TeamViewer for Remote Control

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on January 07, 2013

Millions of people use TeamViewer to remotely control their own and others' PCs to provide support, host online meetings, and manage files. TeamViewer for Remote Control lets you control computers remotely from your smartphone. Wherever you are, you can access and control your partner PCs using TeamViewer's Mobile app, just like using TeamViewer from a desktop or laptop. To use TeamViewer for Remote Control, you'll need to be a TeamViewer user and have the client software installed on the machine you want to control, but that's free. You don't even have to sign up for a free TeamViewer account to use the software; you can simply use the provided TeamViewer ID and your own password to access your PC from your Android device using TeamViewer for Remote Control.

TeamViewer for Remote Control's Android app has a much-simplified version of the program's usual controls in its toolbar. The program works much the same as the standard version, but with one major difference, or more than one: you control your remote PC's cursor and mouse buttons with a variety of taps and strokes that TeamViewer for Remote Control explains on its Instructions page. For example, single-finger taps activate single clicks, while a two-finger tap right-clicks items. Double-tapping and holding items let us drag them; scrolling involved dragging two fingers up or down. We logged in by entering the unique ID provided by the TeamViewer client installed on our target PC as well as our password. Closing the Instructions showed our remote PC's desktop on our phone's screen. We successfully opened and closed programs, including the Control Panel, our Web browser, and Office apps, as well as the TeamViewer client features. Cursor movement was smooth on our smartphone and a bit choppier -- but still accurate and with very little lag -- on the remote PC. The app's menu let us reboot and lock our client PC, type Ctrl-Alt-Del, and perform other tasks.

TeamViewer's Mobile app puts the "remote" in remote control by letting you control PCs literally anywhere you can access the Internet from a smartphone. It's by far the easiest app of its type we've tried, even for beginners.