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I am looking for a solution/technology which allows remote screencast display and control from desktop. My goal is to provided remote mobile device display through a browser. I found some existing solutions:

  • AndroidScreenCast: Based on ADB interface. this is just screenshots using a simple primitive provided by ADB. low display.
  • VNC client & server. works for both rooted android and jailbroken iphone. low display.
  • iDemo + ScreenSplitR: Better, jailbroken iphone only.
  • HDMI/TV output: No remote control.

I've heard about "direct-to-device" technology which is used by DeviceAnyWhere. Are there any other solutions?

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5 Answers 5

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Webkey is my personal favorite remote control program. It turns your phone into a web server, complete with https and username/passwords with permissions you can set. So you could have an admin user with full access, and a standard user who can just see the screen.

On top of built-in VNC, Webkey also gives you the ability to track your phone by GPS, connect to a terminal, browse and download files from your device, and a bunch more administrative things. Though this sounds like it is outside of your needs (but you don't have to use those features).

And to top it all off, Webkey is open source and free, encompassing every Android users' favorite two buzzwords.

Screenshot of Webkey in the browser

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    Note that root is required for this. Likely any solutions will require root; there may exist an android app that accepts commands from some server and initiates the proper INTENT to open an app. Even then, sharing and controlling the Android screen will require root.
    – Stephen S
    Dec 7, 2012 at 17:44
  • Webkey is one of the best ones for frame rate refresh. But it does require root I use this for demoing all the time.
    – JPM
    May 7, 2013 at 19:39
  • @StephenSchrauger Do you have a reference for the "controlling screen requires root" assertion?
    – cja
    Jun 19, 2014 at 16:31
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    Thanks for the hint to "open source". Webkey requires almost all permissions it could find (more than 125!), which looks terrifying otherwise. From the almost 10.000 apps in my Android app listings, the next one in terms of perms is an "anti-virus" app requiring 51…
    – Izzy
    Jul 3, 2014 at 10:48
  • @Izzy Since the app requires root access, in theory the rest of the permissions are moot. Although using the standard permission model/api is probably easier to code than writing everything yourself.
    – Stephen S
    Jul 10, 2014 at 12:25
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Try a free app called AirDroid, which lets you control wirelessly your Android device from a desktop browser.

This is a fragment of Play Store app description:

Realtime Android screen (experimental feature, root permission required)

View your Android's screen, take a screenshot, or even record a screencast.

Airdroid

Here's a video showing some of its features.

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  • Could you please explain how to direct a ScreenCast using this app, as the questioner asked for? I must have missed that with AirDroid, as I never noticed it had that functionality.
    – Izzy
    Dec 7, 2012 at 16:08
  • @Francisco : thanks for this nice app. But this is not what I want. I would like to take control over the device and launch apps from the browser or a desktop app..
    – cyrius
    Dec 7, 2012 at 16:24
  • In fact, I focused my search in remote control from desktop rather than screencast, given that I had seen recently AirDroid app among the Play Store recommended apps. I read in the app features that it lets you to do a real time screen capture (experimental, needs root privileges), i.e. a screencast AFAIK, but I don't know if it fits what the questioner needs (privileges part). Dec 7, 2012 at 16:24
  • I just checked the app's playstore description: in fact it has an experimental feature which might come close to that, but it requires root: Realtime Android screen (experimental feature, root permission required) View your Android's screen, take a screenshot, or even record a screencast. Maybe you want to include this information with your answer, to make it more valuable.
    – Izzy
    Dec 7, 2012 at 16:29
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All existing non-root-required product works at a very slow frame rate: 0.8 frames/second for a typical screen size of 720x1024, so they are not suitable for realtime display purpose.

"sji android screen capture" will fit your needs, No root required. Just with PC's Browser. Works at frame rate of 4+ for fullscreen of 1080x1920, 8+ fps for 320xauto down-scaled size. At the same time, it can record to mp4/webm, and can remote control android from PC's Browser.

https://github.com/sjitech/sji-android-screen-capture

Good luck.

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Recently I encountered a nice solution at https://www.mobizen.com/ No root required very smooth device control. This should help.

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    A brief description and use-case is required here.
    – Firelord
    Oct 11, 2015 at 12:09
  • Adding on to @Firelord 's point, a link only answer may become invalid in the future due to the link being down or blocked for some reason. For maintaining the validity of your answer into the future so that we can help more users, please elaborate your answer with description, justification and sample usage. Nov 6, 2015 at 15:40
  • It seems to be a payment solution. Jul 27, 2020 at 17:43
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I would use Asus PC link. It uses USB or wifi. And if I connect with USB it is so damn fast.

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  • Please link this "Asus PC Link". Also, does it work with any Android device? What is it about? A brief description is required and a screenshot would also do good.
    – Firelord
    Oct 11, 2015 at 12:19
  • At the time of writing, It does not support newer android devices only Android 5.0
    – hiFI
    Jun 26, 2018 at 8:20

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