AnyDesk for Android/ChromeOS

Table of Contents

The remote access app for Android gives you a truly mobile solution to remote desktop connectivity and remote control via android devices.

System Requirements

• Remote controlling an Android device requires Android 7.0 or newer.

Due to the wide variety of Android ecosystems, downloading and installing a control plugin may be necessary. If required, the control plugins are downloaded automatically when starting AnyDesk for the first time after receiving user confirmation.

Alternatively, they can manually be downloaded and installed from the Google Play Store.

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Assign License Key

Due to vendor restrictions, it is currently not possible to assign a license key to the normal AnyDesk for Android application downloaded from the Google Play Store without the help of a third-party mobile device management tool.

However, one way to have a licensed AnyDesk client on your Android device is to use a custom client. To assign the license key to your AnyDesk for Android client to gain access to features such as the Address Book or Session Logging, please create a custom Android client with the option "Assign to license" enabled.

Afterward, download and install the APK of the custom client onto the Android device and an application labeled "AnyDesk custom" will be visible that is registered to your account.

More information about our custom client generator can be found in Customize AnyDesk.

Setup Checklist

Due to Android restrictions, users generally need to manually enable app permissions. However, Android only prompts for these permissions upon first use. Starting with AnyDesk 7.2.0 for Android, you can find a checklist that groups all required permissions in one place.

The Setup Checklist allows you to configure these in advance. By default, a prompt will appear when you first open AnyDesk.

If you dismiss this prompt, you can still access the Setup Checklist from the main AnyDesk interface.

In the Setup Checklist, you’ll see the status of each permission. Tap any permission to view its description and understand how AnyDesk uses it.

Selecting OK in the description prompt will take you directly to the relevant Android settings page to enable or disable the permission.

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Settings

Please see Settings.

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Session Menu

During a session, the Session Menu can be shown by holding the AnyDesk logo.
This menu can help users control all aspects of their session ranging from changing the transmission quality to disconnecting the session.

To move the location of the AnyDesk logo, double-tap it, then drag it to the desired location.

Session Settings

Within the session settings, users can configure:

• Input
  • Enable or disable the ability to control the remote device
  • Enable or disable the ability to synchronize the clipboard between the Android and remote device
  • Block the remote user from interfering with your actions
  • Choose the input method
• Display
  • Transmission quality
  • Show or hide the remote cursor
  • Automatically switch displays when the remote cursor moves to a different display
  • Enable or disable screen privacy mode
• Audio
  • Enable or disable sound transmission
• Security
  • Lock remote account on session end 

• VPN
  • Configure the VPN settings
  • Start and stop the VPN

Input settings

In this menu, different keyboards and mouse input methods can be changed.

• Virtual special keyboard to help use operating-system shortcuts on the remote device
• Standard virtual keyboard
• Switch to direct mouse input
• Switch to touchpad mode
• Switch to touch-to-touch mode (default for Android to Android sessions)

Select remote monitor

If the connected device has multiple displays, users can switch between the various displays from here as well as enable and disable fullscreen mode on Android.

Actions

The Actions menu provides additional features for the user such as:

• Take a screenshot
• Transfer a file to the remote device
• Download a file from the remote device
• Request Elevation
• Send a CTRL+ALT+DEL command to the remote Windows device
• Start/Stop VPN
• Enable or disable screen privacy mode
• Start and stop the session recording

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File Transfer

Please see File Manager and File Transfer.

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Address Book

Please see Address Book.

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Gestures

When using mouse and touchpad input modes, the following gestures are supported:

• Single-finger swipe to move the cursor
• Two-finger pinch to zoom in and out of the remote view
• Three-finger swipe to scroll
• Single-finger tap to left mouse click
• Single-finger hold to right mouse click
• Three-finger tap to middle mouse click

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Hotkeys

When connecting to an Android device from Windows, AnyDesk offers keyboard shortcuts to Android navigation buttons. To invoke a command, hold the CTRL+ALT+SHIFT keys and press one of the following keys.

If connecting from AnyDesk 7.1.0 for Windows and newer to AnyDesk 7.0.0 for Android and newer:

Key	Function
F5	Back
F6	Home
F7	Recent apps
F8	Menu of current app
F9	Power
F11	Volume Down
F12	Volume Up
End	OK

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Control Plugins

Control plugins are used to help facilitate the control of Android devices using the AnyDesk for Android application. 

A full list of control plugins for the AnyDesk for Android application can be found at Android Control Plugins. However, we would highly recommend that you do not manually determine which control plugin your device needs. Rather, we would recommend that you use the "Plugin available" prompt when starting up AnyDesk or going to Menu > About AnyDesk.

When using the above two options, not only will AnyDesk determine the best control plugin for your device, but it will also provide additional steps on how to activate the control plugin on your Android device.

Mobile Device Management

As of version 6.1.10, the AnyDesk Android app can be integrated and customized through third-party MDM solutions such as Microsoft Intune.

The MDM solution should then automatically detect and display all available options with short descriptions of how they work and what they do.

