What platforms does DeviceView support?

DeviceView supports Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux from a single platform. All platforms are included at no extra cost, including full unattended remote control for Android Enterprise corporate-owned devices.

How does DeviceView compare to TeamViewer?

DeviceView includes mobile support, SSO (SAML 2.0 and OIDC), and SCIM provisioning as standard features. TeamViewer charges extra for mobile device support, locks SSO behind its most expensive Tensor tier, and does not support Android Enterprise corporate-owned devices even through Intune integration.

Does DeviceView include SSO and enterprise identity?

Yes. SAML 2.0, OIDC, and SCIM provisioning are included in every DeviceView plan. There is no separate enterprise tier required for SSO or directory sync.

Is DeviceView HIPAA-ready?

DeviceView is designed for HIPAA-regulated environments. Privacy Mode blacks out patient-facing screens during remote sessions, preventing PHI exposure. Optional session recording with full audit logs including operator, device, and timestamp is available and exportable for compliance audits.

Does DeviceView support unattended Android remote control?

Yes. DeviceView provides full unattended remote control for Android devices, including Android Enterprise corporate-owned (COPE and fully managed) devices. No end-user interaction is required to start a session.

What MDM and EMM integrations does DeviceView offer?

DeviceView integrates natively with Microsoft Intune, VMware Workspace ONE, SOTI MobiControl, Jamf Pro, and Samsung Knox. Remote view and control launch directly from your existing MDM console.

How does DeviceView handle session security?

DeviceView uses WebRTC peer-to-peer connections so sessions never route through DeviceView servers. Multi-tenant data is separated with cryptographic isolation. Every session is recorded with exportable audit logs.

Is DeviceView built for MSPs?

Yes. DeviceView supports multi-tenant environments with cryptographic isolation between tenants, making it suitable for managed service providers supporting multiple client organizations from a single platform.

What is xdg-desktop-portal?

A Freedesktop component that brokers requests between applications and the host system on Wayland. The relevant interfaces for remote desktop are org.freedesktop.portal.ScreenCast and org.freedesktop.portal.RemoteDesktop. Each desktop environment provides a backend (GNOME, KDE, others). It is the standard authorization layer through which Wayland applications request screen capture and remote control.

Does Wayland support PipeWire screen capture?

Yes. Once xdg-desktop-portal ScreenCast or RemoteDesktop authorizes a session, the actual screen content is delivered as a PipeWire stream that the application reads. PipeWire is the media-server layer beneath Wayland screen capture in 2026.

What is the GNOME RemoteDesktop portal?

The GNOME backend implementation of the xdg-desktop-portal RemoteDesktop interface. It coordinates with Mutter (the GNOME compositor) to negotiate screen capture and input authorization for Wayland applications running under GNOME.

Does Wayland allow screen sharing without user consent?

Not by default. The standard portal flow surfaces a consent dialog and the user grants permission per session. The persistent session pattern lets an application skip the dialog after a first grant. System-level paths authorized at install or enrollment time, for example gnome-remote-desktop with GDM integration or vendor system services, operate outside the per-session portal flow and have their own authorization model. None of those paths bypass Wayland's underlying compositor isolation; they relocate the consent decision rather than remove it.

What is the difference between RDP and remote control on Linux?

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) is a wire protocol developed by Microsoft and now widely implemented across platforms. "Remote control" is the broader category of remotely viewing and operating a desktop; on Linux it can be delivered over RDP, VNC, X11 (legacy), or vendor-proprietary protocols. In 2026 RDP is the dominant Wayland remote-desktop wire protocol: gnome-remote-desktop and KRdp both speak it.

What is the difference between remote desktop and remote control?

"Remote desktop" usually means viewing and operating the entire desktop, what the user would see if they were sitting at the device. "Remote control" can refer to the same thing or, in some products, to a narrower mode that controls a specific application or region of the screen. In enterprise IT support, the terms are largely interchangeable; the meaningful distinctions are between attended versus unattended, and between session-scoped versus system-level access.

What is the difference between session-level and system-level remote control on Linux?

Session-level remote control runs inside a logged-in user session and depends on it (typical attended flows). System-level remote control runs as a system service, operates independent of any user session, and can therefore reach the login screen, post-reboot states, and headless endpoints. Most enterprise unattended Wayland support is system-level by necessity.

Can KDE Plasma 6 be remote-controlled?

Yes. KDE provides KRdp for Wayland RDP sessions, configurable in Plasma's Settings, Networking, Remote Desktop. Plasma 6.7 (June 2026) retains an X11 session as well; Plasma 6.8 (October 2026) is Wayland-only. Specific scenarios (login-screen access, post-reboot, headless) should be validated per Plasma version and per tool.

