Apple Remote Desktop vs. Splashtop

I would rate this higher if I was confident that Apple is continuing to develop this utility. It has only received minor updates for quite a long time, and is not featured much in any of Apple's online material. It really is a useful utility, but it is starting to show its age and is fraying a bit around the edges in some respects. It could be very useful when integrated with the various MDM solutions (in our case, Jamf Pro) especially when an engineer needs to force something immediately and can't wait for a check-in, and also can't depend on the end user being able to (for instance) do a sudo jamf policy or sudo jamf recon.

Incentivized

Well Suited for Remote users with PCs needing to login to specific remote PC's. It is less functional for remote users on Cell phones although Cell phone users can look on the remote PC to see if they need to logon from a desktop to conduct transactions

Incentivized

• Automator Actions: This is a very cool feature and cost saving as it reduces human effort by automating the workflow of tasks.
• Curtain Mode: This lets you block your local user's view of the desktop while performing administrative tasks.
• Spotlight Search: It can perform lightning fast searches on machines using the spotlight search feature of OS X and thus saves a lot of time.

Incentivized

• Splashtop allows us to send a branded link to our customers for installation on their computer.
• Splashtop provides as much security over the connection as any of our customers has required, giving them more peace of mind.
• Splashtop has several file sharing features which makes sending or receiving files a simple process.

Incentivized

• I would like to see more included Unix scrips that can be pushed to clients.
• Inclusion of a way to remote control or screen share with Windows machines would be useful, as I manage a handful of Windows machines. While this would be possible using VNC on the Windows machines, including the ability to connect using Windows terminal connections would be awesome, for me.

Incentivized

• I would like to see an integration with a wider variety of antivirus XDRs. We spend a lot of money on Sophos, which is arguably the most effective product on the market. It would be nice if Splashtop and Sophos Central could work together to increase some efficiency and security.
• It would be really great if PCs or devices could be excluded from the antivirus monitoring of Splashtop. For example, some employees use the Splashtop Streamer on home PCs (not owned by the company), so they can remote to their home machines while at the office. Occasionally, Splashtop will report threats to a home user PC that are false or breach personal privacy. Then, those get logged with the device forever. The ability to have IT Admins command Splashtop to ignore device security would be very welcomed.

Incentivized

It is a fairly unique tool in the level of integration it has with Apple Desktop products. It definitely needs some engineering attention, and it should be expanded to the iOS arena. It is not perfect, but it is very useful and fills an otherwise fairly empty niche in the support toolkit realm. The built-in screen sharing app in macOS handles the direct screen control or viewing function fairly well, but it does not have all of the other mass control features that Apple Remote Desktop supplies.

Incentivized

I believe that I will renew Splashtop without any problems in the coming years as eating stable costs without increases even in critical periods such as the Covid virus, Splashtop allows access to 25 unattended stations and has continuous updates and new features. It also allows resale to users with sub-accounts

Incentivized

Once it is set up, it is quite straightforward to use. However, currently, it requires both a script to run to set up permissions and controls, AND a command from the MDM to authorize it to be active. The MDM management command is manual. This is not conducive to an automated workflow, and sometimes gets forgotten. Then, the endpoint is not contactable until someone realizes that the MDM command was not sent or was not successful.

Incentivized

It's hard to find any significant faults with Splashtop. It offers a very responsive remote access experience with clear and simple interface. There's very little learning curve as it's toolbar mimics other popular remote access solutions graphical user interface. It's gives you access to your remote computer quickly and stays out of your way

Incentivized

I've never had any issues with it, nor any connectivity issues. They always say when they'll be maintaining the system and it's always in the odd hours, so nobody uses then. But I've never had any issues.

Incentivized

Pages and servers load fast, normal speed. It doesn't lag or anything like that. I don't integrate it with anything else.

Incentivized

When i have needed support it was for Hardware not the software itself

Incentivized

Splashtop has good customer support - they respond quickly and provide adequate solutions, but we honestly rarely find ourselves needing to reach out to them. The software is so easy to use and about as plug-and-play as it gets, so we generally don't run into an issue that does not have an immediate, obvious solution provided in the software.

Incentivized

Very quick and easy install with no real issues

Incentivized

It couldn't have been any easier to setup and I have had no issues with it since it was implemented. It's a great product and makes remotely connecting to another device so simple and quick. I can't recommend it enough

Incentivized

I would feel much more comfortable having one of these alternative solutions as our Remote Desktop management tools. Each has their drawbacks and expenses associated with them, but we simply have too large of a deployment to not be considering alternatives. If it is the only solution you can afford, it is OK to start here. I could see where this would have a return on investment, but it is really only suitable for a very small and localized scale. If employees are at all mobile, the duct taping of products necessary (VPN, distribution points, script repositories) would be very cumbersome.

Incentivized

Splashtop Business Enterprise is actually easier to implement and get it up and running, all users have to do is download the standard or personalize file and run it, then share the code with you and you are all set to go, i like it because you can even do it from your phone if necessary

Incentivized

Only use one unit.

Incentivized

It's a product that allows us to work remotely and access our servers from anywhere in the world. Our team works from different parts of the world and it's a great tool for us.

Incentivized

Do not use.

Incentivized

• Apple Remote Desktop has a positive return on investment because for the expense to the school, the value it brings to teachers is important. The return on improved student performance is very difficult to measure financially, but there is a definite return.
• The overall objective of education is to increase student learning, ARD does that phenomenally. Parents see the tool used and are impressed at what the capabilities of the tool can do and how it impacts how active their students are as well as how well they can learn.
• One negative impact is that teachers rely too much on this tool rather than on actually teaching sometimes.

Incentivized

• Since we cannot utilize an enterprise-level POS system, Splashtop bridges the data gap between our store locations and our headquarters. This is what enables us to function. Without remote terminal access, our business would be unable to operate. Period. I can't overstate this.

Incentivized