Using AnyDesk with Managed Profiles (Work Profile)

Steps to make the plugin AD1 ready for AnyDesk connections to a managed profile. The order is important.

1. Make sure the plugin is installed in the main profile and in managed profile.
2. Make sure the plugin is activated in the accessibility settings.
3. Open the plugin inside the main profile. Click on the overflow button and configure the plugin.

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Custom Client

Installation

AnyDesk is available as a Custom Client. This Custom Client APK is then available as an APK.

To install it, you need to allow the installation of untrusted sources. This can be done for specific apps though we recommend only doing this for file explorers and not for web browser applications.

Allow Installation From Untrusted Sources

Custom Package Name

If you wish to upload your custom AnyDesk client to your private app store for easy deployment across your managed devices, simply set a custom package name for it.

To do so, simply enable "Android Package Name Suffix" in your custom client configuration and enter a custom package suffix that fulfills the below requirements. After clicking save, the custom Android client can then be uploaded to your managed app store. 

Suffix Requirements:

• Starts with a letter
• Between 3 and 16 characters in length
• Does not contain any capitalized letters, symbols, or non-Latin characters

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Troubleshooting

Plugin cannot be activated

Due to changes by some vendors on Android, a restart of the Android device may be required for the control plugin to be functional.

Control Plugin with Android TV

In the event that the vendor for Android/Fire TV device has disabled the Accessibility settings, the control plugin for AnyDesk cannot be activated.

AnyDesk can then be used for remote view only. A possible workaround is to use the adb shell. 

The plugin can be enabled using the following command:

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.anydesk.adcontrol.ad1/com.anydesk.adcontrol.AccService

More information about adb can be found at the official adb documentation.

Screen Recording Dialog (Android 10+)

Starting with Android 10 and newer, Android forces to accept a Dialog for Screen recording. A workaround to bypass the request is the following adb shell command:

Standard Client:

adb shell appops set com.anydesk.anydeskandroid PROJECT_MEDIA allow

Custom Client:

adb shell appops set com.anydesk.anydeskandroid.custom PROJECT_MEDIA allow

Android Battery Optimization

Android has a feature called Battery Optimization which can automatically disable applications running in the background to preserve the battery. However, if this feature is activated, it can cause issues with AnyDesk as Android will then automatically quit AnyDesk as soon as it has been placed in the background for 30-60 seconds which is the case when controlling the Android device through the AnyDesk application. As Android automatically stops AnyDesk from running, it will also terminate the session connection. Therefore, it is recommended that an exception is configured for AnyDesk within the Battery Optimization settings.

For instructions on how to deactivate this feature or to place AnyDesk on the exception list, please refer to your device's manual. Depending on the Android version and the manufacturer, the process can vary slightly.

Below, we have provided instructions on how to disable the procedure for Google Pixel phones as well as Motorola devices:

Google Pixel

1. Open the phone's Settings app
2. Navigate to Apps > AnyDesk > Battery
3. Select "Unrestricted"
4. Repeat Steps 2-3 for "AnyDesk plugin"

Motorola

1. Open the phone's Settings app
2. Navigate to Battery > Battery optimization
3. Tap on "Not optimized", then "All Apps",
4. Locate "AnyDesk" in the resulting list and tap on "Don't Optimize"
5. Repeat Steps 2-4 for "AnyDesk plugin"

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Send Support Information

If encountering errors or a crash on AnyDesk for Android, please send us the trace files as well as a description of the issue. To do so, please:

1. While in the main AnyDesk window, open the menu
2. Select "About AnyDesk"
3. Select "Send Support Information"
4. Describe the issue as detailed as possible in the given field and tap "Send Email".

If your Android endpoint lacks an email client, you can transfer trace files during an AnyDesk connection. Ensure you have control over the Android endpoint for the steps below:

1. Establish a connection from a desktop AnyDesk client to the Android endpoint.
2.  On the Android endpoint, open AnyDesk and verify that the desktop client has the following permissions:
   1. Control my device
   2. Access my device’s clipboard
   3. Access my clipboard to transfer files
3. On the Android endpoint, in the Accept Window (where the AnyDesk ID appears), click the three-dot menu and select “Send AnyDesk trace file.”
   
4. On your desktop, open File Explorer and navigate to where you want to save the Android trace files. Use either CTRL+V or right-click and select Paste to transfer the file.

Beginning with AnyDesk 7.2.0 for Android, you can now view the trace file directly within the AnyDesk client. Just navigate to Main Menu > About AnyDesk > Open AnyDesk Log to access it.

From here, you can not only read the trace file but also filter and copy the entire trace to your clipboard for easy export.

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Android API

AnyDesk provides an API for Android similar to the Command Line Interface on Windows.

Note: Access to API is for system apps only. For detailed documentation, please contact us.

API Features

Returns:

• Version
• Connection status
• ID
• Alias
• User name.

Checks:

• If an unattended access password is active
• If it ever had an incoming session
• If there is a custom user image

Sets:

• the unattended access password
• the connection behavior
• The Discovery status
• the user name
• the custom user image

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