Description
Helping a relative with their computer over a remote session usually runs into a commercial tool insisting it has "detected commercial use", cutting the session after a few minutes or asking for money — always at the moment you actually need it.
HopToDesk has none of that. It is free for personal and commercial use with no time limit, no session cap and no account required: open it and you get a device ID and a one-time password, and reading those two out to the other side is the whole setup. Sessions are end-to-end encrypted and prefer a direct peer connection, only falling back to a relay when a direct route cannot be established, which keeps latency and image quality noticeably better.
It is built on the RustDesk codebase, published under AGPLv3 on GitLab, and can be pointed at your own server. Clients exist for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and the Windows build is a single portable executable you can carry on a USB stick.
Connect by reading out an ID: A device ID and one-time password are generated on launch; no account, no port forwarding, nothing to configure.
Encrypted, direct-first transport: Sessions are end-to-end encrypted and go peer to peer where possible, which is visibly smoother than routing everything through a relay.
File transfer and chat: Move files both ways and talk in text during the session, so you are not juggling another app while helping someone.
Clients on every platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, in both directions — phone to desktop and back.
Unattended access: Set a fixed password on your own machine and reach it from anywhere without someone sitting in front of it.
Self-hostable: Built on the open RustDesk codebase and published under AGPLv3, so the relay and signalling can run on your own infrastructure.
HopToDesk has none of that. It is free for personal and commercial use with no time limit, no session cap and no account required: open it and you get a device ID and a one-time password, and reading those two out to the other side is the whole setup. Sessions are end-to-end encrypted and prefer a direct peer connection, only falling back to a relay when a direct route cannot be established, which keeps latency and image quality noticeably better.
It is built on the RustDesk codebase, published under AGPLv3 on GitLab, and can be pointed at your own server. Clients exist for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and the Windows build is a single portable executable you can carry on a USB stick.
Features
Connect by reading out an ID: A device ID and one-time password are generated on launch; no account, no port forwarding, nothing to configure.
Encrypted, direct-first transport: Sessions are end-to-end encrypted and go peer to peer where possible, which is visibly smoother than routing everything through a relay.
File transfer and chat: Move files both ways and talk in text during the session, so you are not juggling another app while helping someone.
Clients on every platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, in both directions — phone to desktop and back.
Unattended access: Set a fixed password on your own machine and reach it from anywhere without someone sitting in front of it.
Self-hostable: Built on the open RustDesk codebase and published under AGPLv3, so the relay and signalling can run on your own infrastructure.
