By Ellie / Last Updated December 29, 2023

What is the best app for working at home?

There are various apps that aim to help increase employee productivity and well-being when they are working from home. For example, apps for file transfer, apps for teamwork, and apps for screen sharing. Which app is best for work from home?

For some people, downloading many apps on their computers and phones is annoying. Therefore, we recommend downloading remote desktop software when working from home. Some remote desktop software allows users to remotely control another computer, transfer files between computers, share screens, etc. It can meet all of your remote work needs with just one application.

What Is Remote Access

Work from home app download [3 options]

Here we will introduce the top 3 free work from home app download. All of them are free remote desktop tools.

Option 1. Work from home with AnyViewer

AnyViewer is a Windows, iOS, and Android remote control app, and is one of the best work from home apps 2022. It allows direct remote connections across the internet. You can remotely access your work computer from your home computer without any additional configurations.

★Features for remote access:
Unattended access. It allows users to remotely access an unattended computer without permission.
File transfer. It allows users to transfer files between devices.
Remote manage. It allows users to remotely lock, reboot, or shut down work computers with one click.
iOS/Android device support. It supports iOS remote access and Android remote access, enabling users to remotely access their work computers from mobile devices.
Multi-monitor switch. It allows users to switch between an all-monitor display and a one-monitor display when connected to a device with multiple monitors.
★Features for remote teamwork:
Multi-session handling. It allows one user to access multiple work computers at the same time remotely.
Screen share. It allows users to view the screen of the remote computer or share the screen with the remote computer.
Real-time communication. It allows users to send messages to the remote computer or chat with remote users.

Part 1. Configuration on the work computer:

Step 1. Download, install, and launch AnyViewer on your work computer.

Download Freeware Win PCs & Servers
Secure Download

Step 2. Navigate to Log in and then Sign up (if you have already registered on the official website, you can log in directly).

Log in AnyViewer

Step 3. Fill in the signup information.

Sign Up for AnyViewer

Step 4. Then you’ll see that you’ve successfully logged into AnyViewer. Your device will be assigned to the account to which you have logged in automatically.

Free Editions

Part 2. Configuration on the home computer:

Step 1. On the home computer, download, install, and launch AnyViewer. Then log into the same account on the home computer as you’ve logged in to on the work computer.

Step 2. Go to Device and click the host computer; then click One-click control. You can also click File transfer to share files between computers.

Connect to My Devices

Option 2. Work from home with Google Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop is a Google extension. You need to have a Chrome browser and a Google account in order to use it. You don’t need to download it. You can just add the extension to Google Chrome, then you can remotely access your work computer from your home computer using a web page.

Part 1. Configuration on the work computer:

Step 1. Navigate to the Chrome Remote Desktop website using the Chrome browser. Click Remote Access and then click the download button.

set up remote access

Step 2. Click Add to Chrome to add the Chrome Remote Desktop extension to your Chrome browser.

add to chrome

Step 3. Click Accept & Install to install this program.

ready to install

Step 4. Choose a name for your computer and click Next.

choose name

Step 5. Enter and re-enter a PIN with at least 6 numbers.

choose a pin

Part 2. Configuration on the home computer:

Step 1. On your home computer, log in to the same Google account on Google Chrome. Then follow the steps above to add Chrome Remote Desktop to Google Chrome and get it configured.

Step 2. Then you can see the list of devices. Choose your work computer.

Remote Devices

Step 3. Enter the PIN of the work computer, and click the blue arrow to achieve the remote connection.

Enter the Set Up PIN

Step 4. If you need to transfer files via Chrome Remote Desktop, click the arrow icon on the right side to expand the sidebar after connecting successfully. You can find the Upload file and Download file options in the File Transfer column, and then transfer the file as needed. You can also copy and paste to transfer files if you open the shared clipboard.

Transfer Files

Option 3. Work from home via the Windows built-in Remote Desktop Connection

Remote Desktop Connection is the built-in Microsoft remote desktop software. Strictly speaking,, it can only be used when the two devices are on LAN or WiFi. If you want to remotely control your work computer from home, you’ll need to set up port forwarding in advance.

Part 1. Configuration on the work computer:

Step 1. On your PC, enable the Windows Remote Desktop. Press Win + R, input “sysdm.cpl” and press Enter.

Run Command Sysdm.cpl

Step 2. Go to the Remote tab, and ensure that "Allow remote connections to this computer" is checked. And then click OK.

Remote Desktop Tab

Step 3. Press Win + R gain, input “cmd” and press Enter to open Command Prompt. Then type in “ipconfig” and press Enter to get the IP for Remote Desktop. Now you can see a group of IP addresses.

We can use IPv4 Address to set up the RD client later. But this IP is set by the router and is not the Public IP Address. It changes every time when PC connects to the network. As a result, Remote Desktop Connection won’t be successful always. So we’re going to set a Static IP Address for this PC. Note down the Default Gateway address below, we’ll need it later.

Find The Computer Name in The Console

Step 4. Click Start and then click Settings. Find Network & Internet and then click it.

Network and Internet

Step 5. On the Network & Internet interface, find Advanced network settings, and click Change adapter options below.

Change Adapter Options

Step 6. Right-click your network and then click Properties.

Network Properties

Step 7. Tick Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and click Properties.

Internet Protocol Version 4

Step 8. Turn on Use the following IP address in the General tab, and change the IP address to a Static IP address. For example, if your router IP is 192.168.0.1, your usable IP is from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254. You can use 192.168.0.45 as your Static IP.

Set the Subnet mask to the default values, 225.225.225.0.

Set the Default gateway to the Default Gateway address noted down above.

Then turn on Use the following DNS server addresses, set the Preferred DNS server to the same Default Gateway address, and set the Alternate DNS server to Google DNS, 8.8.8.8.

Click OK to apply changes.

IPv4 Properties

Step 9. Enter the device gateway address in the browser address bar, enter the correct user name and password to log in to the router, confirm that port forwarding is enabled, and find and click Add profile.

Enable Port Mapping

Step 10. Fill in the corresponding information to create a new port, you can refer to the following:

Service name: fill in whatever you want

Protocol: TCP

External port: 3389

Internal port: 3389

Internal IP address: Static IP address, mine is 192.168.0.45.

Create a New Port

Step 11. Go back to the Command Prompt. Then type in “query user” to get the PC name. Now, everything is ready.

Find The Username in The Control Panel

Part 2. Configuration on the home computer:

Step 1. On the client computer, press Win + R, and type “mstsc” in the Run Dialog box to open the Remote Desktop Connection.

Run Box mstsc

Step 2. Click Show Options, type in the IP address and name of the work computer, and then click Connect.

General Tab

Step 3. Input the password of the client computer in the pop-up window, and press OK.

Enter Your Credentials

Step 4. If you need to transfer files via Remote Desktop Connection, you have 2 options. You can either redirect drives to achieve file transfer between computers or copy and paste to achieve file transfer. But note that the limitation of Remote Desktop Connection file transfer, you are only allowed to copy and paste files smaller than 2 GB.

The bottom line

This post primarily introduces the top 3 free work from home app download. All of them are remote desktop software. As you can see, AnyViewer has the easiest setup process and the most abundant features. Therefore, we highly recommend you choose AnyViewer.