Beta Program

PhoneMyPC’s Beta program givess the Android community an opportunity to participate in final development on Android’s most full-featured PC Remote app. During the program, purchasers are treated to a reduced price, and the PhoneMyPC team has the pleasure of their feedback, suggestions and comments.

Status: Monday, July 26, 2010

PhoneMyPC 2.0.2 has been released (friendly name on Android is 21). This update centers around fixes to problems created with the protocol rewrite of version 2.0.0, and represents a major step towards stabilizing that release.

There are still some issues, but most are minor. If you have connectivity problems, press Home, then try again.

Other additions include:

Addition of pop-up bubbles on the PC to let you know when someone connects or disconnects (but only when the System tray icon is not explicitly hidden)
Colored System tray icon background when a connection is on-going
Bugs fixed with the Start menu shortcut–this now shows/starts the program, so you can freely turn the program off and re-start it when you need
A fix for the “gray icon” hosts. This was a performance optimization that just wasn’t ready for prime time. We have plans for many improvements to connection speed–we want “Click, go” performance, and we’re going to keep working at it until we get there
Many installation bugs fixed
Improvements to the user name and password entry fields–Android will no longer auto-correct these. Note: The Swype keyboard still auto-capitalizes, so watch out for that!
The Application Password field will no longer auto-correct your password, nor add it to your user dictionary

The bad news

Our auto-update feature again proved insufficient for this release. This means that you’ll need to uninstall, then download and install the new version on your PCs. This is our 3rd shot at Auto-update, and we’re pretty sure we have it this time.

The good news

We will continue to fix bugs as they show themselves (and we still know of a few), but we are turning a large portion of our effort to the addition of sound, file copy, support for Windows 2k and other things you’ve requested.

Finally

License keys are not yet required; you can safely ignore this field until we send you a key.

See the Known Issues and future plans at the bottom of this page.

Status: Tuesday, July 12, 2010

In the closing minutes of Monday, July 5th, we released PhoneMyPC 2.0.0, meeting our long (and long overdue) promise to add full login and unlock support to PhoneMyPC. Within a few days of the release it became clear we had new bugs, and we are working hard on those. We are going to take up some space here to give a thorough update on the new releases and the status of our work.

Changes in PhoneMyPC 2.0.0

The theme for this release was was “Login support.” Along with this came several associated improvements, such as a client that runs as a Windows Service (necessary to provide secure logon), SSL encryption on all networking (so it is safe to type credentials in order to log it), and much more. Here is a list of the most notable changes in this release:

Full login support (ability to see and interact with the login screen)
CTRL+ALT+DELETE support (making it easy to lock the PC, as well as long in)
Ability to unlock a locked PC
Full support for User Account Control popups on Vista and Windows 7 (no longer blocked when these pop up)
Ability to have the PC locked when you disconnect your remote session
Secure TLS when communicating with our servers
SSL encryption when connected directly to your PC
Ability to password-protect the PhoneMyPC settings
Click-lock in “Full Cursor Mode” so you can drag items on the PC even without a track-ball or DPAD (to use this feature, tap the cursor to press the mouse; the cursor turns red.)
Troublesome Application Password removed (on the phone) and replaced with a check-box requiring the “one” password to be entered
Retry/Ignore/Cancel option when the network is unreliable (no more force closes!)
More servers added to serve you
Improved reliability–worst cases require you to press Home and re-run the app. You never lose contact with your PC now.
Auto-update mechanism on the PC.
Alpha version of a Webcam view feature–look through your attached camera without opening special software (currently only available to direct-connected phones)
Licensing scheme (not yet enforced, but coded and coming soon) to protect our servers for our customers
Ability for the servers to notify you when updates are available (real time, unlike the Android market)
Cached direct-connect PCs, so you can use PhoneMyPC even when you cannot access the internet (provided the phone and PCs are on the same network). Cached PCs show with gray icons, and are clickable even if the servers cannot be contacted
Internal DNS result cacheing to improve connection times
Countless bug fixes, such as the cursor auto-hide after using a track ball, and the saving of default quality settings for each view mode

It may seem that we’ve been working on many things, but most of these are surprisingly related to the theme of “Login support.” For example, industry-standard network security is necessary so you can safely pass credentials to your PC; DNS and host cacheing are optimizations to help mitigate the fact that secure networking is not as fast as insecure networking; ability to auto-lock the PCs is important for users with demanding security needs.

