What you must know
- Throughout Ignite 2023, Microsoft launched an all-new ‘Home windows App’ to stream Home windows PCs from wherever.
- The app is appropriate with macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and even Home windows, however is just not accessible for Android or ChromeOS.
- If you wish to use this with a Chromebook, you may must depend on the browser implementation.Â
Chromebook house owners have been eager for the flexibility to make use of Home windows, or at the least Home windows apps, for years. There was some hope that this may have come from Parallels, however that is seemingly been locked all the way down to the enterprise market. Then, Microsoft gave us a glimmer of hope throughout Ignite 2023, as the corporate launched a brand new “Home windows App.”
Awkward identify apart, the Home windows App is designed to supply entry to cloud computer systems from appropriate units. This contains issues comparable to Azure Digital Desktop, Home windows 365, and Microsoft Dev Field. However, this new app additionally gives the restricted skill to entry Distant Desktop Providers and distant PCs.Â

Sadly, it appears as if Android and ChromeOS have been omitted to dry, for one motive or one other. Not solely is the Home windows App not appropriate with Chromebooks, however you additionally will not discover a devoted Android app. Making issues much more irritating, Microsoft’s assist documentation states that you just aren’t in a position to entry this service utilizing a cell browser.
The following roadblock, even for those who fired up Chrome, is that you will want a registered work or college account. On the floor, that is an apparent limitation as it is not meant to offer everybody with a Microsoft account entry to a PC within the cloud. Nonetheless, for those who’re utilizing a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you may truly hook up with your individual Home windows pc, offered that you’ve got Distant Desktop Providers enabled.Â
Within the assist paperwork, Microsoft states that it “does not at the moment assist these connections.” Even nonetheless, it feels a bit odd to incorporate this performance to start with, even when it is not “formally” supported.Â

There are just a few totally different options accessible for these utilizing Chromebooks within the enterprise area. Nonetheless, the identical cannot be stated on the subject of the buyer market. On one hand, Chromebooks proceed to enhance at an extremely speedy tempo, as evidenced by Google’s Chromebook Plus initiative.Â
Nonetheless, there are nonetheless some issues which you could’t do on ChromeOS that you are able to do on Home windows or macOS, and also you undoubtedly do not wish to run Home windows on a Chromebook. We’ll be maintaining our fingers crossed to see if this adjustments, however we aren’t holding our breath.