Remote desktop privacy: who can see what

A remote desktop session involves up to four parties. Here's what each one can see.

The person connecting

Once the session starts, they see whatever is on the PC's screen: open windows, notifications, email previews, photos on the desktop. While remote control is on, they can also use the mouse and keyboard, so they can open anything the signed-in Windows user could open. That's the whole point of remote help, and it's why the decision to let someone in matters.

The person at the PC

They should always be able to tell a session is happening. In RemoteAccessApp, a banner stays on the PC's screen for as long as anyone is connected, with a chat button, and it says when a command prompt is open or when an AI assistant is the one connected. From the banner they can switch off remote control, which makes the session view-only, or quit RemoteAccessApp to end it.

The remote desktop company

Most tools pass sessions through the company's servers so they work without router changes. Whether those servers can see your screen depends on the encryption, which is why it's on our checklist of what to look for in remote desktop software. In the RemoteAccessApp app, sessions are end-to-end encrypted between your Console and the PC, so our relay forwards data it can't decrypt. In a web browser the connection is encrypted too, but not end to end: our website acts as your console and decodes the picture in memory to show it to you, without recording or storing it. When that difference matters, use the Console on Windows.

Your network and internet provider

With an encrypted session, they can see that your PC is talking to a remote access service and roughly how much data moves, but not what's on the screen or what you type.

Good remote access software never hides a session from the person at the PC. With RemoteAccessApp, look for the banner at the top of the screen. You can also right-click the RemoteAccessApp icon in the taskbar tray and choose Session activity to see who connected and what happened, or Open activity log for the history on that PC.

If you're worried about software you didn't set up yourself, these general checks help on any Windows PC:

• Open Settings, then Apps, and look through the installed apps for remote access or remote support tools you don't recognize. Uninstall what you don't use.
• Check the icons in the taskbar tray (the arrow next to the clock). Remote access tools usually show one while they run.
• If you never use the Remote Desktop feature built into Windows, make sure it's switched off under Settings, System, Remote Desktop.
• Change your passwords from a device you trust if you think someone has had access they shouldn't have.

1. 1

   Step 1: Know who's asking

   Only allow sessions you arranged with someone you know. If a caller, pop-up or email you didn't expect asks you to install remote access software or let them connect, it's almost certainly a scam. Hang up or close it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Tidy the screen

   Close email, banking, private chats and documents that have nothing to do with the problem. Whatever is open can be seen.

3. 3

   Step 3: Check the prompt

   The Allow remote access? prompt names the console that wants to connect and shows its Console ID. Click Allow only if it's the person you expect. Leaving it unanswered denies the request by itself.

4. 4

   Step 4: Stay in charge during the session

   Watch what happens, use the chat to ask questions, and switch off remote control from the banner if you'd rather they only watch. You can end the session at any time by quitting RemoteAccessApp.

Allow remote access?

RemoteAccessApp

Console

sam@LAPTOP-SAM

Console ID

3F2A 91C0 … 7B1D

They'll be able to see your screen and control this PC. Only allow it if you're expecting it.

Let this console connect without asking next time (unattended)

Denied automatically in 25s if you don't answer.

Don't allowAllow

Remote desktop privacy isn't only about the software company. The person at the PC should stay in charge, too:

• Say no. Click Don't allow, or leave the prompt alone and it denies the request by itself.
• Watch only. Untick Allow remote control in the RemoteAccessApp tray menu. The helper can still see the screen, but can't use the mouse, keyboard or command line.
• End it. Quit RemoteAccessApp from its tray menu, and the session stops at once.
• Ask for a password. A connection password, set at the PC, has to be typed by anyone who connects.
• Take trust back. Remove a console from the PC's trusted list, or switch off unattended access, and everyone is asked first again.

On a Linux PC, the banner has an End button. On Wayland, the desktop also shows its own screen-sharing indicator, and Stop sharing in the top bar ends the session. More in what the person at the PC sees.

Privacy also means what's left behind once the session ends. For RemoteAccessApp:

• Never recorded: the screen, what you type, click or run, chats, the clipboard and files. In the app they're end-to-end encrypted; in a browser they pass through our website's memory only.
• A short record of each session: who connected to which PC, when, for how long and how much data, in a security log that's deleted after 90 days. Never what happened in it.
• About your account and PCs: your email, each PC's Windows computer name, the Windows user signed in on it, when it was last online and its last IP address.
• Passwords to your servers: kept on your own PC, encrypted. If you turn on password sync with Pro, they're end-to-end encrypted with a key from your account password, so we can't read them.

There are no ads, no third-party trackers and no selling of personal data. The full list, with how long each item is kept, is in your data, in plain English and the Privacy Policy. To download a copy of your data or delete your account, see the help article on privacy and your data.

Unattended access lets chosen consoles connect without anyone clicking Allow, which is what you want for your own PC at home. It also means a session can start while someone else is using that PC, so treat it carefully:

• It can only be switched on at the PC itself, and the list of trusted consoles stays on that PC.
• The banner still shows during every unattended session, so anyone at the PC can see it and take back control.
• While it's on, your consoles can show a small, low-resolution preview of that PC's screen in your device list.
• Use it on your own PCs, or on someone else's only with their clear agreement.

The details, including how to remove a console, are in how to set up unattended access safely, and free unattended remote access explains how the trusted list works.

If other people use the PCs you connect to, such as family members or staff, tell them about RemoteAccessApp and what it does. It's only for PCs you own or have permission to access, and it's up to you to get any consent the law requires where you are. The banner helps, because nobody can be connected without it showing, but it doesn't replace a conversation.

For teams, the questions go further: who may connect to which PC, and what they may do there. See how to control who can access your PCs and servers.

The security white paper covers the full design: architecture, data flows, encryption, authentication, consent at the PC, team access control and the limits we know about. The security overview is the shorter version.