Major Bugs in 2.0.0

The most common support inquiries we receive are, in order of frequency (since the release of PhoneMyPC 2.0.0):

Inability to locate the PCs (phone reports “No Hosts…”). More than 95% of these are caused by mismatches in credentials, usually because of Android’s Auto-correct feature capitalizing something unexpected; 2% from firewall issues (PhoneMyPC now uses port 443, and very few firewalls block this by default), and 3% from miscellaneous causes. In most of that 3% of cases, a simple machine re-boot fixes the problem, and we have no idea why [yet].
PhoneMyPC icon not showing in the System Tray. More than 99% of these are caused by a bug. Although the software is running normally, the System tray icon does not show. The quick fix has been to kill the PhoneMyPC task, as the service will re-start it and the icon will show. This is no longer a problem (see 2.0.1 below).
Errors when connecting to a PC, and most often the type of error that lets you send an error report to us. So far as we can tell, 100% of these are caused by a bug in our host cacheing logic. A fix for this is coming very soon. The work-around is to press Home and try again.
Phone keeps searching forever for hosts. We have expanded our test environments to include networks of all speeds and qualities, and we see this occasionally on very poor networks. The problem is not network speed, but reliability. The slowness occurs during the setup of the SSL connection, and we have found that the problem is far worse on Froyo based devices than others, even when the others are vastly inferior in every way. We are working hard to find and fix this issue; at this time, we believe it may be a bug in Android’s SSL logic, but we have not proven it. The simplest work-around is to press Home and try again; pressing “Home” while running PhoneMyPC actually terminates the application and all network activity.

Most requested changes to 2.0.0

After the release of PhoneMyPC 2.0.0, our customers let us know right away what was missing:

Ability to stop the program when it’s running; people want an easy way to turn the program off
Ability to decide whether or not the program runs automatically when Windows starts

Most common complaints in 2.0.0

Our customers waste no time telling us what they like and don’t–and it’s a good thing, because this is how we decide what to work on. Here are the most common issues along with some descriptions of each (aside from the bugs listed above, which make up the vast majority of customer comments):

The program is more “laggy” (slower) than it used to be. This is true, primarily for users who depend on our servers to communicate with their PCs (cannot support direct-connects). This is a direct consequence of the improved security; TLS transport requires encryption and decryption which adds significantly to the work that is done for each bit of data delivered to or from the phone. The good news is that we have several incremental solutions to this, and we believe that–even with highly secure connections–we will end up with performance characteristics that are even better than the insecure versions of PhoneMyPC. In addition, we plan to add the ability for users to choose which data is secured and therefore optimize performance on an as-needed basis.
The program lost my connection, the program zooms when I try to pan (Android 1.5 and 1.6 only), and the image quality defaults to a low value. These are all fairly rare, but they fill second sport about equally, and we are working on all of these.

PhoneMyPC 2.0.1 (PC-only update)

Today (June 12) at about 2:00am PST, we published an update to the PC application that addresses several issues:

System tray icon shows consistently
Settings screen includes a “Disconnect” button to “shut off” PhoneMyPC
Settings screen supports the ability to choose whether PhoneMyPC runs automatically when Windows starts, or not
Start menu shortcut now shows the Settings screen consistently
System Tray icon gives connection status when the mouse is placed over it

A first bug in our Auto-update

We expected to release future PC software via the new auto-update feature. However, just before deploying 2.0.1, we discovered that the auto-update logic may mistakenly download the wrong update (32 bit or 64 bit) for customer PCs, so the feature was disabled for this release. This means that in order to get the new version, you must:

Uninstall the older version (your settings will be saved)
Download and install the new version (PhoneMyPCx32_2_0_1.msi or PhoneMyPCx64_2_0_1.msi)
When the installer finishes, the program will connect using your previous settings (or if there were none, it will open the settings window) and then show its system tray icon

Known issues

The 2.0.1 release has the following known issues (on the PC):

The program may abort when using Fast User Switching on Windows XP. As a work around, log-out of an account before logging into another. This has not been seen on newer versions of Windows.
The program will drop the connection when switching users on all Windows versions. This means if you select “Switch Users,” your screen may stall; to continue, press Home and then run the app again
Auto-update is not supported, so you must install this version manually after uninstalling the previous version (as described immediately above)

2.0.1 for the Phone

We are currently working on an update for the Phone app to 2.0.1 This release will include:

More reliable host cacheing mechanism
A fix for the network bug causing the “error report” messages
Fixes to the Settings screen so fewer mis-typed credentials will occur
Performance improvements during searching for hosts as well as during interaction

As always, we we appreciate your excellent suggestions, direct feedback and patience. Please keep the emails coming!

