VMware Horizon Client

I would like a way to hide the little keyboard toolbar. Also, I couldn’t figure out file sharing. There’s a toggle in settings, but no explanation of what exactly it does or how to use it. I tried looking for a button to upload a file in all the little menus. I tried dragging my file onto the VM session. Nothing. I don’t know if this next thing is a problem is with this app or the VM, but sometimes when I use this app, the VM will configure itself to a really low screen resolution. It’s really difficult to use like that. The “activate windows” overlay takes like a quarter of the screen, windows are way bigger than the screen until you maximize, & you can barely fit any content on the screen. Most of the time, though, the VM serves a screen resolution that feels right for my iPad.

I’ve been using this for my work VDI for a couple of years and it’s been pretty good, but not great. A recent update, however, has killed all functionality for me. There is normally a soft keyboard that has the option of using the function keys in a document. The function keys used to stay present on screen while you were typing so they could be used repeatedly if needed in a document. This was somehow changed on a recent update. Now if I use a function key to help navigate to a blank field in a document, the minute I type to edit that field, the menu drops away and has to be reactivated to be used again. I have had issues where after reactivating the function key menu, my document is also de-selected and I have to then reactivate the document and click the spot I need to edit to be able to start typing again. Overall it’s added about 5-6 clicks to something that worked perfectly previously. Where there are 30-40 fields to navigate in a single document, it’s not usable. My iPad has essentially become a $1200 paperweight. Thanks. Please fix this problem.

The good stuff first: Yes, this works with the Magic Keyboard, including its trackpad. What some reviewers who have said the opposite don’t realize is that you need to *disable* “Windows Native Touch Gestures” the app’s internal preferences. Why you need to do this is beyond me, and there’s no explanation of this anywhere in the app, but that’s the answer. Still problematic, however, is: (1) the fact that the app has weird on-screen widgety elements that cover parts of the Windows interface (super-annoying and unnecessary, especially on a small screen), (2) the fact that many normal keyboard combinations don’t work (even basic things such as shift-selecting multiple items in a list), (3) the fact that the preferences are so non-descriptive as to be useless, (4) the fact there is no “cancel” optio if the virtual environment is failing to load, and (5) the fact that the app for some reason has to reload your virtual environment if you leave for just a few minutes to use a different app. There should be a way to keep it in memory all the time when the app is open. But can I get my work done on an 11” iPad screen with a Magic Keyboard? Yes, I can, and that’s pretty great. Just fix the above issues, please.