I’m still tinkering with various apps on my iPod Touch, and am delighted at the variety of apps that exist for it and the iPhone. One that really impresses me is Mocha VNC Lite. This little app lets you connect to your computer via a virtual network, and you can actually control your computer from your iPod Touch or iPhone. While I don’t find this to be all that useful, it is interesting and really illustrates the variety of iPhone/Touch apps that are popping up.
I’ve tested it on my iMac, but not on Windows. It is supposed to work on both, though, and the developer states that
Has been tested with RealVNC, TightVNC, UltrVNC on Windows, and Apple Remote Management, which is included with the Mac OS X.
(Update: As Steve Vernon mentions in the comments, he used VNC Lite on his iPod Touch to connect to a Windows PC.)
To have it work with your Mac, just go into the Sharing Preferences in your prefs panel and check it for sharing:
This will give you an IP address to use, and will let you set a password for connecting.
Then, after installing Mocha VNC or VNC Lite on your iPhone/Touch, just set it up to use the IP address and password you just set up:
Then just tap on the Connect tab with Mocha VNC, and it quickly connects to your Mac. Here’s a snapshot of my opening connection:
Using your finger on the touch-screen lets you move around the screen on your computer. You also have access to a keyboard and a mouse. I scrolled over a document I had stored on the desktop, and double-tapped to open it up, and also double-tapped on my hard disk folder to open it up in Finder:
Pretty cool, eh?
What I’d like to find next is a way to SFTP into my iPod Touch, so I can browse around inside its folders. If you know of a way to do this (that does NOT involve jailbreaking the device), I’d love to hear about.
Anyway, more and more cool apps are coming out every day. If I find some others that are really unique, I’ll let you know. Of course, I hope you’ll use the comments to clue us in on ones that you know about. Update: Mocha VNC is not the only iPhone app that will enable you to control your computer: TechCrunch listed LogMein as one of the top 10 iPhone apps of 2009, and it is similar to Mocha VNC. (I have not personally tried LogMein, so I do not know which of the two programs is best.)
Pretty cool what can be done with an iPod Touch. My favorite use of it, in addition to music, is as a PDA.
“While I don’t find this to be all that useful”
I do a lot of my support work in remote control applications, ie – pcAnywhere, Remote Desktop, VNC, etc. This little app just got me one step closer to being able to leave the laptop at home while traveling. I find it very valuable.
“Pretty cool, eh?”
Extremely cool! Probably one of the coolest apps I’ve witnessed in 26 years of IT work. And dag-nab it . . . IT’S FREE! Which only adds “coolness”
Oops . . . I forgot to add that it does control Windows machines. You had not tested on a Win machine but I can report that it works flawlessly. I posted a picture on my blog –
http://goo.gl/ZShL
- you have to install a small VNC server service. There are 2-3 good ones that are free. I used RealVNC.
Steve, Great input. Much appreciated.
So i’m pretty new to the whole iphone. I installed Mocha VNC on it. However nothing installed on my laptop. Suggestions? Again i’m pretty much computer illiterate so take it easy on me.
JY,
It does not install anything on your Mac. To have it work with your Mac, just follow the instructions above: you need to go into your preferences panel and select “Sharing” Within that, you need to click on Remote Management to turn it on. It will give you an IP address which you have to enter into VNC Lite on your your iPhone/Touch. You also need to set the password for it (I cannot recall if you choose a password or if the system gives one to you … you will find that out as you go through the settings). Once you enter the IP address and password into VNC lite, you should be set to control your Mac from your iPhone/Touch.
I just bought an itouch today. Just working my way around it. I am amazed already!
I am slowly converting my house to an ihouse. I have a macbook and will replace my pc with a new imac. Mac is far more advanced!
How do I connect my windows with ipod ?
Gaurav,
The following Youtube video should help answer your question:
http://goo.gl/iaUV
I have just followed every thing you mention to make this work. But i still have a question using this on different networks. If I go out of town or just to a coffee shop will I still be able to access my MAC computer from my Ipod? Do I have to leave may laptop on and have it opened while i’m gone?
TC … good question. I haven’t tested it outside the confines of my home, but looks to me like it would work. You would have to leave the Mac on, though, at the very least. And, from my experience, you’d have to keep it from entering the sleep mode … when I have used VNC lite at home to try to wake my Mac up, it doesn’t connect. However, as soon as I wake the Mac up it connects.
I’d be interested in hearing back from you as to whether it works at your local Starbucks, or wherever.
Is there a way to control your Iphone touch from the Mac via over the internet?
Hi Ed,
Not that I am aware of. If you stay subscribed to this thread, though, maybe someone else knows a different answer and will chime in with it.
Hey umm. once i have put in my connections it says that host has closed this session im the host i dont know what to do
Bruce,
I need to be able to do “command spacebar” from within protools to start tracking.
Will this application allow this on my itouch?
Thanks
I don’t know of a way to do it, David, because the keyboard you have access to is the Touch keyboard, which does not have (as far as I know) a button that simulates the command key. Perhaps someone has figured a way around this, but I don’t know of one.
Go into key assignments or something named similarly in pro tools and change the key associated with the transport controls you can configure it to any button you choose Cheers and happy tracking . D
Is it possible to make the resolution of the BBC client on the iPod bigger? Great idea but very difficult to hit what you want sometimes.
I suppose you’ve tried resizing via pinch motions? Some apps do not respond to the resize commands, and I’m not familiar with the BBC one, so can’t say if it has any resize options or not.
Meant v nc. iPod auto corrects and thinks I mean BBC I meant gmc and no I did nor try pinching. Will thAt work with this?
Wil, pinching works — all you had to do was try it to see.
You have used an invalid email address for both of your comments. If you want to make future ones, use a valid address, or I will just treat your entries as spam.
useful to use this as a remote control when streaming tv/movies
Great post. I am gonna try this one. Would love to access the macbookpro from anywhere, only concern would be we have to keep it awake all the time.
By the way, there saw many ppl trying to figure how to press some key combinations like command key + other keys or just wanting to use ipod\iphone as a remote for while watching movies\videos. I would like to recommend Logitech Touch Mouse app for this. You can use the ipod touchscreen as a mouse to your pc\Mac and there is onscreen keyboard option too with even the command, option and control keys present. Its free and doesn’t require any extra hardware. Just install the free app from appstore on your ipod\iphone and the logitech iTouch server for your pc\mac and its all set.
Thanks, Priya. The mouse app sounds pretty neat.
Take care.
This app and tutorial is great! I didn’t think it would be so simple to do this, but I was running my mac from my iPod, complete start to finish in under 30 seconds!
I must admit I LOVE my iPod and this is just another thing that it can do that amazes me!
Thanks for the tutorial!
Glad to be of help, Richard. Thanks for the comment.
Bruce
How about the opposite? Controlling your iPod Touch from your Mac running Snow Leopard?
There’s an app called Bowtie that lets you control the Music Playing part of your iPod from your Mac or PC. I haven’t seen an app that has more general control capabilities, though. Not much demand for it, I suppose.
There is a program that allows jailbroken idevices to be accessed from a computer. It’s called Veency. I don’t know of any non jailbroken apps that allow this though.