myPhoneDesktop Review

I've seen remote-desktop apps before—take VNC, for example—that allow you to control your computer from your iPhone / iPad / etc. This is the first time, however, that I've seen it done in the reverse. myPhoneDesktop is an app / desktop program combo that uses your computer to send data to your iPhone. (You don't control your iPhone, mind.) While its uses are limited, it's still a highly functional program.

myPhoneDesktop requires two things. First, you need the app on your iPhone. Then, you must use either the web interface or the desktop program (a free, simple program available for Mac, PC, and Linux). Now you can send data to your iPhone.

myPhoneDesktop allows you to transmit four types of data: Phone, URL, Text, and Image. In the Phone screen, you can either dial a number or enter a SMS. With URL, you can copy-and-paste a web URL, which myPhoneDesktop can open in Safari, display in the app, or copy to the clipboard. Text can also be added to the iPhone clipboard, or simply shown on-screen. Finally, Image allows you to show, copy, or save an image from your computer's hard drive to your iPhone's Camera Roll.

So, to recap: do something on your computer, and your iPhone will follow instructions. Once the data appears in-app, you can also do things like assigning pictures to a Contact, emailing it, or finding an address with Google Maps.

Everything works wonderfully; transfer of information from computer to iPhone occurs quickly and painlessly. However, myPhoneDesktop isn't an app most would use every day. As an iPod Touch + PC user, sure, I find it useful to be able to add images to my photo library (finally!) without using iTunes' awful photo-sync process. (You can still only transfer one photo at a time.) But what about the rest? Why would you need to copy large chunks of text to your iPhone, if you have your computer on-hand? If you need myPhoneDesktop, it just proves that Apple has failed in some aspect.

Still, myPhoneDesktop does what it sets out to do. If this sounds like something you need—myPhoneDesktop works. It's just not for everyone.