Get Access To Your Computer Desktop From Anywhere With Google’s Remote Desktop App

Our phones are practically computers in themselves – loaded with lots and lots of helpful features they can get us access to anything anytime. However, we still need our computers for various functions and most of our work-related documents are safely stored on laptops and PCs.

Cloud services are a great way to keep all your important files accessible, but there are times when you may forget to upload a file onto a cloud and just dump it onto your desktop out of habit. If that is ever the case, it is helpful to know that, among all other amazing functions, your Android phone can also give you remote access to your computer’s desktop – and that’s not new.

There are a number of applications that offer to enable this feature, some free and some paid, but when it comes to simplicity, Google’s Remote Desktop App may be your best choice.

Here’s how it works.

We guess you already know what the first step will be  – and you are right. You will need to head over to Google Play Store and download Chrome Remote Desktop Android app. The process is pretty straightforward and should leave you with no questions or confusion.

Then, you should do a similar thing with your PC. Pay a visit to Google Chrome’s WebStore and install Remote Chrome Desktop extension for your computer.

Once the download is complete, you will be given precise guidelines and instructions on how to proceed – just follow them step by step and make sure to install any additional files necessary to make it all happen and allow remote access to your PC.

At the later stage you will be asked to enter a PIN. This number will be required whenever you will want to access your desktop from your phone.

Once everything is set, you should see your PC’s name appear in the Chrome Remote Desktop Page in your browser.

You are pretty much set. All that’s left to do is open up the Remote Desktop App on your Android, connect to your PC and enter the PIN.

Note: the PIN option can be disabled to speed up the process. You will see the “Don’t ask for a PIN again…” box when you are entering the code for the first time. Just check the box if you are sure your phone won’t get into the wrong hands. But do consider the risks that come with the action.

A nice feature is that the application allows you to connect several computers to your account. So you can get access to your home or office desktops from you phone at any time.

Once and while the app is active, you should see a small pop-up box on your desktop warning you that remote access is enabled.

So, there you go. Now you practically do have your computer in your pocket.

How you would want to use that newly-gained power is entirely up to you. Some of the most common uses may be grabbing a file that you forgot to copy (as we have mentioned earlier), helping a colleague find a file on your overcrowded desktop (should they ever need to) or helping someone out in a technical emergency. So the next time you grandma tells you that her “email is broken”, you’ll now exactly what’s really going on and how to fix it in a matter of minutes.

Google’s Remote Desktop app is surely not the only option out there and you may want to explore and check out other applications as well. For instance, you may go on to read our blog on Microsoft Remote Desktop For Android here.