After starting iTap RDP you see the connection center. From here you can create new bookmarks, connect to known computers or adjust global settings to your needs.
Create a new bookmark by clicking the menu button on your device and select New Bookmark. You may edit a bookmark either by long-clicking the bookmark and selecting Edit in the upcoming context menu or clicking the icon on the right side of the screen. Removing a bookmark is done either by long-clicking the bookmark and selecting Delete in the upcoming context menu or by swiping from left to right over the bookmark. Tap a bookmark to connect to the remote computer.
One of the first things you might need is a keyboard to enter your username and password in the RDP session. Either do a two finger double tap to show the utility bar and the keyboard or do a three finger swipe downwards to activate only the keyboard. Use the same gesture to hide the keyboard again.
To perform mouse clicks, just tap the screen where you want to click. You will get an audible feedback when a click is sent. Pan the view by dragging it with one finger, or pinch it with two fingers. See the section on gestures for more information on input gestures.
To disconnect from the computer, use the hardware back button on your device. This will not close any programs on your computer and you will be able to quickly reconnect to it again.
iTap RDP features a utility bar on top of the screen which can be used to control additional features of the client when inside an RDP session. To activate the bar, click the hardware menu button or do a three finger tap anywhere on the screen. Please note that not all Android devices recognize three fingers, i.e. this gesture may not work on your device. You may activate the bar and the keyboard by doing a two finger double tap.
The following buttons are available in the utility bar:
Shift: Simulates the Shift key on a keyboard. This button is a toggle button to combine it with another button. Pressing another non-toggle button, cleares the state of this button. By pressing the button twice the button gets sticky, i.e. the state is not automatically cleared when pressing another button. You need to press the button again to clear the sticky state.
Ctrl: Simulates the Control key on a keyboard. This button i a toggle button, refer to the documentation for the Shift button above for explanation.
Alt: Simulates the Alt key on a keyboard. This button i a toggle button, refer to the documentation for the Shift button above for explanation.
Tab: Simulates the Tabulator key on a keyboard.
- Switches the mouse modes. Please see below for an explanation of the possible modes.
- Locks the screen in place. While this is active, you cannot pan or zoom the screen.
- Toggles the keyboard.
- Switches between the available keyboards.
Buttons and other controls in Windows programs are designed for use with a mouse and not with a touch based interface. While typical point-and-click semantics work very well, the size of the controls often prevents effective use. iTap RDP supports zoom to alleviate the problem, but given the already small screen on todays mobile devices, this prevents efficient work. To resolve this situation we include a scope functionality. When holding down a single finger for a short duration without moving, a small scope window pops up, showing the screen at normal magnification and also showing the mouse cursor exactly where it is on the desktop.
While using scope mode, the gestures work differently than in normal mode. First, the mouse cursor and the scope will always follow the first finger. This means that in scope mode you can hover the mouse over a windows control. If you move the finger to the border of the screen, the screen will start to scroll in that direction. Second, touching the screen with additional fingers simulates mouse buttons. Touch it with one finger to use the left button, touch it with two fingers at the same time to use the right button. Please note that not all Android devices recognize three finger touches, i.e. the right button click may not work on your device. The buttons are pressed immediately and as long as you hold down the additional finger(s). This makes drag and drop a very simple operation.
Tip: The location of the extra fingers is not important. You can use the thumb of your left hand to touch a corner of the screen, while using the index finger of your right hand to move the scope.
You can use one of three different mouse modes. You can select your preferred mode in the bookmark configuration and also switch during a session by using the utility bar.
Scope Mode: Tap the screen to perform a left click. Touch the screen and move around to pan the screen. Tap with two fingers to perform a right click. Pan/Zoom the screen by dragging/pinching two fingers.
Pointer Mode: In this mode the mouse cursor is always visible. You can move the cursor around with a single finger (you do not have to hit the pointer for that). Tap anywhere on the screen to click where the pointer is. Tap with two fingers to perform a right click. The scope is not available in this mode.
