Review Insights · App Store
Jump Desktop (RDP, VNC, Fluid)
Phase Five Systems · 1,635 ratings · ★ 4.5
4.5
★★★★★
1,635 ratings
🎯 Build a better version
Top complaints - extracted from 45 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"work"
16 negative reviews mention this · 36% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useful. But a battery killer. Very useful app. Works well enough. But absolutely demolishes my phone battery. Log in to a computer for a quick check, close app and it continues to eat my battery. Any day I use it (regardless how long) it is always the highest battery c…" - Hongziyang
2
"works"
13 negative reviews mention this · 29% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useful. But a battery killer. Very useful app. Works well enough. But absolutely demolishes my phone battery. Log in to a computer for a quick check, close app and it continues to eat my battery. Any day I use it (regardless how long) it is always the highest battery c…" - Hongziyang
3
"jump"
10 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless! Won’t connect to desktop. I can connect to my desktop using a browser, but the Jump app will not connect. I wrote to the developer and never got a reply. Don’t waste your money on this!" - brotherhug
4
"does"
10 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Cannot get it to connect to my MacBook. Doesn’t seem to be able to connect to my MacBook. This app hasn’t been updated in over 2 years. Definitely a questionable purchase at this point." - PrettyKoolGuy
5
"connect"
9 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless! Won’t connect to desktop. I can connect to my desktop using a browser, but the Jump app will not connect. I wrote to the developer and never got a reply. Don’t waste your money on this!" - brotherhug
6
"windows"
8 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "не работает мышь на iphone. Мышь блютуз на iphone 13 не работает( толку от покупки, если windows app такие же функции имеет и бесрлатно" - Тестировщик 12
7
"desktop"
8 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useless! Won’t connect to desktop. I can connect to my desktop using a browser, but the Jump app will not connect. I wrote to the developer and never got a reply. Don’t waste your money on this!" - brotherhug
8
"doesn"
8 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Cannot get it to connect to my MacBook. Doesn’t seem to be able to connect to my MacBook. This app hasn’t been updated in over 2 years. Definitely a questionable purchase at this point." - PrettyKoolGuy
9
"screen"
8 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Beware of huge battery drain running in background!. The app itself works very well to connect to my remote devices. Sadly however I just discovered what appears to be a major bug / issue with this app and wanted to potentially warn others. Used it Wednesday night to remote into my computer a…" - JedJak
10
"ipad"
8 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Better than the rest but still not good for iPad. This has some good functionality for iPad, but it needs a mode that truly captures how the native iPad gestures work. You can pick between a touchscreen interface, or an interface that allows pinch to zoom gestures, but not both. Extremely …" - JojoSlothLight
11
"been"
7 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Battery Drain. App Hasn’t been updated in years. the battery drain is abysmal and not sustainable for good performance." - Michaelc136
12
"computer"
7 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Useful. But a battery killer. Very useful app. Works well enough. But absolutely demolishes my phone battery. Log in to a computer for a quick check, close app and it continues to eat my battery. Any day I use it (regardless how long) it is always the highest battery c…" - Hongziyang
📋 All 45 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
не работает мышь на iphone
Мышь блютуз на iphone 13 не работает(
толку от покупки, если windows app такие же функции имеет и бесрлатно
толку от покупки, если windows app такие же функции имеет и бесрлатно
Battery Drain
App Hasn’t been updated in years. the battery drain is abysmal and not sustainable for good performance.
Useless! Won’t connect to desktop
I can connect to my desktop using a browser, but the Jump app will not connect. I wrote to the developer and never got a reply. Don’t waste your money on this!
Useful. But a battery killer
Very useful app. Works well enough. But absolutely demolishes my phone battery. Log in to a computer for a quick check, close app and it continues to eat my battery. Any day I use it (regardless how long) it is always the highest battery consumption app - and it’s not even close. Need to remember to force quit always.
Cannot get it to connect to my MacBook
Doesn’t seem to be able to connect to my MacBook. This app hasn’t been updated in over 2 years. Definitely a questionable purchase at this point.
