LogMeIn and LogMeIn Ignition

Category: Utility


(UPDATE: 11/18/2015) Sadly, this product no longer works as it once did. Over time, LogMeIn reduced the maximum number of machines which could be associated with a Free account, and eventually discontinued access via web browser interface from personal computers. At this point, a couple of years after this reduction in services, they've sort of grandfathered users who purchased LogMeIn Ignition (which promised to work without a paid LogMeIn subscription) to continue to use the product with their existing computers (but only the last 10 that they had configured when that became the limit). But as far as I know, it's not possible to acquire these products and use them in the way I described here.

I was so upset at this change in policy that I used other products for a couple of years. But LogMeIn Ignition's user interface is by far the best of them all - primarily because of their scrolling and clicking paradigm, where the cursor remains in the middle of the mobile device's screen, and the user slides the image of the remote PC's desktop under the cursor. Tapping anywhere on-screen performs a click, and secondary clicks required a tap of an on-screen button. I discovered that I could reinstall old copies of the LogMeIn host software on the same computers on which it was originally installed (I'd uninstalled it from most of the machines when I started to use other services), and I still use it from my iPhone for those computers. For any computers I've added since, I've been using the free version of TeamViewer. It's much clunkier, and has very confusing interface paradigms, but it does what we need and allows control of Mac and Windows PCs from iOS, Android, Mac and Windows machines.

I find this the most indispensable of apps - it allows the user to remotely view and control any number of remote computers (Mac or Windows) on which the LogMeIn software has been installed via an Internet connection. A powerful aspect of LogMeIn: "firewall penetrating" strategy means you can probably control your computer even within a network you do not control (i.e., your workplace or school).


LogMeIn (iPad or iPhone; Free, requires a subscription to LogMeIn service; remote control using a LogMeIn Free subscription is free, but other features, such as file-sharing, require paid subscriptions)

Ignition (iPad or iPhone; $129.99, Yes, you read that price correctly, but with this app, you get the functionality of a paid LogMeIn Pro subscription - such as file-transfer between any of your remotely-controlled computers - for a one-time flat purchase. At the time I bought Ignition almost two years ago, it was priced at $29.99 and I bought it on sale at $14.99. I guess LogMeIn decided that they were losing revenue to users not subscribing to their Pro service after discovering that Ignition did everything they needed. 

I find the LogMeIn interface to be fantastic - as good a way to deal with operating a full computer from a small touch-screen as could be imagined. Pop-up virtual keyboards allow nearly any keystrokes to be generated, and the cursor control - where the cursor stays in the middle of the mobile device screen and the user pinches and scrolls until the desired item is under the cursor is in position - offers magnificently subtle control. I've done a lot of remote controlling of computers from other computers and mobile devices, and this is the best solution I've ever used.

If I understand the complicated descriptions of the many LogMeIn products correctly, I believe that you can - for FREE - use the free LogMeIn app with the LogMeIn Free service and remotely control your computers from your mobile device. Note that their marketing ploy is that you will get a FREE 30-day LogMeIn Pro trial subscription, which provides several features - like file-sharing - which do NOT exist in the LogMeIn Free service. For me, the simple workaround is that you can simply email files from the remotely-controlled computer. If you need to move multiple files more easily, then you may be an Ignition customer. Why do they let you use such useful services for free? Because they hope you'll find the need to upgrade to a paid version. Many users will find remote control more than they need.

Even at $129.99 (though I’d really have to think long and hard about it if I didn’t already have it) the unique usefulness of Ignition's being able not only to remotely control Windows and Mac OS computers, but transfer files between those computers and the iOS device while using only a FREE LogMeIn account makes this one of the best software/service values ever.