Report: Google Beta Testing Android App for Chrome Remote Desktop

Get excited, Chrome fans: Google is still beta testing an Android app for its popular (to us, at least) Chrome Remote Desktop feature, and word is that the app's launch is going to hit sooner than later.

For those who haven't had the chance to partake in Chrome Remote Desktop, the name is pretty self-explanatory. Install the extension into your browser for the world's easiest Virtual Network Computing (VNC) setup.

From there, all you then have to do is install Chrome Remote Desktop on a second computer that uses the same Google login as the first (a process you can simplify by synchronizing your Google settings between the two systems).

Flip on both systems, fire up the app on the 'client,' or the system that you want to use to connect to the other one, and you'll soon be able to access the contents of your desktop as if you were sitting directly in front of the second system — so long as your network connection isn't horrific. The best part is that you don't even need to have Chrome up and running on the to-be-connected-to system in order to gain access; we've successfully managed to log into our password-protected Windows system, following its boot, by using Google's handy tool.

Better yet, Chrome Remote Desktop works cross-platform: OSX users can connect up to Windows systems sans fuss, and vice versa. While there's been plenty of talk about Google testing out the Android version of Chrome Remote Desktop — dubbed 'Chromoting' at one point— there's also talk that an app will eventually make its way to iOS as well.

According to Engadget, the iOS app seemed to be lagging a bit behind the Android app's development as of January. It's unclear whether developers have managed to pick up steam, or whether Android will be the first mobile platform to enjoy support for Chrome Remote Desktop.

Droid Life notes that the invite-only beta for Chrome Remote Desktop on Android kicked off around the end of March. Google's own François Beaufort published some of the various gestures that the app uses around that time, including various combinations of finger swipes to zoom, middle-click, and show/remove toolbars and virtual keyboards, to name a few techniques.