Microsoft recently updated their Remote Desktop app for iOS with a significant improvement. The app used to connect at a fixed resolution based on the resolution of the screen on your device. Now you can set any resolution you prefer, as well as control display scaling on Windows Server 2012 and later sessions.
This provides two major benefits for IT professionals using iOS devices away from the office. First, if you have a device with a very high-resolution screen like the 1920×1080 screen on the 5.5″ iPhone 6S Plus, you can set the remote session to a lower resolution like 1366×768. This will force the remote session to use less data and will speed up frame rate considerably over slower cellular connections.
Secondly, if you’ve tried to use a “standard” sized iPad with Microsoft Remote Desktop I’m sure you’ve noticed that even though your iPad has a screen resolution of 2048×1536, the remote desktop session was always set to a quarter of that, 1024×768. While this was once a popular resolution on PCs, many systems administration tools now assume you have a screen larger than this and don’t quite fit on an iPad.
Now while I don’t recommend setting the remote session to use the full 2048×1536 — see above about frame rate considerations — you can scale up to a more roomy 1536×1152. This will give you plenty of room and still remain sharp on an iPad’s 9.7″ retina screen.
Jeff Kirvin, PEI
Improvement?? No – Microsoft has rendered it useless. The standard resolution was just fine – now everything is too small. After several attempts the app had become a practical tool on my IPAD Vl – and now on my new one using a higher version of IOS it is useless. Now I can’t give my old IPAD away as promised since I am in need of this tool.
Any resolution I might prefer?? No – I can not go lower than 1366.
Whatever gave Microsoft the idea that anything was wrong with the resolution??
IF IT AIN’T BROKEN DON’T FIX IT !!
PS: I am aware of the magnifying function – but I prefer seeing the screen as a whole. It is impractical to work using that.
Hi Henrik, here’s what the post’s author has to say:
We also recommend https://jumpdesktop.com/ which is much more flexible and does a great job with high resolution screens like the iPad. I can remote into a Surface Pro from my iPad and everything is razor sharp.
Sometimes it works – sometimes it doesn’t
The feature is totally unreliable.