AnyDesk for Android

Android is the one mobile platform where remote control genuinely works in both directions — you can control a phone, not just watch it. But it almost never works straight out of the box. Android blocks apps from injecting taps and keystrokes, so AnyDesk needs a separate control plugin before anyone can actually touch the screen.

Two very different jobs

Nearly all the confusion around AnyDesk on Android comes from mixing these up:

What you want	What it needs
Use your phone to control a PC or Mac	Just the app — works immediately
Let someone view your phone’s screen	The app, plus a screen-capture prompt
Let someone control your phone	The app plus a control plugin

The first works the moment you install it. The third is the one that fails, and the failure looks like success: the session connects, the remote person sees the screen perfectly, and nothing they do has any effect.

Controlling a computer from your phone

Install AnyDesk Remote Desktop from the Play Store. Android 5 or later.
On the computer, install the AnyDesk desktop client and note its nine-digit address.
Type that address into the app and connect.
Somebody accepts at the far end, or you enter the unattended-access password.

Drag one finger to move the pointer, pinch to zoom. Zooming is essential rather than optional — a desktop rendered at phone size is unreadable, and most people who conclude this does not work simply never zoomed in. A tablet is dramatically better than a phone, and a tablet with a keyboard is genuinely usable for real work.

Letting someone control your Android device

This is where the plugin comes in. Android does not permit one app to inject input into another as a matter of platform security, so AnyDesk ships small add-on applications that unlock it. There are two kinds:

The universal plugin (AD1), available from the Play Store. It works on a wide range of devices and is the one to try first.
Vendor-specific plugins, required on some manufacturers’ devices because of restrictions those manufacturers impose. These are not on the Play Store — AnyDesk distributes them directly, matched to the device model.

The setup:

Install AnyDesk on the device that will be controlled.
Attempt a connection. AnyDesk will tell you which plugin that particular device needs.
Install the plugin — from the Play Store for AD1, or from the link AnyDesk provides for a vendor plugin.
Open Settings → Accessibility on the phone and enable the plugin there. It will not work until you do, and nothing else prompts you.
Reconnect. Input should now work.

Remote control features require Android 7 or later. Below that, viewing works but control does not, whatever plugin is installed.

Why an accessibility permission? Because it is the only mechanism Android provides for one app to act on another’s behalf. It is also a genuinely powerful permission — anything with it can read and act on your screen. Grant it to AnyDesk’s plugin if you need remote control, and turn it off again when the support session is over.

What to expect in practice

Screen viewing needs a per-session prompt. Android asks for permission to capture the screen each time, and someone has to be present to tap it.
Truly unattended access is unreliable on Android. Between the capture prompt, aggressive battery optimisation and manufacturer-specific process killing, a phone left alone will usually not stay reachable. Android is a support platform here, not a server platform.
Battery optimisation kills sessions. If connections drop when the screen locks, exclude AnyDesk from battery optimisation in the phone’s settings.
Fire OS 4 and later is supported, so Amazon tablets work the same way.
ChromeOS is not the same. Chromebooks running the Android app can view remote screens but cannot be controlled at all.

Licensing

The free licence is personal use only, exactly as on desktop, and AnyDesk enforces it. A phone repair shop or an IT team supporting company handsets needs a paid licence. Only the initiating side requires one — the device being helped can run the free app.

Verdict

As a way to reach your computer from your pocket, AnyDesk on Android is excellent and needs no setup at all. As a way to support somebody else’s phone, it works — genuinely, unlike on iOS — but expect to install a plugin, expect to hunt through Accessibility settings, and expect it to require somebody present at the other end.

The main AnyDesk page covers the full review, licensing and the 2024 security incident. If you are looking at iPhones instead, read AnyDesk for iPhone first — iOS devices cannot be controlled remotely at all.

Android is the straightforward case. iPhone is not — can you remotely control an iPhone? explains what iOS actually permits and what it does not.

Researched against AnyDesk’s official Android and control-plugin documentation in September 2026. Which plugin a given handset requires depends on its manufacturer; AnyDesk identifies the correct one when you first attempt a connection.