Draw Mode: In this mode you can only use the left mouse button. Touch the screen to perform an immediate click or drag. Move/Zoom the screen by dragging/pinching two fingers.
Double tap with two fingers to toggle the keyboard in combination with the utility bar. To toggle the keyboard alone do a three finger swipe downwards. When the keyboard is activated, the standard Android keyboard is shown. Use the utility bar to switch to alternate keyboards to get access to function keys, numpad, navigation or editing keys.
The connection center is where you manage your known computers and add new ones. From here you can connect to other computers and quickly switch between sessions.
A bookmark gives you detailed information about the connection:
The icons on the left side show the status of your bookmark. shows that everything is ok, while will appear if there is a problem. will appear if network testing is disabled for this host.
If the connection test succeeds then the icon below will show the security level of the connection. The number of dots indicates the security strength. One dot indicates basic security (up to 140 bit FIPS compliant but with no host verification), while 2 dots indicates TLS (strong security with host verification via certificates) and 3 dots indicates NLA (Network Level Authentication) which is the highest supported security method of RDP.
The upper text shows the label of the bookmark, which defaults to the computer name, but can be changed to any text. Directly below, the bookmark will show the credentials which will be used for automatic re-connect. If no credentials are shown a logon screen will appear when trying to connect.
Using the icon to the right you can change the settings of your bookmark.
The basic bookmark settings are split into three sections.
Host settings specify the computer you want to connect to.
Label: The name of the bookmark in the connection center. This can be any string. If this is empty, it will be set to the hostname.
Host: The name of the computer you want to connect to. This can be a windows computer name, an internet domain name or an IP address.
Port: The port to connect to. The default port for RDP is 3389. You should not change this unless you know what you are doing.
Gateway: Settings for Terminal Services Gateway (TSG). See below for more information.
Below this the credential section determines the username and password to connect.
Manage Credentials: Brings you to a new screen where you can manage stored credentials. Please see below for more information.
Current Credentials: This shows the currently active credentials. When clicked you can select one of the stored credentials or reset to login without credentials.
The settings category controls the appearance of your desktop, and various connection and performance parameters.
Screen: Allows you to change the screen resolution and color depth of your RDP session. You can choose one of a list of predefined resolutions or enter a custom resolution. Bigger screens need more memory, so it is recommended that you use smaller resolutions.
You have four options for color depth. It is recommended to use "Thousands" of colors, as a compromise between bandwidth and quality. You can use 256 colors when you are using the connection via 3G networks to reduce the bandwidth required (also see 3G Mode).
The "Filtering" setting allows you to disable screen filtering. Filtering is used when the screen is zoomed in or out to improve the visual experience. Disabling this settings reduces the amount of cpu time needed to display the screen. This setting should be disabled on low-end devices, where scrolling and zooming the screen is too snatchy.
Advanced: Configure advanced options for your connection (see below).
iTap RDP for Android supports Terminal Services Gateway (TSG) out of the box. The settings screen lets you configure all necessary settings for TSG.
Host: The name of the computer you want to use as gateway for TSG. This can be a windows computer name, an internet domain noame or an IP address.
Port The port for TSG to connect to. The default port for TSG is 443.
Manage Credentials: Brings you to a new screen where you can manage stored credentials for TSG. Please see below for more information.
Current Credentials: This shows the currently active credentials for TSG. When clicked you can select one of the stored credentials or reset to login without credentials.
The credentials screen lets you either create new credentials by clicking "Create new credentials" or edit/delete stored credentials. Edit already stored credentials by clicking on the credentials entry. Delete stored credentials by long-clicking the credentials entry and selecting "Delete" in the appearing context menu.
Creating new credentials brings you to a new screen where you can input your username, password and domain. Simply hit the hardware "Back" button to store and return to the "Manage Credentials" screen.
Console: Connect to the console session (for Windows Server 2003 and later).
Mount SD card: Mount your SD card as remote filesystem on the host.
