Controlling a computer from the phone is extremely useful when we are away from home, traveling, or in the office at work because it allows the person to access documents on his personal computer or use programs that he might not otherwise have.
iPhone or iPad owners can connect to their Windows computer and see all files, programs, and resources just as they would if they were sitting in front of their PC. This remote desktop feature becomes optimal if you have an iPad that has the largest screen.
In the guide that follows we will show you the simplest and most immediate methods to control your PC from the screen of an iPhone or iPad. In the guide, we will find both methods that work when the Apple device is on the same network where the computer is connected, and methods to control a computer when we are away from home, using public Wi-Fi or the mobile network connection.
1) Remote Desktop
The first method to control Windows from iPhone and iPad is the good old Remote Desktop produced by Microsoft, present on all versions of Windows and working when we are connected on the same network as the computer.
To enable remote control on any PC with a Windows operating system, open the Start menu, type Advanced settings on the keyboard, open the entry of the same name, go to the Remote Connection tab and check the item in the window (on Windows 11 it is Allow Assistance connections remote to the computer ).
After activating the function we need to retrieve the IP address of the computer in use: to do this, simply press the button on the network icon at the bottom right, open the network menu, and, once the network we are on has been selected connected, access the network information. Alternatively, we can also launch the config command from the command prompt, which we can always find in the Start menu.
After retrieving the IP address of the computer, download the Microsoft Remote Desktop app on the iPhone or iPad for RDP connections on Windows PCs from iPhone and iPad.
After opening the app, press the + icon, type the IP address of the computer to be controlled remotely, and enter the username and password of the account on the computer (if we use the Microsoft account we will have to enter the Microsoft credentials, otherwise we will have to use the local account name and password).
In RDP options you can change the display settings
Now you can access anything on the desktop from the iPhone or iPod Touch, by controlling the mouse with your finger and the keyboard with the touchscreen.
2) TightVNC
If we are unable to configure the Remote Desktop properly, we can install an external program such as VNC on the computer, available in various formats and versions. The best free and open-source version is TightVNC, which can be installed on all versions of Windows.
After installation, we open the Start menu, look for TightVNC Server configuration and press the Set button under the item Primary Password, so as to be able to choose the password to be used for remote control.
After configuring the password, let’s write down the port number used by the program, recover the IP address of the computer with the methods already seen above and install the official VNC app, available from the Apple App Store.
Once the app is open, simply enter the IP address, port number, and password chosen by the TightVNC program to connect to the computer screen and control it remotely.
3) TeamViewer
To remotely control the computer from iPhone or iPad when we are away from home, all we have to do is download and install TeamViewer, the best program of its kind that can be downloaded for free for Windows from the official website.
With TeamViewer you can remotely control a PC from anywhere in the world, using your iPhone or iPad as a screen to access the desktop at any time.
After installing it on the computer, we open the program, so as to immediately obtain an identification number and a dynamic password, to be used for occasional access (in case it is necessary to provide assistance while we are away from home).
In order to always access the computer without asking anyone for help, we will have to provide automatic startup and choose a unique access password for the program, as also seen in our guide on how to use TeamViewer.
Once unattended access has been configured, leave the PC on (or turn it on remotely ) and, once away from home, download the TeamViewer app for iPhone directly from the Apple App Store.
Once the app is open, all we have to do is enter the account credentials to create the connection and have full access to the computer desktop.
4) Iperius Remote
Since in many scenarios TeamViewer shows warnings on improper use or corporate use (where the program is always paid), we can use the Iperius Remote program as a valid alternative for remote control, which can be downloaded for free for Windows from the official website.
The operation of this program is very similar to TeamViewer: once installed we will immediately have a unique identification code and a random password to be used for quick access to the computer screen; by setting the program to auto start we will instead use a password of our choice so that we can always access the computer when it is switched on.
After the quick initial configuration, all we have to do is download the Iperius Remote app from the Apple App Store, so that we can access our PC even when we are away from home or traveling.
To learn more about the use of this program, we can read our guide on how to work remotely on the PC with Iperius Remote.
Conclusions
All the methods we have shown you are very simple to apply and allow you to remotely control your Windows computer using our trusty iPhone or iPad. The simplest methods are undoubtedly those of TeamViewer and Iperius Remote, but on the same network, we can also use Remote Desktop and VNC to control the computer.