Does not work on Linux
Cannot connect from iPhone to Linux with this app
Latest update for Mac screws over loyal users
I went to launch Jump Desktop on my Intel Mac only to be greeted by a popup that they have switched over to Metal which requires me to now go in and manually download an older version of Jump Desktop from their website. Upon doing this, it asks you for your password 20x over and over and over and over again and when it finally loads it tells you that you need a Teams account or to purchase a new license? What? I’ve used Jump since it was first created and now you want me to purchase another license? And why was this change made when you KNEW what kind of experience it would provide for users on older hardware? This is where you start to see red flags with companies - when you can make changes like this and say screw our loyal customers that have been with us from the beginning they’ll figure it out or get over it - that’s a dangerous mindset.
no longer works properly
doesn’t show the saved connections
Does not play well with Windows 11
It worked fine with my Windows 10 machine but not with Windows 11. My Dell Laptop Windows 11 machine requires a 6 digit numeric PIN. JUMP only works with an alphanumeric password.
Windows 11 doesn’t work
This app is great, but I recently updated my computer to windows 11 and this app no longer works. It looks like it has been a few years since it was last updated and I don’t think it is compatible with Windows 11.
Doesn’t work when you need it
This app is totally useless. I check it’s working when I am home but when I am away from home, I always get the the message “Computer is off line”
Severe battery drain
App is drastically reducing iPhone battery life while running in background.
Don’t Trust This
Less than 12 hours after I installed jump, someone broke into my bank account. I wouldn’t trust this app. You’ve been warned.
Don’t buy
So laggy it was un-usable even on a local network between a brand new MBP and iPad Pro.
Use at your own risk!
I recently discovered that Jump Desktop had been running on my system without any clear indication or alerts during active remote sessions. Someone was able to remotely access my computer without my consent or knowledge, and there were no visible notifications, no connection prompts, and no logs easily accessible for auditing. This level of stealth is unacceptable for software that has the potential to fully control a device.
Even after uninstalling, I had to manually verify that all services and residual files were gone because these instances continued to happen. If you’re looking for secure remote access, I strongly advise something like Chrome Remote Desktop as it is much faster and it's free. Software like this needs far stronger transparency and user-side visibility when sessions are active.
Even after uninstalling, I had to manually verify that all services and residual files were gone because these instances continued to happen. If you’re looking for secure remote access, I strongly advise something like Chrome Remote Desktop as it is much faster and it's free. Software like this needs far stronger transparency and user-side visibility when sessions are active.
Extremely outdated
Tried it for 30 seconds, looks like it was made for the OG iPad, and can’t get a refund.
Great software if you only want half of the screen
While the software connects and works great, for some reason it likes to only give you half the screen. It is like watching a widescreen movie on a full screen tv, 1/4 of the screen at top and bottom are black, so you get half the screen to work with. It is supposed to change the resolution to match the iPad, and sometimes it does, most of the time it does not. So if wanting to connect to work on something quickly, I have to close the software, reopen and reconnect, sometimes, 2-10 times before it will finally switch the resolution so I can have a full screen.
Not working for RDP when Windows app is working fine
Title says it all windows app is working fine but jump desk is not same configuration. I tripled checked
No update in over a year?
Can we at least get an iOS 18 icon? Used to recommend you to everyone but I guess I’m switching to something else that doesn’t look horrible on my Home Screen.
Don’t Buy Just for RDP
I bought this app because I needed a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client app which allows me to set the RDP network quality setting, which is important to get proper performance when connecting to xrdp-based RDP hosts.
This relatively expensive app, which advertises RDP as its first protocol (in its name) does not offer this setting.
As the app didn’t meet my needs, I requested a refund from Apple, which was denied, and the subsequent appeal was denied too for whatever reason.
Since I’m now stuck with this app which does not provide the RDP feature I need, I’m leaving this review so that others who are in the same boat may find this before buying and maybe getting stuck with it.
This relatively expensive app, which advertises RDP as its first protocol (in its name) does not offer this setting.
As the app didn’t meet my needs, I requested a refund from Apple, which was denied, and the subsequent appeal was denied too for whatever reason.