Sound: Choose how to play sound. You can play it on your device, on the server or not at all (the default).
Performance: Change various performance and quality options. See below for an explanation of each setting.
Keyboard Locale: Choose the keyboard locale for the remote host. The default setting is to use the system locale currently set on your device. If you have problems with wrong characters being inserted, try to switch to a locale that resembles your on-screen keyboard as good as possible. E.g. "US English" is a good choice for the typical available Android keyboards.
Keyboard Mode: Choose the mode for the keyboard. It is strongly recommended to keep this on "Automatic", but you may try "Unicode" if you have problems with keys not working, or keys inserting the wrong characters.
Security Level: Limit the maximum security level. You should always set this to the maximum available (NLA), unless you know what you are doing.
3G Mode: Enable or disable 3G Mode.
3G Screen: The screen resolution to use when 3G Mode is on and the connection is made while using a 3G network. Since these settings are only used while using 3G networks, it is recommended to keep them low.
3G Performance: The same as "Performance", but for use when 3G Mode is on and the connection is made while using a 3G network. Per default all options are disabled to save bandwidth.
Automatic Reconnect: Change the timeout for automatic reconnect tokens. Reduce this if you have security concerns about automatic reconnect.
Client Hostname: The hostname the client should use to present itself to the server.
Program: Set a program to execute when you log on to a remote computer. You must specify the full path. When you specify a remote program you will not see a normal desktop, instead the remote program will be launched fullscreen.
Working Directory: Set the working directory of the remote program.
Border: Add a border around the desktop. Use this if you have problems clicking on things at the very edge of the desktop.
Status Bar: If this is on, the status bar will not be hidden during a session.
Utility Bar: Set the initial visbility state of the utility bar.
Mouse Mode: Set the initial mouse mode to use for this bookmark.
Lock Screen: Set the initial lock screen behaviour.
Swap Mouse Buttons: Whenever a mouse gesture would send a command with the left mouse button, it sends the same command with the right mouse button instead. This is needed for some left-handed mice in Windows.
Connection Tests: Turn off connection testing for this bookmark. The connection will still work as normal, but the status icon will always be a gray question mark.
Wallpaper: If enabled, a wallpaper is allowed on the remote computer, if off then a wallpaper is never shown. A wallpaper can help prevent getting lost on a big desktop but uses more bandwidth than a single color background.
Window Drag: If enabled, the window contents are drawn while moving or resizing a window, if off then only a frame is shown. On a small screen, the contents of the moving window can obscure where it is moving to, so this is off by default.
Menu Animation: If enabled, menus fade in or expand when activated, when disabled they (dis)appear without animation.
Cursor Effects: If enabled the caret (the vertical bar in text boxes) blinks, if disabled it does not bling. A blinking caret helps very much in identifying the focused textbox, so this is enabled by default.
Themes: If enabled the windows frames and controls may be drawn in a nicer way, if disabled the window frames and controls look like Windows 2000.
Font Smoothing: If enabled, allows windows to automatically antialies (smooth) texts to improve readability. This greatly increases the bandwidth for applications with lots of text.
Desktop Effects: If enabled, Windows may use advanced desktop effects like crossfades or transparent windows. This greatly increases the bandwidth.
Please note the following limitations:
Using the 3G mode can greatly reduce the bandwidth and increase speed for 3G networks. It is important to note that 3G Mode only affects connections made using a 3G network and does not affect WiFi connections in any way. When a connection is made using a 3G network and 3G Mode is enabled then an alternative set of screen and performance settings is used. They can be specified in the advanced settings. If 3G Mode is disabled, then a connection using a 3G network uses the same settings as a connection using a WiFi network.
iTap RDP can stream sound from the server. This feature does not neeb any configuration. If it is enabled (as is the default setting), the sound will automatically play on your mobile device.
