Sharing screens with TeamViewer for iPad and Mac
Here at TUAW, we love enthusiastic readers. They tell us what they like and what they don't like, and nothing could be more passionate than the recommendations for TeamViewer that appeared in the comments on a post I recently wrote about using iTeleport and LogMeIn to provide remote support. Given the enthusiasm, I decided to give TeamViewer a try.Like most other remote computing solutions, TeamViewer is made up of two parts. There's a computer-based server, available for both Windows and Macintosh, and clients including an iPad application. How much you spend on your setup depends on how you plan to use the application.
A free plan includes both client and server components, but is limited to non-commercial use only. You can support family and friends or call home from your iPad to your home system but if you want to use the software for any commercial purposes (beyond testing the software under trial conditions), you need to purchase licenses.
The paid version consists of an iPhone or iPad client ($100 and $140 respectively) and a lifetime server license ($750, $1500, and $2700 for Business, Premium, and Corporate licenses). That's serious money.
So how does the software perform? I gave both the server and client a good work-out, connecting from an iPad to a remote Snow Leopard Mac and testing both the free and paid iPad clients, using the unlicensed server on the Macintosh side. I did not test Web access, Windows, or the iPhone clients.
Account Set-up
I found the account set-up portion unnecessarily difficult. Although you can connect remotely using a software-generated ID and password, unless you are on the phone with someone sitting in front of the remote system, you'll want to create a partner account instead.
Basic connections work like this. The server software automatically generates an ID/Password combo and displays them on the main TeamViewer screen. In their default form, they consist of a 9-number session ID and a 4-number password. Enter these items into the client software and you'll establish a basic connection.
The problem arises when you quit the application. The next time you run the software, it generates a new ID and password combination. That's why you want an account. By signing in with an account, you can connect to the server as a partner, independently of the current session ID.
I created my account on the iPad, which turned out to be a bad idea. Building the account involves a lot of typing (including entering your home e-mail account twice). I had to pair a Bluetooth keyboard to the unit to get past all the clerical entry. The software insisted on a certain level of password strength, which also had to be double-entered.
But the big problem was that the user account was more important to associate with the server software in the end. So learn from my lesson and establish your account on your Windows or Macintosh application, not on the iPad. Sign into the account from the application's Partner List window, and enter a password in the applications' preferences screen. You can then add the account name as a partner on your mobile device and connect using that password to authenticate yourself.
Be aware that before you can select that partner, you need to sign in on the iPad using the user account credentials and then sign in again using the password credentials, with the user account username. It's unintuitive and clunky but once you get it done a few times, it's not that hard to work through the steps.
Interacting Remotely
Once connected, TeamViewer feels like the other players in the remote access arena, such as LogMeIn and iTeleport. The interaction touches work very much the same way. You can drag with one finger to move the mouse pointer, tap to click, use two-finger taps for right-clicks, and so forth.
The screen updates over Wi-Fi were very fast and smooth, and I had no problem zooming into and out from windows, switching between multiple screens (I have two displays connected to my Mac), and so forth. The display quality was excellent.
What's particularly nice about TeamViewer is that it includes a quick reference sheet as part of its settings (Settings > Instructions) which you can review at any time. Not having a reference sheet has been one of my big beefs about competing apps. So if you want to drag and drop items on-screen, it's easy enough to look up how to (double-tap and hold followed by a drag).
Bugs and Flaws
Unfortunately, TeamViewer has a number of basic flaws which let down what is otherwise an excellent application. For example, the connection shuts down when my iPad goes idle, and a big nag message appears, as you can see here. If you're using the free client on the iPhone or iPad, another nag message appears on-device, which you see once you wake the unit up. Paid versions are, obviously, nag-free. Regardless of nag screes, the client has to completely re-authenticate (partner passwords aren't stored) and establish a new session each time. This grows old pretty quickly.
In a similar manner, the first time you tap on the "Connect to Partner" button, the app doesn't actually connect you to your partner. It dismisses the keyboard but requires a second tap to place your connection. That feels amateurish in an application that's priced above $100 in the App Store.
Mac users who prefers to use command-key shortcuts when connecting need to be aware of a major TeamViewer bug as well. Command-key shortcuts help save touch strokes when switching between applications and performing other quick tasks. While TeamViewer had no trouble using the command key (for example, to hide applications via Command-H), it could not distinguish between shifted and non-shifted shortcuts.
In Firefox, Command-W and Command-Shift-W have separate roles, namely close the current tab and close the entire window. TeamViewer mapped both combinations to Command-W, which is a problem if you really need to use Command-Shift-W instead. I was unable to use TeamViewer with many of my custom QuicKeys macros due to this bug.
On the positive side, I appreciated the built-in right-mouse-click button that appears at the bottom of the interaction window, the easily-accessed extended keyboard options, which include all the standard function and arrow keys, and always-on access to application settings. This latter feature is a great treat, especially since you can update those settings without interrupting your current session.
Conclusions
For individual non-commercial use, TeamViewer offers a far less expensive option than LogMeIn and iTeleport. Both its server and client elements are completely free. It's hard to argue with that pricing. Compared to paid solutions, TeamViewer offers many of the same features, albeit with a number of rough edges including the somewhat cumbersome authentication procedure, the nag screens, and the keyboard-control bugs.
What I cannot recommend the application for, however, is commercial use. At a minimum cost of $750 plus $140 for the iPad client, the application should have shipped bulletproof, with far more sophisticated features, a better GUI and a lot more advanced testing and bug fixes.
