How to control your Windows PC from an iPhone or Android phone

• A Windows 10 or 11 PC (64-bit) that's switched on and connected to the internet.
• An iPhone, iPad or Android phone or tablet with a modern browser, such as Safari or Chrome.
• A free RemoteAccessApp account. Create one if you don't have one yet.

The same browser sign-in works on a laptop that isn't running Windows. See how to control a Windows PC from a Mac or use a Windows PC from a Chromebook.

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   Step 1: Install RemoteAccessApp on the PC

   On the PC, download the installer from the download page and run it. Choose Set up this PC and sign in. Leave Start RemoteAccessApp with Windows ticked.

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   Step 2: Decide who clicks Allow

   If someone will be at the PC, they click Allow when you connect, which is how you help family with their PC from your phone. If it's your own PC and nobody will be there, right-click the RemoteAccessApp icon in the PC's taskbar tray, choose Unattended access, so your own phone goes straight in. Protect your account with two-step verification.

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   Step 3: Sign in on your phone

   Open remoteaccessapp.com in your phone's browser and sign in. Your PCs are listed, with whether each is online. If you look after several, here's how to remote desktop into multiple computers from one list.

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   Step 4: Open the PC

   Tap the PC. Its screen opens, and a banner stays on the PC's screen for as long as you're connected. Turn the phone sideways for a bigger picture.

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   Step 5: Keep it handy

   On iPhone, tap Share in Safari and choose Add to Home Screen: RemoteAccessApp then opens like an app. On Android, your browser's menu can add a shortcut to the home screen too.

There are two ways to point. Trackpad mode (the default) puts a pointer on the screen that one finger moves, like a laptop touchpad, which is easiest for small buttons. Touch mode clicks exactly where you tap. Switch in the session's top bar; your phone remembers the choice. The first session on a phone shows the gestures once, and Touch gestures in the menu shows them again.

Tap the keyboard button to type with your phone's own keyboard, autocorrect and dictation included. A strip above it adds the keys a phone keyboard doesn't have: Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, Win, the arrows and F1 to F12.

For Windows shortcuts, open Shortcuts. It sends the Start menu, Task Manager, Run (Win+R), File Explorer, Settings, Alt+Tab, Close window (Alt+F4), Copy, Paste, Undo and more, with one tap each.

To move text, pictures and files between your phone and the PC, open the Clipboard and files sheet. The help article on how to copy, paste and send files from your phone walks through it; clipboard sync and file copies are free with an account.

Want a server's command line rather than a desktop? You can also SSH into your home server from your phone, through a PC at home, without opening a port.

• Choose the Saves data quality in the session's top bar. It sends a lighter picture, fewer times a second. Balanced suits Wi-Fi, and Sharpest is for small text on a fast connection.
• Close what moves on the PC. Video, animations and a busy screen send more data than a still one.
• Switching apps is fine. If you leave the browser to answer a message, the session reconnects when you come back.

Your phone signs in to your RemoteAccessApp account, so protect that account: use a strong password and turn on two-step verification. The PC follows the same rules as always: it asks the person there to allow each session unless unattended access is on, and the banner shows during every session.

A browser session is encrypted, but not end to end: our website decodes the picture in memory to show it on your phone, and never records or stores it. The Windows app is end-to-end encrypted. More in how it's secured.