The Microsoft Windows App Lets You Access PCs Remotely and in the Cloud

There’s more than one way to use Windows now. As well as sitting down in front of a locally installed copy of Windows, running on a hard drive inside your desktop or laptop, you can also fire up the Microsoft Windows app—a one-stop central hub for managing connections to remote PCs and Windows in the cloud.

The Windows app is available for Windows (as you would expect), as well as macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and (in preview form for now) Android. First rolled out in September 2024, the program brings with it support for multiple monitors and local USB peripherals, so you can carry on using your own webcam (for example) with your cloud copy of Windows.

It’s likely that significantly more people are going to get acquainted with the Windows app over the next few months: Microsoft has announced that the Remote Desktop app on the Microsoft Store (so not the standalone MSI installer) is being pulled in May, and that users should switch to using the Windows app instead.

For the time being at least, you need a work or school Microsoft account to use the Windows app—as yet, Microsoft hasn’t said anything about individual consumers getting access. If you fit the eligibility criteria, here’s how the Windows app works, and the various features it gives you access to.

The Windows app interface

The Windows app interface is pretty straightforward, and is basically just a minimal-looking portal to Windows machines you’re connecting to remotely or streaming from the cloud. There’s also a section for remotely hosted apps that your place of work or school has given you access to.

If you’re in an IT department of some description, you may well have many of these devices and apps to manage and connect to, and there are simple tools for sifting through the various icons and thumbnails: You can mark certain devices and apps as favorites, for example, which puts them in a separate section.

Workspaces can be expanded or collapsed, shown as a list or as a grid, and filtered in various ways—so you can keep the Windows installations you last connected to near the top of the screen, for example, put them in alphabetical order, or arrange them manually in any way you see fit.

Once you’re connected to another Windows machine, it’s very much like using a local installation (internet bandwidth permitting). The Windows app takes care of the necessary syncing with input devices, and you’re able to customize the connection in a variety of ways—which screen resolution the remote Windows PC shows up at, for instance.

As well as the aforementioned USB peripheral and multi-monitor support, you can also set up audio and video streaming (think speakers and microphones), redirect folders, and configure universal clipboard access to make it more straightforward to transfer files and data between your local device and the remote one.

Supported remote connections

Connections can be established via a couple of clicks (or taps). The Windows app is able to access other Windows PCs remotely, as long as they’re running Windows Professional, Windows Enterprise, or Windows Server—if you’ve not gathered by now, this isn’t currently aimed at casual Windows users.

Some setup is required on the computer you’re connecting to, in part to prevent you logging into the machines of complete strangers. This setup process gives you the details you need to connect from the other end, and it gives you a handy way of connecting to your office PC while you’re at home (or vice versa).

The Windows app also supports Windows 365, where you’re essentially streaming a Windows PC over the web (like a less exciting version of cloud gaming). Again, this is mostly aimed at businesses and education institutions, with pricing starting at $31 per user per month, and there’s no indication yet that consumers will be able to rent their own cloud-based Windows PC anytime soon.

There are some other connection options of interest to IT professionals, including Azure Virtual Desktop and Microsoft Dev Box, so it’s a comprehensive tool for getting at Windows from anywhere. The reviews of the Microsoft Store version suggest it’s far from bug-free (and there are some known limitations), but a lot of the negative reviews are simply complaints about the software only being for work and school accounts.

With the connection made, you’re then able to access features like secondary monitor support—this even works on mobile devices, potentially giving you an easier way to run Windows from a phone or tablet. These mobile devices can run the app in both portrait and landscape mode as well, and dynamically switch between them.