UltraViewer Alternative: Remote Desktop With Copy-Paste, Drawing and Recording

UltraViewer earned its popularity by being simple: install it, read out an ID and password, and someone can see and control your screen. If that is what you like, a good alternative should keep that simplicity and add what people end up wishing for — sending a file during the session, drawing an arrow to show where to click, pasting text between the two computers, and not being tied to one platform.

What people look for in an UltraViewer alternative

In practice the reasons we hear are:

• They need to help someone who is not on Windows, or who only has a phone.
• They want to point at things instead of describing them over the phone.
• They want chat, voice and file transfer in the same window.
• They want a record of what was done during a support session.
• They are a small team and want chat and meetings in the same app.

How a PeerFlow session works

PeerFlow is built around a short code. The person being helped opens remote access or the desktop app, presses Share this device and reads out the code. The helper types it in and sees the screen immediately. If the person sharing allows control, the helper can drive the mouse and keyboard; if not, they can only watch. Neither side has to create an account.

You can also send the code straight into a PeerFlow chat, where it shows up as a Connect button — one tap and you are in.

The extras, one by one

Draw and point on the screen

Ask to draw and the person sharing is asked first. Once they agree you can use pens, a highlighter, arrows, rectangles, circles and a laser pointer. In the desktop app your marks also appear on their real screen, which is far clearer than "no, the other button, top right".

Copy and paste between computers

With control on, text you copy on one computer can be pasted on the other, so passing a licence key, an address or a command is a keypress instead of retyping it.

Quality modes, screenshots and recording

Switch between balanced, sharp text (documents, code, design) and smooth motion (video, scrolling). Save a screenshot with one click, or record the session. Recordings are saved on your own computer.

Everything in one window

Voice, text chat and file transfer work inside the session. When the job is done you can send the log file or the fixed document without opening anything else.

Works on more than one kind of device

Both sides use the PeerFlow app (Windows, macOS, Linux or Android). On a phone you tap to click, hold to right-click, drag with one finger and scroll with two, and a typing bar copes with autocorrect. The computer being helped needs the desktop app, which is what lets the helper control it.

A typical support session, start to finish

Say a colleague's spreadsheet macro has stopped working. They open PeerFlow remote access, press Share this device and send you the code in a chat message. You open the link, see their screen at once and ask them to tick "Let them control this computer". You find the broken cell, draw a circle around it so they can see what you mean, fix the formula and paste the corrected text across. Before you leave you send them the repaired file through the same window and save a screenshot of the result. Nobody created an account, installed an agent or opened a firewall port, and when either of you presses Disconnect the code is dead.

UltraViewer and PeerFlow compared

The drawing, copy-paste, quality modes and recording described above are PeerFlow features; compare them with the current version of any tool you are considering, as products change.

Try it

Open PeerFlow remote access on two devices and connect with the code, or read the overview of remote desktop in PeerFlow. The desktop app is on the download page.