Help › Getting started
Switch the view
DeskRanger has three views: Get Help, Give Help and All Features. You choose one on the first start and can switch at any time.
DeskRanger is one app with three views. The view only decides what you see. What your device can do, security and the live indicator stay the same in every view.
- Get help is for people who receive help: one screen, one number, one button. It needs no account, no sidebar and no technical words; on the Mac, on a Windows PC, on a Linux computer, on an Android phone and on an iPhone or iPad, DeskRanger shows the number on a device that belongs to no account, too.
- Give help is for people who help others: sign in briefly, enter the other person's number and connect.
- All features is DeskRanger as you know it: your devices, files, terminal, network and more.
On the first start
A fresh installation asks once: What would you like to do? You choose one of the three cards. You can change this at any time.
macOS
You choose with the mouse or with the keys 1, 2 and 3.
If you already have an account, click Sign in at the bottom; that leads to All features and its sign-in. Or have a nearby device add this one stands beside it, as it did beside the sign-in before.
Windows
The window is small and has no sidebar. You choose with the mouse or with the keys 1, 2 and 3. If you already have an account, click Sign in at the bottom; that leads to All features and its sign-in, with a way back. Or have a nearby device add this one stands beside it, as it did beside the sign-in before.
iPhone & iPad
On the iPhone the cards stand under each other, on the iPad in two columns. The first is called Show my screen here: iOS does not let anyone control your device, your helper can only watch. If you already have an account, tap Sign in at the bottom; that leads to All features and its sign-in, with a way back.
Android
The three cards stand one above the other, each with a picture; tap one. If you already have an account, tap I already have an account · Sign in at the bottom; that leads to the sign-in of All features, with a way back to the question. On a fresh installation this question replaces the sign-in as the first screen.
The question does not come when your device is already signed in, for an update of an existing installation, for an installation by a company, and when you open DeskRanger from a help link (deskranger://hilfe opens Get help, deskranger://helfen opens Give help). After that DeskRanger always opens the view you chose last. If you download DeskRanger from the “get help” page on our website, it opens straight in Get help on Windows and Android; on the Mac and on iPhone and iPad the question comes, and the page tells you which card to choose.
Switch the view
The view applies to this device only and is stored here, not in your account. Each device can have a different one, even with the same account.
macOS
- In Get help and Give help, Switch view stands quietly at the bottom left.
- In All features, right-click your account at the bottom of the sidebar and choose Switch View….
- The menu “View” lists the three views with ⌥⌘1, ⌥⌘2 and ⌥⌘3.
- In Settings under “General”, View: shows the same three cards. That is also where you turn Show tips in “Give help” on or off.
Windows
- In Get help and Give help, Switch view stands quietly at the bottom left.
- In All features, click Switch View… at the bottom of the sidebar, under your account.
- In Settings under “General”, View: shows the same three cards. That is also where you turn Show tips in “Give help” on or off.
iPhone & iPad
- In Show my screen and Give help, tap ⋯ at the top right and choose Switch View….
- In All features, open Settings under More. There, View: under General has the same three cards. That is also where you turn Show tips in “Give help” on or off.
Android
- In Get help and Give help, tap ⋮ at the top right and then Switch View…. The same menu is on the sign-in pages that lead to a view.
- In All features, open the sidebar and tap Switch View… at the bottom.
- In Settings under “General”, View: shows the same three cards. That is also where you turn Show tips in “Give help” on or off.
Every way opens the same three cards, and the current one is marked. A help or session that is running stays as it is. Requests, approvals and the live indicator appear in every view. If you switch to All features or Give help without an account, the sign-in comes first, with a way back. While someone is helping you on a device without an account, or the help has only just ended, no sign-in comes: it says End the help first. Then you can sign in. instead or, right after the help, The help has just ended. You can sign in at … or later. (Help someone).
macOS
If DeskRanger Host isn't responding right now, DeskRanger can't tell whether someone is helping you through it. You can't sign in yet. DeskRanger shows DeskRanger Host isn't responding right now. Restart the Mac. Then you can sign in.
Windows
If the DeskRanger service isn't responding right now, DeskRanger can't tell whether someone is helping you through it. You can't sign in yet. DeskRanger shows The DeskRanger service isn't responding right now. Restart the PC. Then you can sign in.
iPhone & iPad
On an iPhone or iPad, Show my screen needs no account: the number appears as soon as you start sharing your screen (Continue, then Start Broadcast), and your helper can watch. If it doesn't work, you see the reason in plain words and Try again. If screen sharing isn't responding right now, or was interrupted while someone was helping you, DeskRanger can't tell whether someone is still helping you through it. You can't sign in yet. DeskRanger shows Screen sharing isn't responding right now. Start “Show my screen” again or restart the iPhone. Then you can sign in. On the iPad, the message says “the iPad” instead.
What stays the same in every view
Every request shows the person's name and the warning about fraud. While a help runs you see the red frame and can end it at any time. The simple views show this larger, not smaller.
Tips in “Give Help”
After a successful help session that ended normally, Give help shows quiet tips that lead to the full features. Only one tip appears at a time, with time between new tips. Each has Don’t show again, and Show tips in “Give help” in Settings turns them all off. Get help has no tips. There are no hints about plans anywhere.
Before a system dialog
When you have to confirm something in the system, DeskRanger first shows a picture of it, with the switch that is meant. On the Mac these are the permissions for screen recording and accessibility under System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording.
Windows
On Windows you do not have to confirm anything in the system before a help, so there is no such picture. If a window with a shield (User Account Control) asks for “Yes” during the help, your helper cannot operate it. DeskRanger then tells you in the view Get help that you have to click yourself.
iPhone & iPad
On the iPhone and iPad this is iOS's screen broadcast. Before it, DeskRanger shows a picture of its window (the heading reads Your iPhone will ask in a moment, or the iPad's equivalent) and marks the button Start Broadcast. Your helper can watch. You do the tapping yourself. You then tap Continue, and in iOS's window Start Broadcast.
Android
On the phone, Android asks at every help whether DeskRanger may record the screen. DeskRanger shows you the question first as a picture, headed “Android will ask in a moment”, with the button “Start now” that you tap there: Tap “Start now” there. The picture is on the page with the request, right above Allow.
Once, you also set up Allow control, so that your helper can operate the phone and not only see it. DeskRanger shows the picture of Android’s accessibility page for it (Tap DeskRanger and turn it on.). If you would rather not, tap Only show: your helper then only watches.
You can read the number to your helper over the phone: a call that is running does not stop DeskRanger. Then look all the more closely at the name on the page with the request; scammers like to call and pose as help. Allow only if you know the person and you asked them to help you.