All things considered, TUAW gives the free version a thumbs up and the paid version a thumbs down.
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Here at TUAW, we love enthusiastic readers. They tell us what they like and what they don't like, and nothing could be more passionate than...
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We use Mikogo at our company, Market Dojo, and it works brilliantly, saving us a lot of time and money from travel. I only hope that our b2b e-auction software works half as well!
October 23 2010 at 1:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis app is easy to set up and awesome to use. I leave my home computer on 24/7 running windows 7. Need a file from the home computer? Forgot to upload it to google docs? No problem, I go to Team Viewer on my iphone, one click and I see my desktop at home and I am ready to upload that doc to google docs, or email it to myself. I can run my full home set up from team viewer. Very easy and secure. Doesn't require tearing giant holes through firewalls like th VNC and so on does.
September 28 2010 at 1:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI agree with the author: Teamviewer is a solid tool for non-commercial use, but it's slightly overpriced if you need a solution to support customers. I'd say LogMeIn is the most advanced tool on the market, but another neat solution that doesn't get as much publicity is Techinline: www.techinline.com
It's literally a fraction of the price of LMI and works entirely through the browser without the client having to install any apps onto their machine.
These two are my personal favorites
We bought TeamViewer for our company a couple of weeks ago, after a two month period during which we extensively tested the software. I disagree with this review's implication that TeamViewer is too expensive for business use. It certainly costs a couple hundred bucks per remote administrator. But consider, that this fee covers remote access to as many computers as you need and it's a one time fee only (per major release). Competitors require payment of a license fee for every single computer and/or an annual subscription fee.
The biggest two problems with TeamViewer in my eyes are these:
- There's no TeamViewer Daemon for Linux and Mac OS. You need a user to be logged in to start TeamViewer on these OS, which is a huge security problem in many environments.
- The current Mac Version of TeamViewer reserves a Mac OS resource named "secure input", but does not release it until the application has been closed. This renders other tools which also rely on secure input, namely TextExpander, useless while TeamViewer is running. TeamViewer support (which so far has been outstanding) confirmed this bug and promised to solve it with the next major release.
Tim Kaufmann
Taquiri GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
I for one would like to see apps like this work with a bluetooth mouse.
Obviously a mouse is useless for general iOS stuff, but when remote controlling another computer on osX or windows, wouldn't it be nice?
-jj
Two one finger taps and I am into my home computer from anywhere. When I read your write up I thought that I must be using another app altogether. I have the free version and I works a treat. Regards Padster
iTeleport has never let me down, and the best part is that it doesn't need its own server. It works flawlessly with Apple's remote desktop. I can't undertsand. I got it when it was Jaadu (and cheaper). I'm completely happy with it and can recommend it to anyone.
September 22 2010 at 5:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI like TeamViewer. However, the biggest problem is that there needs to be somebody on the remote computer to start the software. The client does not work in the background, like it does with Logmein. With Logmein Free, there is just an icon on the menubar. If I wake my home computer remotely via wake on lan, I can simply access the home computer via a browser on the client side (if the client is a computer). However, their iphone access software is not free. I found that uninstalling Logmein software on my computer was a pain.
With TeamViewer, their iphone software is free. So that is great. However, I don't feel like running the software permanently on my dock (on my home computer).
For basic use - to access my home computer while I am away, both software are great and comparable.
Not all my comments apply to the iPad, but I hope someone would find them useful nevertheless :).
"The client does not work in the background, like it does with Logmein"
I meant the server does not work in the background.
You can setup the app to run as a service or at login on both Windows machines and OSX..... just an FYI.
September 22 2010 at 8:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyErika,
Thanks for your review on the iPad version. Unfortunately some of your findings are not correct, therefore I would like to comment on them.
1) The ID number in TeamViewer doesen't change, that means after you connect to your partner the first time you go to 'Recents' and just need the session password for all other connections.
2) Also the session password can be stored under 'Settings'->'Save recent passwords'. Passwords can be predefined as well so that they do not change for every session.
3) For setting up an account at TeamViewer you just need to fill out 3 different things (username, email and password), while you have to confirm email and password once again. So in total there are 5 fields 2 of them have to be filled out with the same information. Shouldn't be that much typing.
4) Also shortcuts can be transmitted through the iPad version (and all other versions) if you use the integrated keyboard for special keys which permits to send special keystrokes like Command+Shift+W
5) There is no need to buy the Business license additionally. Commercial users can just use iPhone ($ 99.99) or iPad App ($139.99) without having to pay for the basic license for workstations.
We put a lot of thoughts in the usability of TeamViewer and have very positive feedback on that. As the software has plenty of features integrated we are very keen on keeping the GUI clean and easy to use for everybody. Hope we can cooperate a bit closer for any future review.
All the best,
Constantin Falcoianu
TeamViewer Germany
wow .. what a negative review over such little things as typing your password AND email twice .. wow .. maybe you shouldn't use your iPad for professional use if that is too much to ask for.
Besides, most of the "Bugs" you found seem rather intentional design decision to adapt to a different plattform (like remapping keys). If that is such a problem .. again you may consider not using your iPad, but a real computer.
The review seems to try a little to hard to not like the program and bitter over small things, but maybe thats just me.
I use TeamViewer for private support requests and it couldn't be easier to use. Admittedly I am usually on the phone with the person on the other computer as well ..
The best thing about TeamViewer over VNC & Co is that I don't have to worry about Firewall and bypassing router. Both ends start the software enter the pin and start sharing.
T.
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TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
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