AnyDesk 3.0 Beta First Look

TeamViewer 12.0 was released just a couple of days ago, and now it is AnyDesk's turn to release a brand new version of the company's remote control software.

We reviewed AnyDesk back in 2014 for the first time. The program, created by ex-TeamViewer employees, showed great promise back then.

The new AnyDesk 3.0 is available as a beta release currently. While that means it is not yet ready for production environments, it is available for testing and getting a first impression of the new features and changes of the release.

AnyDesk 3.0

The program interface has not changed all that much if you compare the latest version to the 2014 version. AnyDesk states that version 3.0 has received design improvements here and there, but the changes won't change how you use the program.

One of the great changes of AnyDesk 3.0 is the new session window. If you have used the program before, you may know that you got a new request window for any new request. Not a problem if you use the software occasionally, but if you use it day in and out, that was not very practicable.

The improvement moves all requests to a single window. So, instead of having to juggle with multiple open request windows, you just focus on the one instead.

This is especially useful when you use the program for presentations. Consider this scenario: you hold a presentation for 20 people through AnyDesk so that every user sees your desktop and what is going on there during the presentation.

In the old version, you'd have to work with 20 request windows unless you have not set up unattended access with password. In the new, you handle all requests in a single window.

Another major change in AnyDesk 3.0 is the address book. The address book lists all computers that you have control over in a single place for easy management and access.

You may assign tags to systems, and filter the list of devices by tag for quick access to a specific group of devices.

There is also an option to add systems to your favorites so that they appear first always.

Please note that the address book is a premium feature only available to professional and Enterprise versions of AnyDesk.

Free users of AnyDesk benefit from an advanced speed dial view that lets you use the whole window for your contacts instead of just a single row. Also, that page has a search box now to find contacts quickly if you have plenty.

All computers shown in the address book or the speed dial page show an online status in AnyDesk 3.0. This means that you see directly if a computer is online or not; handy to avoid connecting to devices that are not online.

Whitelist is another new feature of AnyDesk 3.0. It enables you to define which computers are allowed to use AnyDesk to connect to yours. May be used to whitelist all IT department computers in a company network for instance. This blocks connection requests from any computer not on the whitelist.

One caveat, at least in the beta version, is that you get a nag screen when you disconnect from a remote computer if you use the free version.

You can check out the blog post over on the AnyDesk site for additional information, or download the beta client on this page.

Now You: Do you use remote desktop software? If so for what purpose and which?

Advertisement