A RustDesk Manual

Remote desktop receives the other machine's screen as video and sends your keyboard and mouse back. That takes two parts.

Short answer: no, not necessarily. Once Tailscale connects your devices, the tools built into your OS are often enough.

RustDesk is an open-source remote desktop built as an alternative to TeamViewer and AnyDesk. As the name suggests it is written in Rust, with a Flutter interface. It has more than 120,000 stars on GitHub; the stable version at the time of writing is 1.4.9 (July 2026), and a 1.5.0 pre-release appeared in September.

• What it does — screen control, file transfer, shared clipboard, audio, chat, multiple monitors, recording and TCP tunnelling
• Platforms — Windows, macOS, Linux and Android can control and be controlled; iPhone and iPad can only control (iOS can't be controlled). There is also a web client for browsers
• Cost — the app is free, and so is the server if you run the open-source (OSS) version yourself. Only RustDesk Server Pro, with its admin console and other features, is paid (billed yearly; the one-user, 20-device Individual plan works out at $11.88 a month)

RustDesk has two kinds of server with clearly separate jobs, much like Tailscale's coordination server and DERP relays.

• ID server (hbbs) — every device running RustDesk keeps telling this server its ID and current address (IP and port). When you enter an ID, it introduces the two devices
• Hole punching — after the introduction, both sides send packets at once to get through NAT and connect directly. According to the official docs, this usually works and the relay is never used
• Relay server (hbbr) — only when a direct connection fails does it carry the screen and input. Relay speed and stability depend on the server's capacity and its distance from you

• The controlling side must sign in — after continued scams and botnet abuse, since April 2026 the public server requires the controlling side to sign in with Google, GitHub or similar (free). The controlled side doesn't need to, for now; RustDesk warns that may change if abuse continues
• The public server is for trying things out — the official wiki states it is for demonstration and testing only and should not be used for production or sensitive work. RustDesk is designed to be self-hosted
• Macs and phones need permissions — on a Mac, Accessibility and Screen Recording; on Android, screen capture and more. Without them you get no picture, or no control

The line at the bottom of the main window, “Ready, For faster connection, please set up your own server”, sums up where the public server stands.

The only official site is rustdesk.com, whose download button leads to the GitHub release page. Don't download from look-alike domains.

The stable version at the time of writing is 1.4.9. The 1.5.0 listed above it is a pre-release; for everyday use, pick the one marked Latest.

If RustDesk keeps warning after you've switched permissions on, remove it from the list with “−” and add it back with “+”. The official docs say a restart may still be needed.

• iPhone, iPad — install from the App Store and connect by ID. Controlling side only. On the public server you also need to sign in from settings
• Android — install the .apk from GitHub (allow installs from unknown sources). It can control and be controlled

To let an Android phone be controlled, grant the permissions under Share Screen in the bottom bar and tap Start Service. Screen sharing needs Android 6 or later; sharing the phone's internal audio needs Android 10 or later. To accept mouse input, turn on RustDesk Input under Accessibility (installed services) in Android settings.

To move files without opening the desktop, use Transfer file under the ID box.

Whether to stay on the public server or run your own comes down to this:

According to the official docs, a relayed session uses roughly 30 KB/s to 3 MB/s (for a 1920×1080 screen, depending on resolution and how much changes), and around 100 KB/s for office work. Budget for that traffic if you run your own relay.

• Use the IP, not the name — RustDesk can't tell whether what you typed is an ID or a name, so direct IP access won't take a MagicDNS name as is. Enter the 100.x address
• Tailscale does the encryption — RustDesk's FAQ says a direct IP connection itself is not encrypted. Inside Tailscale it is encrypted by WireGuard, so that's fine; but never open port 21118 to the internet on your router

If some of the people you help can't run Tailscale, or this is for work, run your own server. It needs very little: the official docs say the smallest cloud server is plenty, and a Raspberry Pi will do. Put it on a VPS in a region near you and even relayed sessions get faster, simply because the relay is closer.

# Install Docker
bash <(wget -qO- https://get.docker.com)

# Fetch the official compose file and start hbbs and hbbr
wget rustdesk.com/oss.yml -O compose.yml
sudo docker compose up -d

# The public key to enter in each client
cat ./data/id_ed25519.pub

The key lives in the data folder set in the compose file (./data in the official example).

• Hosting at home — with the server behind your home router, devices inside the home may fail to reach it by your public IP or domain (a NAT loopback problem). The docs have an article on fixing this
• Going Pro — adds a web console, user and address book management, audit logs, two-factor authentication, OIDC and LDAP, and branded custom clients. Billed yearly: Individual (1 user, 20 devices) at $11.88 a month, Basic (10 users, 100 devices) at $23.88 a month

• Only from rustdesk.com and GitHub — RustDesk says rustdesk.com is its only official domain
• Keep your ID and password to yourself — share them only with people you trust. Make the permanent password long and unique
• Two-factor authentication and allow lists — Security settings offer 2FA and IP and ID allow lists
• Stop it when you don't need it — on a PC you don't plan to reach remotely, you can stop the service
• Keep it updated — follow the stable (Latest) release and don't linger on old versions