You are working on your computer and suddenly you get an SMS on your phone. Now imagine how cool it would be if you can reply to that text using your computer’s mouse and keyboard. No, I’m not talking about, PushBullet or casting your Android screen on your computer. But actually using your computer’s mouse and keyboard on Android.
The SetupÂ
Here is how it look like — the computer and Android phone are connected via USB cable, and a small software is running on both devices. Now, if you move your cursor past the edge of Desktop’s screen, it’ll automatically appear on the Android screen (if the Android is in sleep mode, it’ll wake up.) And now, you can control your Android with your mouse. Not just that, you can even share keyboard and clipboard. Cool?
Take a look at the following animated gif.
Features
- Free and works seamlessly on Windows, Mac, and Linux
- No Root required
- Low battery drain
So, let’s see how to share Computer’s Mouse with Android.
Follow the Steps:
#1 Download Deskdock from Google play.
The app is free (ads supported) on Google. But if  you want to share the keyboard, clipboard and remove Ads, get the pro version for $4.
#2 Next, download DeskDock server app on your computer. It’s a small 1 MB zip file and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
At the time of writing this post, the files are hosted on Dropbox and the website is running on Blogspot domain. Now, this might look unprofessional, but the app works.
#3 Once you are done downloading the server app, unzip and run it on your computer. It’ll prompt you to install Java on your computer (if you don’t already have it). So, install the latest JRE package.
Now this is where it get a bit confusing.
There are mainly two versions of Java — JRE and JDK. JRE is for running java apps and JDK is for making java apps. Since we just want to run a program, you need to install the latest version of JRE. But that didn’t work for me. When asked the app developer he answered ‘for some OS like Mac, you need to use JDK’.
So, if JRE is not working for you, make sure you installed JDK on your computer.
#4 Once you have successfully installed Java on your computer, install DeskDock app. On Mac, you will have to allow the app to use the accessibility settings.
#5 Now go to your Android smartphone or tablet, go to Settings > Developerr options and enable USB Debugging.
#5 Next, connect your Android to your Computer via a USB cable.
#6 Make sure the DeskDock server is running on the computer. Then go to your Android phone, open DeskDock app and tap on connect. If everything works fine, the server app will detect your Android and connect to it.
#7 Now if you move your cursor to the bottom left edge of the screen and it’ll appear on the Android screen.
Possible Errors
If the Android is not detected but not connected, restart your computer.
If the device is not connected, make sure you have proper drivers installed in your Windows. It’s not needed in Mac.
Wrapping Up
It’s not very easy to set it up, but once you do it, the system works like a charm. It also needs Java running on your computer, which is not best security practice these says. But if you are an advanced user (who is most likely to use this setup), chances are JAVA is already installed on your computer.
