Most remote desktop apps show you a squeezed copy of the host's monitor — wrong shape, black bars, blurry text. Remio does something different: it gives the remote computer a dedicated virtual display sized exactly to your device, and reshapes that display live whenever your view changes. Rotate your phone, drag a window corner, open Split View — the desktop follows, pixel for pixel.
There is nothing to configure. Dynamic resolution is on by default: change the shape of your view — rotate, resize, fullscreen — and the remote desktop re-renders to match within a moment. It feels like your machine because, for that session, it is.
How to use it (you already are)
Dynamic resolution has no button. It responds to whatever your device does:
| You do this | The remote desktop does this |
|---|---|
| Rotate your iPhone or Android phone | Switches between portrait and landscape instantly — full-screen in both, no bars. |
| Open iPad Split View or Slide Over | Reshapes to exactly the pane Remio occupies, and again when you drag the divider. |
| Drag the window corner on a Mac or Windows client | The desktop resizes with the window — live while you drag, settling the moment you stop. |
| Go fullscreen on a Mac client (⌃⌘F) | The remote desktop becomes exactly your screen's size — a true 1:1 workspace, cursor matched to your own. |
| Move the window to a different monitor | Re-renders for the new monitor's size and pixel density. |
Why this beats scaling
- Text stays sharp. The host renders at your device's real pixel count — including Retina/HiDPI — instead of rendering big and shrinking down.
- No wasted pixels. A phone in portrait gets a portrait desktop. An ultrawide gets an ultrawide. Nothing is letterboxed away.
- The cursor is right. On the Mac client, the remote cursor is the same size as your own — cross the window edge and nothing jumps.
- Windows re-arrange sanely. The remote OS sees a real display-size change, the same as plugging in a different monitor, so its own window management handles the reflow.
Prefer a fixed size? Use Custom Resolution
If you want the desktop to hold one exact shape no matter what your window does, set it yourself: in the client, open Settings → Display → Custom Resolution and enter any width and height — 1920 × 1080, 1080 × 1920, 3000 × 800, whatever fits your work. Portrait, landscape, ultrawide, or tall: the host honors the exact dimensions you set, in the exact orientation you set them.
Recording or streaming the session at a fixed size, matching a layout you use at the office, or pinning an exact game resolution. For everyday work, dynamic is the one you want — set Custom back to Auto to return to it.
Resolution vs. smoothness
A bigger desktop means more pixels to encode every frame. Remio's quality presets manage this for you — on a strong network you get full resolution at high frame rates; when bandwidth dips, the stream adapts before it stutters. If you are on a weak link and want to force the trade yourself, the streaming quality guide covers every preset.
Troubleshooting
- The desktop doesn't reshape when I resize — the host may be running an old version. Dynamic resolution needs a current host; update it from the download page (hosts update themselves in one click).
- It reshapes, but slowly — rapid changes are intentionally settled: spin your phone several times and Remio waits for the orientation to stop before re-rendering once. A single rotate or resize should track live.
- I get one fixed shape no matter what — check Settings → Display: a Custom Resolution is probably set. Switch it back to Auto.
- Everything looks tiny on a huge monitor — that is real screen estate: the remote desktop is now as large as your display. Increase the remote OS's own display scaling if you want bigger UI.
FAQ
Does resizing restart my apps on the remote computer?
No. To the remote OS it looks like a monitor changed size — the same event as plugging in a different display. Apps and windows reflow; nothing closes or restarts.
Does dynamic resolution work on every host?
Yes — macOS, Windows, and Linux hosts all drive a dedicated virtual display for the session and honor live reshape requests from every client.
What happens to the host's real monitor during the session?
You stream a dedicated virtual display, not a mirror of the physical monitor — so your session is shaped for your device regardless of what hardware is plugged into the host. If you specifically want to see a physical monitor, switch to it in the Displays panel.
Is there a resolution limit?
The stream is capped at 4K-class dimensions per side to keep encoding fast. Displays larger than that (5K/6K fullscreen) still work — the stream renders at the cap and scales, which is the same behavior those monitors use for most content.
