Screens 5: VNC Remote Desktop 4+

Pretty happy!

I’ve tried lots of Remote Desktop applications and none of them ever fully sat with me right, but I’m pretty satisfied with this one. Great interface and performance! The unlock shortcut is a great timesaver and makes jumping back into my sessions a lot smoother. Using a trackpad on iPad is a little finicky sometimes and glitches out when zoomed in on larger screens would be my only complaint, so I’m hoping that gets fixed in an update. And it would be great if there was a way to set the remote connection resolution on the host display to match clients on iPad or Mac (I don’t expect this on iPhone obviously) so it feels like more of a native experience, but overall I’m much more happy than my previous solutions

Mixed experience

Version 5 of the app did not address some longstanding issues I had with it. For example, Screens Connect maps different computers I have to the same entry, so that they randomly override each other. This problem has existed for several years. I reached out to the developers numerous times (they are responsive). They suggested that version 5 would address this problem for good, but no luck.

The new version did add a few new issues of its own. For instance:

1) the interface often fails to save information when editing connections manually. For example, editing the ip address sometimes does not "stick";

2) sometimes, the new app captures certain system shortcuts such as ctrl tab even when hidden or not focused; this requires stopping the app for the shortcut to work agian.

3) I had occasional system-level graphical issues (M1 mac) when using the app, such as alteration of the color palette (even when the app is hidden). It is the strangest thing. Maybe Screens 5 is triggering a bug in Metal, but it is the *only* software that manages to do so, and I have used this machine extensively for two years.

Besides some eyecandy, I did not see obvious benefits in the new version, at least when using the Mac viewer.

Overall, it is still a good app, but increasingly disappointing, especially given the switch to the new subscription model.

Developer Response ,

Hi. Thanks for your feedback. We'll investigate these issues and improve Screens in future updates. If you need further assistance, no not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. Cheers!

Disappointed being priced out of everything

I understand developers needing to charge for rewrites. Nobody should work for free. And I dont mind paying for a new version if an app with improvements for something. Although its a simple app that I use sometimes to remote control my Mac mini around house, I find it useful and would have paid say £15 for a new version of the app.

But everything is going subscription based and often keep rising in cost each year. I can’t afford that on everything unfortunately.

So it’s a lovely UI that I have enjoyed using for a few years. I would have paid to upgrade if it was worth the cost to me. But I unfortunately can’t do £30 a year for every utility on my Mac so I’ll have to stick to the free vnc. Sorry!