Where can I see what works on my distribution?

On the Feature page's compatibility matrix: Unattended Remote Control for Wayland Linux Devices. The matrix lists distribution by display server by greeter by scenario.

Glossary

What Is Wayland Remote Desktop?

Components, mechanics, and how it differs from X11.

What is Wayland remote desktop?

Wayland remote desktop is the set of protocols, services, and desktop-environment integrations that allow a remote operator to view and control a Linux desktop running the Wayland display server. It is mediated by the compositor (Mutter on GNOME, KWin on KDE) and routed through the xdg-desktop-portal RemoteDesktop interface, with PipeWire carrying frames and audio. Both attended sessions (with user consent) and unattended sessions (through GDM-integrated headless login or vendor system-level integration) are supported, with different trade-offs.

Last reviewed: 3 May 2026 · DeviceView editorial

Read the guide Jump to components

Stack

Components involved

A Wayland remote desktop session is not one thing; it is a stack. Knowing which component owns which job is the foundation for any further evaluation.

The compositor

Mutter on GNOME, KWin on KDE, smaller compositors like Sway or Hyprland. The compositor draws windows, owns the framebuffer, and decides what an application is allowed to see and inject. All remote desktop on Wayland is mediated by the compositor.

xdg-desktop-portal

The Freedesktop component that brokers requests from applications to the host system. The two relevant interfaces are org.freedesktop.portal.ScreenCast (for screen content) and org.freedesktop.portal.RemoteDesktop (for screen content plus input control). Each desktop environment ships a portal backend; behavior is generally consistent but not identical.

PipeWire

The media server that carries the actual frame and audio data once the portal grants access. ScreenCast streams come back as PipeWire nodes; the remote desktop application reads from them.

The display manager

GDM on GNOME, SDDM on KDE, lightdm, and others. The display manager owns the greeter, the screen the device shows before any user logs in. Remote access to the greeter is a display-manager integration problem, not a compositor problem.

The protocol on the wire

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) is the dominant choice for Wayland remote desktop in 2026. gnome-remote-desktop and KRdp both speak RDP. VNC remains available in some implementations.

The remote desktop service or vendor agent

What the operator's client connects to. gnome-remote-desktop is GNOME's native service. KRdp is KDE's. Commercial platforms ship their own agents.

Comparison

Wayland remote desktop vs X11 remote desktop

Aspect	X11 remote desktop	Wayland remote desktop
Who controls capture and input	Any authenticated X client	The compositor
Default consent for attended sessions	None, clients connected directly	User dialog via xdg-desktop-portal
Default behavior for unattended sessions	Worked because clients had broad access	Does not work without an alternative authorization path
Wire protocol	X11 (over TCP, often via XDMCP for login screen access)	RDP and VNC, brokered through the portal or a system service
Screen capture	Direct framebuffer reads	PipeWire stream after portal authorization
Input injection	Available globally	Mediated by the compositor; available to authorized portal sessions and to system-level integrations
Login-screen access	Via display-manager configuration (xhost, XDMCP)	Via display-manager-integrated services (gnome-remote-desktop + GDM, GNOME 46+) or vendor system-level integration
Typical security posture	Permissive by default	Restrictive by default

The architectural change improves desktop security and breaks legacy unattended remote control. The replacement is mediated, consent-based, and per-component, which is more complex but harder to silently subvert.

Modes

Attended vs unattended on Wayland

Both modes work on Wayland in 2026, but they take different paths.

Attended

A user is at the keyboard. The remote application calls xdg-desktop-portal RemoteDesktop.SelectDevices and Start, the user grants consent through a dialog, the application receives a PipeWire stream and the input authorization. The persistent session pattern (persist_mode + restore_token) lets the application skip the dialog on subsequent connections after a one-time grant.

Unattended: portal persistent session

A stored restore_token lets the application reconnect without a fresh dialog. Useful for some scenarios; does not cover login-screen or pre-reboot, pre-login states.

Unattended: GNOME headless remote-login

gnome-remote-desktop integrated with GDM (GNOME 46+), providing RDP-based headless remote login at the greeter and through to the desktop session. A native, system-level GNOME path.

Unattended: vendor system-level integration

A vendor-built integration with the desktop environment, providing an enterprise-grade equivalent with fleet management, identity, audit, and cross-platform parity.

For more, see What is unattended remote control on Wayland? and Why unattended remote desktop is hard on Wayland.