Previous Release Record

Next Theme: Login support
We are dedicated to Login support, and will do nothing else now until that is finished. OF course, critical bugs will always be fixed right away.
Update: We expect to deploy login support to some pre-release testers this week. It’s coming!

Current Release 1.0.16, 02-01-2010.

Theme: Bug fixes.

This release contains seveal fixes to bugs old and new.
There have been changes in both the Phone and PC applications. Updates to the PC application are only required for improvements to keyboard handling (such as support for the underscore (_) character).

Fix to the network-latency sensitivity introduced in the last build.
Fix to the “always-zooming” bug on some devices.
Support for the underscore (_) character.

Current Release 1.0.15, 01-18-2010.

Theme: Many fixes, requested features.

This release contains seveal additions and bug fixes.
There have been changes in both the Phone and PC applications;
BOTH applications must be updated together.
We appologize for all the PC application updates; we’re near to rolling out an auto-update so this won’t happen many more times.

Complete rewrite of keyboard handling. For detailed use, please click either the Control Mouse+Keys or Interact Live link at left.
Multi-touch support fixed for Samsung users.
Keyboard-caused crash has been fixed.
Double-key entry bug is fixed.
RDP keyboard issues fixed (RDP now works properly on a controlled PC).
More accurate use of device keyboard (Alt and other keys now behave correctly).
Ability to control PC’s modifier keys (Shift, Alt, Ctrl, Windows) added.
Shortcut menu added to simplify common key sequences (Cut, Copy, Paste, Run, etc.).
User configurations added to allow mapping of hard buttons to software features.
All PC input features of Interact Live now added to Control Mouse+Keys.
Optional Application Password added (to prevent unauthorized use of PhoneMyPC on the phone).
Auto-retry logic added to network code–still fine tuning this.
Long-press crash in Window and Process list has been fixed.
Screen-density logic added to improve sensing of taps on high-density screens (Droid/Milestone, Nexus One).

Current Release 1.0.14, 11-26-2009.

Theme: More options, fewer bugs.

First-draft of “Special Key” support (function keys, etc.). We know the menu-interface isn’t the best, and we have numerous ideas how to better make special-keys available. We’d like to hear from you on this: how should these work?
Configurations added for mapping hardware buttons to software features.
Support added for mouse-wheel scrolling (horizontal and vertical).
New ’stealth’ mode added to hide the System Tray icon on the PC.
Many bug fixes–should be fewer force-closes.

Release 1.0.12, 11-15-2009.

Theme: Fixes and Configs.

This release contains seveal bug fixes.
There have been changes in both the Phone and PC applications;
BOTH applications must be updated together.

Enter key now works properly.
Configurations added for default quality for all visual modes (Snapshot, View Live, Interact Live).
Font size adjusted for better display on WVGA screens (Droid).
Fixes to the Execute Actions feature; no more crashes, and batch files are supported.
View options now shut off any running screen saver.
PC application now supports user-selected TCP port for direct connections.
Soft keyboard now hides when the application exits.

Release 1.0.11, 11-08-2009.

Theme: Fixes and Droid support.

This release contains seveal bug fixes.
There have been fixes in both the Phone and PC applications; please update both.

Android 2.0 Multi-touch for the Motorola Droid.
Addition of ‘truer’ Cursor mode in Interact Live.
Added support for zooming using the Volume control.
Fixed the “crash while typing” bug.
Fixed (improved) the “interact live stops updating” bug.
Performance improvements.

Release 1.0.10, 11-10-2009.

Theme: Fixes! User Requested Fixes.

This release contains seveal bug fixes requested by our users.
This is a phone-only update. There is no need to update the PC application at this time.

