How to Access a PC From Your iPhone or Android Device

With the Remote Desktop app for iOS and Android, you can connect to and control a remote Windows computer to work with your files and applications.

If you’re stuck working from home, you can still remotely access computers at the office. This can be done from computer to computer, or you can use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop tool to access a remote PC from an iOS or Android device. With it, you can view the screen, open files, and work with applications as easily (though maybe not as quickly) as if you were right in front of that computer. Here’s how to use the mobile app to access a remote computer.

Allow Remote Access

In order to access a computer remotely, it must first be set up properly. Go to Settings > System > Remote Desktop on the computer you wish to access and make sure the Enable Remote Desktop switch is turned on.

By default, the options for Keep your PC awake for connections when it is plugged in and Make my PC discoverable on private networks to enable automatic connection from a remote device may both be enabled. To view or modify either option, click the corresponding link to Show settings, but you can leave both turned on at this point.

While you’re here, note the name of the PC as you’ll need it when you set up the connection.

Remote Access Settings

Click the Advanced settings link and make sure the box for Configure Network Level Authentication is turned on. This feature provides an extra layer of protection to ward off uninvited guests and malicious users.

If you’ll be connecting to the computer on the same network via a VPN or other means, ignore the section for External connections. The section for Remote Desktop port shows the default port to listen for and accept a remote connection.

Sign in Remotely

By default, any user who has an administrative account on the remote PC can access it. Assuming you’re using a Microsoft Account or company account to sign into Windows, your best bet is to use that account to sign in remotely.

If you want to give remote access to a different account, click the link at the bottom for Select users that can remotely access this PC. Click Add and enter the user name for the account you want to use.

Set Up Remote Access From iPhone or iPad

Now, you can turn to your mobile device. To access the computer from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, download and install the Remote Desktop app from Apple’s App Store. Open the app, tap the plus (+) symbol, and choose the option to Add PC.

Add Remote Desktop on iOS

At the Add PC window, enter the computer name or IP address in the PC Name field. Type the account name you want to use in the User Account field, or leave the field set to Ask When Required if you’d rather enter the name each time for security reasons.

Under the General section, type a name in the field for Friendly Name to add a more convenient label for this connection. Turning on the switch for Admin Mode connects you to a console session to manage a Windows server; normally you would leave this turned off. The option for Swap Mouse Buttons swaps the left and right mouse buttons.

In the Gateway section, you would need to enable and set up the option for Gateway only if your organization uses a Remote Desktop Gateway to secure remote connections.

Configure Session Features

Swipe down to the Device & Audio Redirection section to enable any features on your iOS device that you wish to use during a remote connection. You’d likely want to direct the sound to play on this device. You may also want to enable the Clipboard if you plan to copy and paste back and forth. You can also enable the microphone, camera, and remote storage. When finished, tap Save in the upper-right corner.

Connect to Remote PC on iOS

The computer you wish to access will be displayed in the app. Tap the name and icon of the computer connection you just set up. The first time you try to access the computer, Remote Desktop may ask to verify the connection to that computer. Enable the option for Don’t ask me again for connections to this computer and then tap Accept.

Remote Connection Toolbar for iOS

You should then be connected to the remote computer. You can now open apps and windows, manage the desktop, and do just about everything you can do if you were sitting in front of the computer.

To help you control your remote session, the app displays a small toolbar at the top. Tap the magnifying glass icon to zoom in on the screen. Tap it again to zoom back out. Tap the keyboard icon to display your device’s keyboard.

Manage Remote Connections

Tap the middle icon to view all your remote connections. Tap on a different remote connection to jump to another session. This page has its own toolbar at the top. Tap the Home icon to return to the home screen, where you can set up or access another connection. Tap the Hand icon to switch to touch-screen mode and tap the Mouse icon to switch to mouse mode.

Tap the X button in the thumbnail to sever the connection for that session. Otherwise, tap Disconnect All PCs to end every current session.

Set Up Remote Access From an Android Device

Remote Desktop for Android works similarly to its iOS counterpart, though the setup process differs somewhat. Download and install the app from Google Play. After you launch the app, tap the plus (+) icon and choose Desktop.

Add Remote Desktop on Android

If you happen to be near the remote computer, the app will scan for it at this point. If the PC is detected, its name will show up on the screen. Otherwise, tap the Add Manually link.

Set Up Remote Connection

At the window for Add desktop, type the computer name or IP address. For User name, tap the field that says Enter every time and then either leave that option as is or tap the setting to Add user account and type the username and password.

Configure Remote Desktop

Tap Show additional options, then enter a friendly name if desired. Add the gateway if your organization uses a Remote Desktop Gateway. Opt to play sound from the remote PC on your device. Unless you need to adjust the options for display resolution, mouse buttons, admin session, and local storage, you can leave those turned off. When done, click Save.

Connect to Remote PC on Android

Tap the name and icon for the remote session you just created. If you receive the message that the certificate can’t be verified, check the box to Never ask again for connections to this PC and then tap Connect.

Remote Connection Toolbar for Android

You’re now connected. Tap the keyboard icon on the top toolbar to display the onscreen keyboard. Tap the hamburger icon to display the sidebars.

