Can I use ThinLinc from my mobile phone or tablet?

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ThinLinc’s native client is available for a number of different platforms, including Linux, Windows, and OS X, as well as a number of thin-client devices. There is also a version available for ARMv7 hard-float devices.

ThinLinc does not currently ship with a native client for mobile platforms such as Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS, and there is no such client available from any app store. However, it is still possible to use ThinLinc from your mobile phone or tablet, via the browser-based client. This browser-based client is referred to in ThinLinc as Web Access.

Once ThinLinc’s Web Access functionality is configured on the server side, desktops can be accessed from any device with a supported web browser, without the need to install anything on the device. Any modern browser should work, provided it has support for standards such as HTML5 and WebSockets.

Web Access does not have feature parity with the native version, and therefore does not currently support features such as audio, file transfer, or printing. It does however support a number of touch gestures[1] which simulate common mouse-based actions such as right-click, and mouse-wheel scroll. It also provides a toolbar with extra keys and key-press combinations, which are often useful within a desktop environment.

These extra features work to improve usability on mobile devices, when accessing desktop environments which often expect a keyboard and mouse to be present.

For more information on server-side configuration of Web Access, see TAG chapter Server Configuration — The ThinLinc Administrator's Guide 4.14.0 build 2408 documentation

For more information on using ThinLinc Web Access, see TAG chapter Usage — The ThinLinc Administrator's Guide 4.14.0 build 2408 documentation

For more information on supported touch gestures, see chapter Client Touch Gestures — The ThinLinc Administrator's Guide 4.14.0 build 2408 documentation

ThinLinc Web Access is based on the open-source noVNC project, to which Cendio is a key contributor. For more information on noVNC, see here.

  1. For more information, see How do touch gestures work in ThinLinc? ↩︎

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