Microsoft Launches 'Remote Desktop' Apps for Mac and iOS - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Microsoft Launches 'Remote Desktop' Apps for Mac and iOS

by

Along with Windows 8.1, Microsoft today launched new Microsoft Remote Desktop apps for iOS and OS X, designed to give users access to a Windows PC via RemoteFX on their Macs, iPhones, and iPads. News of a potential Remote Desktop app for Apple devices first surfaced last week.

remotedesktopmac
The iOS app offers a secure connection to data and applications through NLA technology along with multi-touch capabilities. It supports high quality video and sound streaming and connects to external monitors or protectors to for presentations. The Mac version also includes the ability to access local Mac files from Windows applications and printer capabilities.

iOS Features:

- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Rich multi-touch experience with remote desktop protocol (RDP) and RemoteFX supporting Windows gestures
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to external monitors or projectors for presentations

Mac Features:

- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to multiple monitors or projectors for presentations
- Print from Windows applications to any printer configured on your Mac
- Access local files on your Mac from your Windows applications

In addition to Remote Desktop tools for iOS and OS X, Microsoft is said to be developing similar tools for Android and Windows RT. Earlier this month, former Microsoft CEO Steve announced that the company also plans to expand its iOS offerings with an iPad version of Office to be released after the launch of the next major version of its Office suite.

Microsoft Remote Desktop for iOS is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac is a free app that can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

2
2457282
168 months ago
I will be getting this for the sole purpose of being able to fix my parents computers remotely ever time the call me. This will be immensly simpler than having them tell me what is wrong -- "the thing said something and i pressed the button and now nothing happens, what should I do?"
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
kappaknight
168 months ago
I'll install it... but I hope I never have to use it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
ctcampbell
168 months ago
Please, for the love of god don't allow direct connections to your PC from the Internet. Anyone who opens port 3389 on their router or firewall is asking for a world of pain.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
Ap0ks
168 months ago
I see nothing here that would draw me away from using TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com), which is free for personal use and works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use (no messing around with ports), which comes in handy if providing remote support to those who aren't very computer literate. You can talk them through the setup on their end and be connected to them in less than a minute.

I see no advantage at all in using a Microsoft product for this.
It really is a business tool rather than a consumer application especially since RDP is only available on the Pro or higher versions of Windows.

Using this Microsoft app to remote admin servers from a Mac is a lot cheaper than the £439 it would cost for TeamViewer. I've been using CoRD and while it works well it does seem to have stagnated in development.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nicroma Avatar
nicroma
168 months ago
I just installed it and tried it for my iPhone. I'll be sticking with alternatives for RDP. It was not very user friendly.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N
newagemac
168 months ago
But can you access a Remote Desktop of a Windows PC that's actually served through a Virtual Machine on your Mac? Would love to be able to do this from my iPad to use Windows 8 since it's pretty good for touch based devices.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
Read Full Article • 132 comments
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium

New Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 Features Revealed

Sunday August 30, 2026 7:54 am PDT by
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9. While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. ...
Read Full Article • 152 comments
John Ternus and Rainbow Countour Apple Logo

Apple Just Made a Very Controversial Decision on New CEO's First Day

Wednesday September 2, 2026 6:31 am PDT by
Apple's former hardware engineering chief John Ternus became its CEO on Tuesday, and the company made a controversial decision on his very first day in charge. As of Tuesday, Apple Maps users in the U.S. see the name "Lake America" instead of Lake Ontario for the Great Lake that straddles the New York—Ontario border. Apple made this change after the U.S. Geographic Names Information...
Read Full Article