It’s been possible since the early days of iPhone to control or view the screen of a remote Mac, but there’s never been a way to go the opposite direction: use the Mac to view or control an iPhone or iPad. While remote control of an iOS device still isn’t possible, TeamViewer has announced TeamViewer QuickSupport, a free app that can be used with TeamViewer to remotely view iOS screens and provide support to users.
QuickSupport requires iOS 11, and that’s for one very good reason — the app takes advantage of the iOS 11 screen recording capability to capture screen actions in real-time for transmission to TeamViewer on the Mac or a PC.
The support person can choose to use audio or a phone call to provide verbal prompting to the user. Over Wi-Fi, I found TeamViewer QuickSupport to be very responsive. Over a 2-bar LTE connection, there was a little lag, but TeamViewer QuickSupport was still able to send the Mac client a screen that was clear and easy to use for support.
For organizations that are already using TeamViewer for remote support of Mac or PC users, adding QuickSupport to the suite of tools should be a no-brainer. Note that right now the app is getting poor reviews on the App Store; it’s obvious that many of the people leaving those reviews don’t understand that TeamViewer is an enterprise product and not a personal toy. For support professionals, I think TeamViewer deserves a five-star review.
