Apps that specifically does "Remote Desktop", and enter in the local IP address when connecting.
 
Useful thread here, thanks for everyone's contributions.

I have a very specific question about which app to use: I am hoping to use my iPad to access my PC desktop -- from within the same office (10 feet away) -- if possible, accessing via my wireless network and NOT through the internet (due to security concerns, medical info being viewed). Is this possible? Which remote app makes sense for this? Any help would be appreciated.

I'm pretty sure this is how I'm using Jump right now. I set it up so Jump connects to my internal router ip set for the computer (192.168.1.xxx). Since it's the internal ip being used, not my internet ip, I'm thinking it's not going through the internet.

I'm sure most other apps can do this too.
 
I've noted a lot of people using this for work - I'm looking for the perfect one to use for "play." By that I mean - I have my iMac hooked up to my LCD TV as a second monitor that way I can just watch all the movies I have on iMac on the TV.

My problem is that I hate having to use a mouse as that forces me to actually lean forward on the couch and reach for the mouse on the table :D. I'd much rather use my iPad as a remote desktop for surfing the web and watching media content and consume it on my large TV.

Which app would work best for this purpose?
 
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