Hero users’ Track-ball now properly performs mouse-clicking.
Changing credentials in Settings now takes effect immediately (without restarting the application).
Better error handling of network issues on startup (STILL some work yet to do here).
More network issues fixed.

Release 1.0.8, 10-25-2009.

Theme: Fixes! User Requested Fixes.

This release contains seveal bug fixes requested by our users.

More reliable Interact mode–interactivity will not suddenly stop as before.
Better network performance, particularly during Interaction.
Better error handling of network issues on startup (some work yet to do here).
Further refinement of Track-ball behavior (for some devices).

Release 1.0.7, 10-11-2009.

Theme: Reliability! User Requested Features.

This release contains seveal bug fixes and features requested by our users.

No more lost PC’s! We have re-built our network stack from the bottom up to improve reliability substantially.
No more “Are you sure” questions from the PC application when you shut down your computer.
Multiple monitors are now supported.
You can now choose whether you want high-quality, or high-performance in all visuals.
[Left-ALT + Click Trackball] now works as mouse right-click.
Right-ALT now functions as PC [Control] key.
Improved performance.
Improved security model.

Release 1.0.5, 06-21-2009.

Theme: Interim bug fixes, improved UI

In response to our users, this release fixes several bugs.

More improved networking code–still fewer Broken Pipe errors
More robust PC app behavior; fewer missing PC’s
“Gliding” panning in all UI views
“Cursor mode” added to Interact Live (see Interact Live for details)
Fixed more force-close bugs

Release 1.0.4, 06-07-2009.

Theme: Interim bug fixes

In response to our users, this release fixes several bugs.

Improved networking code–still fewer Broken Pipe errors
Improved PC behavior–not so many “missing” or “(In use)” PC’s
Soft-key support added
Fixed text-entry bugs–characters such as ^%(){} didn’t work, but do now
Fixed more force-close bugs

Release 1.0.3, 05-31-2009.

Theme: Log-In

Our plan was to release the PC application as a windows service this week; this would imrprove reliability and allow remote log-in. Unfortunately, that feature didn’t make it as we spent our time responding to user feedback about lagginess and network problems.

Improved networking code–fewer Broken Pipe errors
Improved UI responsiveness–not so ‘laggy’ when the network is slow
Thoroughly tested with Android 1.5 [Cupcake] in response to customer feedback
Fixed several force-close bugs
Improved the reliability of the PC applet

Release 1.0.2, 05-25-2009.

Theme: Faster

Enabled View Live and Interact Live for all connections (3G, Edge, WIFI, hosted or direct)
Modified Multi-touch zooming to make it more responsive
Augmented error reports to help us better track down issues sent by beta partners
Fixed a Force Close when saving a Snapshot
Updated network code to fix several reported bugs
Added some friendly messages for expected errors

Release 1.0.1, 05-10-2009.

Theme: Simpler, Stabler

Added new feature: View Live
Added Zoom to all View features
Added trackball support to all View features
Added ability to email bug reports
Re-designed the UI
Fixed several connection bugs
Fixed ‘empty list’ bugs
Fixed bug when Back button is used to access the PC List
Added toasts for user tips

Release 1.0.0, 05-03-2009.

Theme: Get it out there

Known Issues

Program sometimes fails to connect or “vanishes” when first ran.

We’re working on this. As a work-around, simply press Home and try again. We’ve worked hard to make sure the software is reliable when you’re away from the PC, but sometimes the Phone app fails, and we are working hard to find out why.

Sometimes WIFI will not connect on the first try. This seems to be an Android issue. You can notice this when you expect to receive a WIFI direct-connect session, yet the Quality defaults to “medium” (whereas WIFI direct connections will default to Highest).

As a work around, close and re-run the application.

Program persistently reports “No Hosts Found.”

This is almost always caused by credentials being mis-typed on either the PC or the phone. Re-enter both and try again. If this does not solve the problem, check to see if you have a Firewall that blocks outgoing port 49200 on the PC; if so, open it for outgoing traffic. Note: this port number will return to 443 in a future release.

Features in the near-term queue

Windows Service for the PC client.
Ability to login to the PC via PhoneMyPC (and to unlock workstations).
Sound support
Better user documentation, including samples and a forum.