How to Fix an Employee's Work Phone Without the Trip

Remote support for company Android phones means you can see an employee’s screen from your desk and fix the problem with them, without driving out. NounDesk does not do the screen sharing itself. It works with your TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop account: it puts the vendor’s app on the right phones, links it to your account, and gives you a button on the device page that opens the vendor’s console.

Here is what that looks like in practice, how to set it up, and where the limits are.

The phone call that takes twenty minutes

A technician is standing in a customer’s kitchen. The job app will not sync, and he thinks it is a setting. He calls the office. You ask him what he can see. He reads out a menu. You guess. He taps the wrong thing, and now Wi-Fi is off as well.

Twenty minutes later the customer is watching the clock and the job sheet still has not gone through. The alternative is a drive across town for a two-minute fix.

Most small businesses live with this because the fix seems like an IT project. Install a remote support app on every phone, link each one to an account, work out which phone belongs to which person, and then keep the whole thing up to date as phones are replaced. Nobody has time for that, so nobody does it.

How remote support works with NounDesk

There are three pieces, and each one has a clear owner.

Your vendor account. You choose one remote support vendor for your organization: TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop. You need your own licence from that vendor, billed by them. NounDesk does not resell it.

The app on the phone. NounDesk installs the vendor’s app, with your account settings already in it, on every phone whose security policy has remote support turned on. Nobody on the team has to download anything or type a code. When a phone is replaced and enrolled on the same policy, it gets the app too.

The session. When someone needs help, you open their device in NounDesk and select Open TeamViewer (or AnyDesk, or Splashtop). That takes you to the vendor’s console, where you start the session. The session runs entirely in the vendor’s app, the way your team would use it anyway.

The device page also shows a status for remote support on that phone: Off, Installing or Ready. So before you promise a technician you will look at his screen, you can see whether his phone is actually set up for it.

Why it sits in the security policy

Remote support is a setting in each security policy, not a switch for the whole company. That matters because not every phone should have it.

Field crews who get stuck on a job are the obvious case for turning it on. A phone used by the owner or the person who handles payroll might be one you would rather keep off. With the setting in the policy, each group of phones follows its own rule, and a change to the policy reaches every phone on it. The publish preview tells you how many devices the change affects before it goes live.

If you have not split your phones into policies yet, our guide to managing technician phones walks through how field service businesses usually group them.

How to set it up in NounDesk

You need to be an Owner or Admin, and you need an account with one of the three vendors.

1. Go to Organization → Remote support and choose your Vendor.
2. Paste the value from your vendor account, then select Set up remote support. For TeamViewer that is the Assignment ID from an Android assignment in the TeamViewer Management Console. For AnyDesk it is the License key from my.anydesk.com. For Splashtop it is the Deploy code from Management → Deployment in the Splashtop web console.
3. Turn it on per policy: Security policies → Apps → Remote support: On, then publish the policy. NounDesk installs the vendor’s app on the phones that follow it.
4. To help someone, open their device. On the Overview tab, the Remote support card shows Ready once the app is in place. Select Open TeamViewer (or AnyDesk or Splashtop) and start the session in the vendor’s console.

The setup value is masked, and only Owners and Admins can see or change it. If you later change or remove the vendor, every policy that uses remote support follows. The full steps are in the remote support docs.

Honest limits

Remote support is useful, but it is worth knowing what it is not.

NounDesk cannot start a session. The button opens the vendor’s console. You start and run the session there. If the vendor’s service is down, NounDesk cannot work around it.

You need your own licence. NounDesk is $1.50 per device per month with every feature included. The TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop licence is separate and comes from the vendor.

One vendor per organization. You pick one. If half your team is used to one tool and half to another, settle on one first.

The employee may need to allow screen sharing the first time. A prompt appears on their phone and they tap to allow it. Tell your team this in advance, so a prompt on the screen does not look like something has gone wrong. Our post on explaining device management to employees has a simple way to cover it.

Company-owned phones only. NounDesk manages company-owned Android phones and tablets. It does not manage personal phones.

Try the simple fixes first

A live session is not always the fastest route. Plenty of problems can be fixed from NounDesk without one:

• Reset password when someone has forgotten their PIN.
• Clear app data when one app is stuck.
• Reboot, which still fixes more than anyone likes to admit.

Those are on the remote actions page. Remote support is for everything else: the setting nobody can find, the app that will not sign in, the Wi-Fi network that will not join.

What to do this week

1. Decide on one vendor. If you already pay for TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop, use that. If you do not, look at their Android plans and pick one before you start.
2. Choose which policies get it. Start with the team that calls the office most often, usually field crews. Leave it off elsewhere until you have a reason.
3. Connect the vendor and publish the policy. Then open one phone in NounDesk and wait for the remote support card to show Ready.
4. Run a practice session. Pick a colleague at the office, open their phone, and walk through the screen sharing prompt together. It is much easier the second time.
5. Tell the team. One message: “If you are stuck, call the office and we may ask to see your screen. You will get a prompt to allow it.”

FAQ

Can I remote control an employee’s Android phone with NounDesk?

Yes, through your own TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop account. NounDesk installs and links the vendor’s app and opens the vendor’s console in one click, and the session runs in the vendor’s app. NounDesk has no remote control of its own.

Do employees have to install anything?

No. NounDesk installs the vendor’s app with your settings on every phone whose policy has remote support turned on. The employee may need to allow screen sharing the first time a session starts.

What does remote support cost?

NounDesk includes it in the standard $1.50 per device per month, with every feature included. You also need your own licence from TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Splashtop, which the vendor bills separately.

What happens when a phone is replaced?

Enroll the new phone on the same security policy and NounDesk installs the vendor’s app on it, the same as the old one. The device page shows Installing and then Ready.

For more on how this fits with everything else a small fleet needs, see our guide to Android MDM for small business and the remote support feature page.

If your team spends too long on the phone talking each other through settings, try NounDesk and connect the remote support tool you already use.