Last year, Microsoft announced that it is getting rid of the Remote Desktop app in favor of the Windows App (which isn"t a confusing branding decision at all... sigh). For those unaware, the latter is a relatively recent addition that was introduced for back in September 2024. For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been encouraging customers to use Windows App for remote desktop access, and as it begins to prepare for the death of Remote Desktop for Windows, it has once again emphasized the greatness of its modern alternative.
The Redmond tech giant has highlighted how Windows App has improved over the past year in many aspects. This includes reliability improvements through enhancements to the transport layer and RDP Multipath to better handle network fluctuations. Connection flows across various platforms have been made more robust too.
Next, Windows App promised more productivity familiar entry points (Start menu on Windows versus Spotlight on macOS), cleaner switching of remote apps (macOS), support for splitscreen layouts (Windows), and enhanced file movement (web). Moreover, the Windows App on iOS supports external monitors and the Surface mouse. Customers can also leverage URI‑based links to resume sessions, and the Windows App on Windows also offers auto logoff functionalities.
Microsoft has also made some headway when it comes to consistency of the Windows App across various platforms. Core functionalities of the utility are identical across all supported platforms. Furthermore, Windows App for Android became generally available in April of 2025, Remote PC connections are now in preview on Windows, Teams VDI 1.0 is generally available on iOS and Android and Teams VDI 2.0 on macOS is in preview.
On the security front, data loss prevention (DLP) policies can be applied on Windows resources being accessed through Android and iOS through Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management (MAM) integration. Additionally, keyboard input protection is offered too, providing client-side security against the keystroke-based attack surface.
Microsoft believes that all of these capabilities should together offer you a great experience as it begins to retire Remote Desktop app on Windows (MSI) and the web-based client this year. Its latest blog post mentions March 27 as the deadline, but this is likely in error since that date has already passed and Microsoft"s previous announcement had tagged May 27 as the end of support date. Meanwhile, support for the Windows client in Azure Government and Azure 21Vianet clouds ends on September 28, 2026.