Since I’m now stuck with this app which does not provide the RDP feature I need, I’m leaving this review so that others who are in the same boat may find this before buying and maybe getting stuck with it.
Horrible.
I was able to connect to my MacBook Pro M1 Max for about five seconds…then I went back to the login screen on the laptop. Then I was able to log in for about five seconds…then it kicked me back to the login screen on the MacBook. It does not work. Period. A total waste of my $15.
No updates for 7 months. go figure
works but still laggy often. No updates. Wish it is as good as parsec on a desktop pc.
Simply doesn’t work
Paid for this app and it never works. Don’t waste your money. There are alternatives that are better
No streaming audio
App works well for Remote Desktop but steaming audio does not work.
3 dots in the middle of the screen remain
Developer refuses to update the look or functionality of the software. Screens is a much better experience but 1. It is difficult to get it to connect and 2. When it does, there is no sound. I always try Screens first though.
Won’t connect
Bought new laptop and cannot get This app to connect with my iPad. The previous laptop worked fine with iPad. Followed the instructions and nothing.
Had issues with in the past with this, now coming back hoping it improved and still disappointed
Windows login issues, VNC issues in VM’s, quality of life clipboard inconsistencies, Please fix the app!
Worthless
Remotix is a way better app. This was slow and unusable. I attempted to get a refund but was denied. Not sure how this App Store works if I have to buy an app to try it and then can’t get refunded. This app did not work well at all. Download Remotix instead.
Not good for Apple Pencil
Legitimately always thinks you’re trying to drag. Unless you’re so good at tapping with the Apple Pencil without moving it 4 pixels, don’t bother
And don’t even get me started on how it requires a windows “password” with instructions that don’t work on windows 11 so you have to use ask every time.
And don’t even get me started on how it requires a windows “password” with instructions that don’t work on windows 11 so you have to use ask every time.
Don’t waste your money on this app if using VNC or Linux
Can’t stress enough how disappointing this app is in combination with Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS). I thought I would be able to get RDP working since it’s supported by Ubuntu, but the app just asks for credentials over and over again.
VNC works, but there are free VNC apps that work better. Somehow despite being an iPhone app, this app can’t reliably send iPhone keyboard input to the Remote Desktop. @ types 2, $ types 4, % types 5. Once I realized what was going on I discovered I could press the emulated shift key in combination with the symbols to make them work as intended by Apple. Never had any such issues with free VNC alternatives.
VNC works, but there are free VNC apps that work better. Somehow despite being an iPhone app, this app can’t reliably send iPhone keyboard input to the Remote Desktop. @ types 2, $ types 4, % types 5. Once I realized what was going on I discovered I could press the emulated shift key in combination with the symbols to make them work as intended by Apple. Never had any such issues with free VNC alternatives.
Doesnt work for linux
Microsoft app connects fine via RDP to linux, this just opens and closes without any messages. Tried a bunch of settings, same.
Holy cow. Jump desktop is TOTALLY BROKEN as of Nov 11
Jump desktop was working wonderfully 100%. Then you guys posted an update. Now EVERYTHING is screwed up!
Just to check, I used logmein, which worked perfectly.
When I log in using jump, it interferes with Microsoft office apps, things randomly lock up. When it locks up, if I switch to logmein, everything I clicked on in jump appears in logmein, and logmein continues perfectly, so you guys have some serious issues you introduced in this latest update.
What a mess.
Jump is TOTALLY UNUSABLE
Just to check, I used logmein, which worked perfectly.
When I log in using jump, it interferes with Microsoft office apps, things randomly lock up. When it locks up, if I switch to logmein, everything I clicked on in jump appears in logmein, and logmein continues perfectly, so you guys have some serious issues you introduced in this latest update.
What a mess.
Jump is TOTALLY UNUSABLE
Beware of huge battery drain running in background!
