Control your computer from your iPhone
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be controlling my PC from my mobile phone while sat on the bus, miles away from my computer. Yet thanks to LogMeIn Ignition that’s exactly what I’m doing.
LogMeIn Ignition is a remote-control app for iPhone that lets you access your Windows or Mac OS X machine(s) while you’re away from base. And I don’t mean you can just see the files – the software actually displays your computer’s interface in real time and allows you to control it as if you were sat there!
Setting up LogMeIn Ignition isn’t as painful as you might expect. You first need to set up an account at LogMeIn.com, before downloading the client to your PC or Mac. You can choose between a powerful subscription-based service or opt for the free remote access option. Then you just download LogMeIn Ignition from the App Store, enter your account credentials and you’ll see a list of all the computers you have access to (remember, you can install the LogMeIn client on multiple computers). Click on of the computers in the list and hey presto, you’ve got access.
Admittedly, it does take a while to get used to navigating your computer through the LogMeIn iPhone interface. The mouse pointer works in a strange way, whereby you need to drag whatever you want to click on to the cursor, rather than the other way around. The pinch-to-zoom feature works well though, and it won’t take long before you’re whizzing around your computer quite naturally.
LogMeIn Ignition includes it’s own full pop-up QWERTY keyboard, and you can turn on specialized keyboards for function keys, ESC, tab and navigation arrows. Some users have bemoaned the lack of international characters on the keyboard, so hopefully this is something that will be addressed in later versions.
There are some useful options and settings in LogMeIn Ignition, including the ability to lock your computer’s keyboard remotely, black its screen, and alter the screen resolution.
In general, LogMeIn Ignition performs very well, although there were a couple times in my tests where it slowed down a bit and the actions were noticeably out of sync with the computer.
Some users may be put off by the price of LogMeIn Ignition, and there are cheaper remote control apps around, such as Jaadu VNC and NTRconnect.
However, if you’re looking for a reliable way and easy to connect to your computer from your iPhone, you’d struggle to find anything better than LogMeIn Ignition.