From there, you can tap the Start New icon to start another remote session to a different computer. Tap the Home button to return to the app’s home screen. Hit the Mouse Pointer icon to display a mouse pointer. To disconnect the current remote session, tap the X in the thumbnail window for your computer.

How to Share Files Between Android and Windows 10 on Your Network

With smartphones becoming a near-essential part of everyday life, you may find yourself in moments where you want to transfer files between an Android device and Windows 10. Fortunately, it’s very easy to achieve this these days!

How to Access Android Files on Windows 10

It’s worth noting first that there are plenty of ways to perform this transfer. Bluetooth is useful, as is plugging in a cable between your PC and your phone. However, this tutorial focuses on how to transfer over your Wi-Fi network.

There are plenty of apps that can achieve this, but for the sake of this article, we’ll focus on a solution that’s both easy to do and doesn’t require any software to be installed on your PC. That way, there’s no fiddly setup or bloatware – just a quick and easy transfer.

Even with these restrictions, the competition is pretty tight. However, we’re going to settle with the Sweech app for this tutorial. This is because Sweech is very quick to set up; you could be transferring files within one to two minutes of downloading it!

When you download Sweech, press the large play button that appears and give the app permissions to access your files. Then, Sweech will show you a local IP address and port.

Type it into the web browser on your PC, hit Enter, and you’ll see your phone’s file system.

Now, you can browse your phone as if it were a folder on your PC. This includes dragging files from your phone onto your PC, as well as putting files into folders on your phone. Once you’re done, tap the Stop button on the app to shut off the file transfer.

Every time you use Sweech, it will use the same IP address and port. As such, if you don’t want to keep typing in the address when you use Sweech, you can bookmark the page for quick access.

You can use the shortcuts on the left to filter content by type. You can even send data to your phone’s clipboard from your PC. Just type what you want on it, then click the blue clipboard icon to transfer it to the phone.

How to Access Windows 10 Files on Android

Accessing Windows 10 folders on Android is a little trickier. First, you need to make the file or folder accessible by outside devices.

Making a File or Folder Public

The easy way to do this is to move or copy the files over to your Windows 10 Public folder. Typically, this is located at C:UsersPublic . This folder is special because it’s automatically set up to allow other users on your network to access it.

If you want to share a folder without moving it to Public, you can set it up as if it were in the Public folder. To do this, right-click the file or folder you want to share, then click Properties.

Go to the Sharing tab, then click Share.

On the drop-down menu, select “Everyone,” then click Add. Click on Share at the bottom right.

By default, you’ll need your user credentials to access your PC’s public folders from outside. If you’d rather not enter them every time, and you trust all the devices on your network, you can instead disable the requirement and allow guests to see your public files.

To do this, type “advanced sharing” in the Start menu and select the option that appears.

Scroll down to the “All Networks” category – you may need to expand it. In this category, find “Turn off password-protected sharing” and click it, then click Save Changes.

Now you can access your public files without logging in. Be sure to turn this back on if you don’t want others on your network snooping on your files!

Accessing the Files on Android

Now it’s time to get access to those files. You’ll need a file explorer that has LAN capabilities so that it can access your PC.

If you have an app of choice, use that. For this article, however, we’ll be using FE File Explorer. We chose this app because it makes it easy to connect to your PC, whether you’re using an account or a guest login.

When you boot up FE File Explorer, tap the Plus button at the bottom right.

Here, you can enter the network details of your PC. If you’re on the same Wi-Fi network as your PC, you need not bother; just scroll to the bottom and find your PC in the neighborhood section.

The app will ask you if you want to log in to your PC or use a guest account. If you kept password-protected sharing on, select the top option and log in. If you turned it off, select the guest option.

Once done, you should now be able to navigate your PC’s public folders. Navigate to the files you want to download, then either tap the three dots next to a single file to see all the actions you can perform or hold-press a file to select multiple files to download or move.

As you can see, it is quite easy to transfer files between Android to Windows 10. If you are using Mac, you can make use of OpenMTP to transfer files from Android to Mac.

Related:

Simon Batt is a Computer Science graduate with a passion for cybersecurity.

How to Access a Windows Shared Folder from an Android Smartphone

In order to access the shared files on a Windows PC from an Android device, you can use a third-party app named ES File Explorer File Manager.

Before rushing to do this, you must check that you have sufficient permissions to access the data. You must also verify that no firewall is blocking access to the shared files from your Android device. If either or both of the above conditions are true, you must ask your network administrator to grant you the required privileges in order to allow you to access the objects via your Android phone.

Assuming that you have been granted all of the permissions for the shared data on the Windows PC, here’s how you can download and install ES File Explorer File Manager on your Android phone, and use the app to access the shared objects remotely:

■Power on your Android mobile phone or tablet.
■After unlocking, tap the Menu button to launch the apps list.

Note: You can identify the target computer by its IP address that is used as the name of the terminal of the PC that is displayed in the LAN window.

12. When prompted, provide the correct username and password, in the Username and Password fields respectively.

Note: Do not share the username and password of the computer with anyone.