The app itself works very well to connect to my remote devices. Sadly however I just discovered what appears to be a major bug / issue with this app and wanted to potentially warn others. Used it Wednesday night to remote into my computer and then didn’t open it again. Thursday and Friday my phone’s battery was getting zapped (with little use). Finally checked my battery page Friday at 1PM, and discovered “Jump” had used up 31% of my battery since the morning! Also on Thursday it used 55% of my battery. All of this drain was with 0 on screen time and only from “running” in the background. I checked settings and there’s no option to disable background app refresh, so it appears the only current “fix” is to force close the app immediately when you’re finished using it. Quite disappointing to have to overthink using this app that it’ll zap your battery if you’re not aware of this issue.
Better than the rest but still not good for iPad
This has some good functionality for iPad, but it needs a mode that truly captures how the native iPad gestures work. You can pick between a touchscreen interface, or an interface that allows pinch to zoom gestures, but not both. Extremely mediocre but better than Windows RDP. Not worth $15, but now I know why they don’t offer a free trial, probably no one would buy it if they saw this limitation up front
Great idea but……
This is a great idea. But if it doesn’t work right off the bat (and it did not for me) you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Customer service is by email only and, if you have ever tried to solve a problem when each question and answer sequence takes many hours to complete, you know that solving a problem like that very unlikely. IYKYK.
Crash on VPN drag-and-drop
BUYER BEWARE, LAST UPDATE 2 YEARS AGO. Bought this to VPN into my local Mac from my iPad. Every time I drag-and-drop the connection crashes. Found one or two posts out there acknowledging the problem but the developer does not seem to prioritize this in any way (again, last update 2+ years ago). Clearly does not do one of the things it says in the description. Will be requesting a refund.
Would Love to See AVP Fixes
I have been trying to find an ideal way to remote into my Windows PC. This has more flexibility that the Windows (rpd) app, but is also not optimized for the AVP unfortunately. The multi-screen option is DOA because it letterboxes all screens to the aspect ratio of an “iPad”, making them hard to see. I hoped I could launch multiple connections to the same computer, but it seems not, a second connection disconnects the first. My magictrackpad works nominally, but still can only do cursor + two finger scroll. Pinching zooms on the rdp client, not the host regardless of input mode. I cannot get any other multi-touch input gestures working. They work with the trackpad connected directly to the PC and I hoped this would pass that through better than alternatives. I will definitely re-visit this app if improvements are made for the AVP. Very close to what I need.
Can’t sign in
I used google to create my account and the app won’t let me sign in through google. It defaults back to the log in page without signing me in
Unable to use effectively on AVP
Can't use Jump on Apple Vision Pro due to a constant "Jump Pasted from" message covering the screen every time I look away then back. I have submitted a support request for their product team to fix ASAP, and I will update this review if this show-stopper problem is fixed.
Themed icon support
Needs Themed icon support for tinted and dark mode icons.
No wol.
Doesn’t have the capability to wake your computer from sleep. what did I pay $15 for? It’s great that you can access your PC from your tablet, and it doesn’t look horrible when you do, but in order for you to enjoy the functionality, you have to keep your computer on 24/7 even if you’re unsure whether or not, you will use the PC that day remotely. It blows my mind that they haven’t set up some rudimentary wake on LAN capabilities.
Two finger scroll is unrealistically slow
VNC to MacOS. Drag the finger from top of the screen to bottom, the window only scrolls 1 cm.
How come this buggy software is on shelf for years without anyone fixing the obvious bug?
How come this buggy software is on shelf for years without anyone fixing the obvious bug?
Lacks VisionOS native app
I have not seen recent plans for the VisionOS app. I am a frequent user of Jump and have ipad-enabled app installed on my Vision but it acts more like a band-aid. Cursor does not reach totality of both sides preventing me to use the side tab bars/stage manager of the remote device.Also trackpad gestures with the Magic Trackpad do not seem to work in any mode. Only slide down or up and click, no multi-finger gestures as accostumed with a regular ipad or iOS device. Would love to hear an update on progress so I can increase my rating.
Inconsistent
When it works, it’s great, but it can’t connect half the time.
Microsoft’s RD Client connects every time, so why can’t this?
Microsoft’s RD Client connects every time, so why can’t this?
Does not work with wayvnc on Raspberry Pi OS
Does not work with wayvnc on Raspberry Pi OS
Sentiment summary
88%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
9%
Negative (1-2★)