Remote, Mouse & Keyboard Pro

It has been almost a decade since I first got Remote Pro and I cannot imagine my electronic life without it. This app is far more than just a tv remote, I use it to open and close apps, switch to an app, and see the screen when I am not in the same room with the desktop; among other things. I have multiple Apple devices and not all of the are compatible with the universal control feature that Apple is now offering. I don’t feel the need to upgrade for the sake of bragging rights or to get something from Apple that I already have with Remote•Pro. It works on my iPad Pro so I can see the entire screen and move around in comfort, it works seamlessly with my Apple Watch so I can, for instance, be cooking, pause whatever is playing, and take the call. Sure, I could do exactly the same with my phone but that is exactly the point, I can have the phone in one place, the desktop doing something, and take a call without changing the screen with the cookbook to anything else on my iPad because they are all connected and perform all the functions of Remote•Pro seamlessly. Years ago, I have forgotten how many, I had a problem and, before I knew it, I had an email from Evgeny Cherpak discussing the issue and (AFAIK) it was fixed soon after because it has never happened again. All I can say is that I hope Mr. Cherpak keeps making a version that supports Intel Macs for a long time to come.

I originally debated on purchasing this... but I knew how much I wanted something like this for daily use, and after many months I can say without a doubt this was one of the best app purchases I’ve ever made! It is one of the few apps that I honestly use practically daily because I have an entertainment PC hooked up to my living room television and previously had no simple way to control it; this app solves my issue wonderfully and if you have a similar potential use case, you definitely need to grab this app! The customization is great too, I made a “streaming” custom keypad that has one press buttons for each of my major streaming services that auto-launch chrome and go directly to “my queue” on that service’s page; unbelievably convenient! My one and ONLY complaint is that the desktop portion, which is understandable needed for pairing purposes and is super easy to download and install, is that part does pop a windows “okay to run” type window on PC startup, so unless you leave your PC running all the time, you’ll still need an alternate control device just to approve that windows box (perhaps there is some system level thing that can just set the desktop part of this app to auto-run and allow access at startup without user approval, but I’m not sure). Regardless of that one issue, this app is a no-brainer investment for how much use you will certainly get out of it!

I found this app after searching for a few weeks for something like it. Reading reviews and comparing capabilities and such. I initially got the free version to see if it did what I was looking for and was greatly impressed with this apps functions and customizable options. It works really well almost identical to a mouse/remote control. Exactly what I wanted. One downfall which I think is not too bad is that when I finally bought the full version it started to crash, (could’ve also been my internet connection because that later changed) but sometimes it doesn’t want to automatically connect to my MacBook. I don’t mind this too much because I’m not too lazy to just do whatever I need to on my actual laptop if the app is down or maybe updating. But as a paid version I suppose it could be improved (?) I’m pretty laid back on regardless mostly because overall with everything laid out in front of me, I really like this app. It gets the job done and continues to improve anyway so it’s not a big deal. One last thing. Every time I use this app my friends and family are always amazed that I’m controlling my laptop from my phone. I think it’s great and definitely worth the purchase for the full version.