The client, together with the windows server, automatically takes care of selecting appropriate compression so that the audio fits into the available bandwidth. Please note that because of the compression, the audio quality will be diminished.
iTap RDP can reconnect to known sessions automatically. With this feature you can return to the exact place you left, without having to enter a username or password. This works even if you do not store a password on the client.
In the connection center, the reconnect status is indicated below the label of the boomark.
Please note that the automatic reconnect feature is controlled by the server. Therefore it is not possible to guarantee that it works 100% of the time.
These settings apply for all connections.
Key Repeat: Should alternate keyboards send a key multiple times if the key stays pressed. Choose between the available options to disable or enable with a specific key repeat rate.
Scope Activation: Choose between the available options how fast the scope should be activated or choose "Off" to disable the scope.
Left-handed Scope Mode: If enabled, optimizes the scope position for left-handed scope users.
Invert Scrolling: Invert the behaviour of the scroll gesture.
Click Sounds: Enable/Disable playing of a click sound if a mouse click gesture has been executed.
Background Color: Off-screen color.
Secure HTTPS Url Scheme: If enabled rdp file downloads through https have to use a valid certificate.
Do Connection Tests: Enable/disable connection tests for all bookmarks. The bookmark-specific setting still applies when this option is enabled.
iTap RDP uses gestures to control all input actions except keyboard input. This frees up your screen, because it doesn't need to display any buttons. Beware: Not all Android devices recognize three or more fingers, i.e. some gestures may not work on your device. You can use the following gestures:
Tap with two fingers two times to show or hide the keyboard and utility bar. | |
Tap with three fingers to show or hide the utility bar. | |
Swipe three fingers from top to bottom to show/hide the keyboard. | |
Swipe three fingers from left to right to disconnect and return to the connection center. | |
A single tap will produce a mouse click on the location where you tapped. Zoom in if you need very precise control over the click location. | |
A simple drag will pan the display. This is a client-side operation, no mouse movement is generated on the server. | |
Perform a pinch gesture with two fingers to zoom in or out. Like panning dis does not produce any mouse input on the server. | |
Drag two fingers up or down the display to emulate a mousewheel. | |
Tap with two fingers to produce a right click. | |
Tapping with one finger two times in quick succession will produce a double click. Tap three times for a tripple click, and so on. | |
The same can be done with two fingers to do a right mouse button double click. | |
Tap with a single finger and then quickly touch the screen again but do not release the finger to initiate a mouse drag. The mouse will be released once you remove the finger from the display. | |
The same can be done with two fingers for a right mouse button drag. | |
Touch the screen and hold the finger for a short while to begin scope mode. Scope mode is in effect as long as the scope is visible. | |
Move the finger to move the scope. As you approach the screen borders the screen will scroll in that direction. The closser you are to the border, the faster it scrolls. | |
Touch the screen with a single additional finger to press the left mouse button. Release the additional finger to release the left mouse button. Repeat for double- or multi-clicks. | |
Touch te screen witch two additional fingers simultaneously to press the right mouse button. Release the additional fingers to release the right mouse button. Repeat for double- or multi-clicks. | |
Move the original finger to perform a mouse drag while holding down an additional finger to press the left mouse button. The additional finger does not have to move. | |
Move the original finger to perform a mouse drag while holding down two additional fingers to press the right mouse button. The additional fingers do not have to move. | |
A single tap will produce a mouse click on the location where you tapped. Zoom in if you need very precise control over the click location. | |
Drag a single finger to drag the left mouse button (paint). | |
A drag with two fingers will pan the display. This is a clientside operation, no mouse movement is generated on the server. | |
Perform a pinch gesture with two fingers to zoom in or out. Like panning, this does not produce any mouse input on the server. | |
iTap RDP supports opening special links from the browser. As a normal user you do not need to concern yourself with this feature, since it will work completely automatic. Just click an RDP link in your preferred web browser and iTap RDP will automatically open and connect to the given server.
If you are a system integrator or otherwise want to provide RDP links in your webpages, please see the URL scheme documentation on how to provide RDP links.