Microsoft's Remote Desktop Mobile gets its first update of the year on iOS

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What you need to know

  • Microsoft's Remote Desktop app for iOS recently received its first update of the year.
  • The update includes a new zoom slider and options to collapse or dock the connection bar.
  • The update also addresses some bugs and issues.

Microsoft recently rolled out an update to its Remote Desktop Mobile app on iOS (via OnMSFT). The update is the first of 2021, and it includes some notable improvements for the app on both iPhones and iPads. The app now has more options for the connection bar, including the option to collapse it or dock it to different parts of your screen. The update also brings a zoom slider.

Here's everything that's new in the update, as found on its App Store listing:

It's 2021 and time for our first release of the year.

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First, we've made changes to the connection bar (which is part of the in-session user experience):

  • The connection bar can be collapsed by moving it into one of the four corners of the screen.
  • On iPads and large iPhones you can dock the connection bar to the left or right edge of the screen.
  • A press-and-hold gesture on the connection bar magnification button reveals a panel with a zoom slider.
  • The new zoom slider controls the magnification level of the session in both touch and mouse pointer mode.

Finally, we addressed some accessibility bugs and the following two issues:

  • The client now validates the PC name in the Add/Edit PC UI to ensure that it does not contain illegal characters.
  • Addressed an issue where the UI would stop resolving a workspace name during subscription.

If you're looking for an alternative to Microsoft's Remote Desktop app, our Richard Devine recently wrote about how Chrome Remote Desktop is so good you shouldn't look at anything else.

Sean Endicott
News Writer

Sean Endicott is a News Writer at Windows Central, where he covers Windows 11, Surface hardware, Microsoft 365, AI, apps, and the broader PC ecosystem. Since joining the site in 2017, he has written well over a thousand articles across the Microsoft landscape, covering breaking news, analysis, and feature reporting.

He writes Windows Wrap, a weekly column covering the biggest stories in Windows and the PC industry, and what they mean for the platform going forward.

Before joining Windows Central full-time, Sean worked in journalism and media production after earning a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning American football coach based in Nottingham, England, and was named BAFCA Youth Coach of the Year in 2024.