Comparison

RealVNC Viewer vs Legacy CompleteView

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

RealVNC Viewer

Access and control your Mac, Windows, or Linux computers remotely from any device. View your desktop, use your keyboard and mouse, and manage files securely with end-to-end encryption. Sync connections across all your devices for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Instant remote access to computers
  • Control mouse and keyboard remotely
  • End-to-end session encryption
  • Cloud service for easy connection
  • Backup and sync connections
  • Virtual keyboard with advanced keys
  • Bluetooth keyboard support
Read full description

RealVNC® Viewer from RealVNC® gives you instant remote access to your Mac, Windows and Linux computers from anywhere in the world. You can view your computer's desktop, and control its mouse and keyboard as though you were sitting down in front of it. Download RealVNC Connect to each computer you want to control. Then sign in to RealVNC Viewer on your device using your RealVNC account credentials. You'll see your computers automatically appear; simply tap to connect. RealVNC Connect password-protects each computer out-of-the-box. You may need to enter the same user name and password you use to log in to your computer. All sessions are then encrypted end-to-end. During a session, your device's touch screen serves as a trackpad to give you precise control. Drag your finger to move the remote mouse cursor and tap anywhere to left-click (other gestures such as right-click and scroll are explained in-app). As the original inventors of VNC remote access technology, we're confident you'll love what RealVNC Viewer has to offer. If you're still not convinced, check out our reviews! ===Key features=== - Connect with ease via our cloud service to computers running RealVNC Connect. - Backup and sync your connections between all your devices by signing in to RealVNC Viewer on each one. - A scrolling bar above the virtual keyboard includes advanced keys such as Command/Windows. - Support for Bluetooth keyboards. ===Contact=== We’d love to hear from you: iphone-support@realvnc.com twitter.com/RealVNC facebook.com/realvnc Better still, leave us a review!   ===Terms of Use=== https://static.realvnc.com/media/documents/RealVNCServicesTCs.pdf ===Trademarks=== RealVNC and VNC are trademarks of RealVNC Limited and are protected by trademark registrations and/or pending trademark applications in the European Union, United States of America and other jurisdictions. Protected by UK patents 2481870, 2479756; US patent 8760366; EU patent 2652951.

About

Legacy CompleteView

Access live and recorded video streams from your security cameras on your mobile device. Control PTZ cameras, adjust playback, and export footage with ease. Optimized for efficient streaming and robust search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Live and recorded video streaming
  • PTZ camera control
  • Video playback and scrubbing
  • Snapshot and clip export
  • Search system components and video
  • Map-based view access
Features
Read full description

With Salient’s CompleteView(TM) app, you can easily and instantly access live video, playback and export recorded video, and control cameras with PTZ functions from your phone. Easy and Efficient The CompleteView app allows you to securely stream audio and video from any analog or IP cameras, encoders, and NVRs connected to your CompleteView Recording Server. The app supports hardware accelerated H.264 decoding so you can stream video to your phone without worrying about battery life. Salient’s Dynamic Resolution Scaling further ensures that bandwidth between your phone and the recording server is optimized to get you the best possible image quality regardless of your connection. For a scalable and seamless transition from your desktop or browser, you can access any Views and Maps configured in your CompleteView Management Server, including the ability to view video streams directly from image and satellite maps. Full Control The CompleteView app gives you the power to see video the way you want with built-in controls to adjust frame rate and video quality levels on each video stream. The app also has powerful PTZ camera controls. You can stretch, pinch, and drag to manipulate PTZ cameras. The app allows you to access, set, and name PTZ presets and control PTZ speed. When playing back previously recorded video, the app has various scrub bar controls and adjustable playback speeds so you can quickly seek to exactly what you want to view. Something catch your eye? The CompleteView app allows you to take snapshots and email them off in addition to supporting clip exports. The Details You Need The CompleteView app has robust search capabilities to help you find what you need. Quickly search for any system component such as a View, Map, Camera, or Server with built-in search. When browsing through recorded video, you can use both list based and date/time based search to quickly narrow down to the video segment you are interested in. Lastly, the app supports overlays, quick review, and timeline review to further ensure that you have all the details you need at your fingertips. System Requirements: The CompleteView app requires devices running iOS 13.0 or higher. You will need CompleteView Management and Recording servers that you can connect to in order to fully use the features of this app. The app works with CompleteView ONE, Pro, and Enterprise editions, from version 5.3.0 to 6.x. If you have a different version of these back-end components, use one of the following versions of the app: - For CompleteView version 7.x or higher, use CompleteView app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/completeview/id1637667124). - For CompleteView version 4.x to 5.x, use Legacy TouchView app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/legacy-touchview/id604971309). Visit https://www.salientsys.com/products/CompleteView-ios for more information.

Screenshots

RealVNC Viewer4 screens
Legacy CompleteView4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Legacy CompleteView at 100% against RealVNC Viewer's 72%. Legacy CompleteView also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). RealVNC Viewer's advantage is ratings volume (15K vs 6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Legacy CompleteView holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RealVNC Viewer has 15K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of RealVNC Viewer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Legacy CompleteView's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RealVNC Viewer ships an update every 2 months, Legacy CompleteView every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
RealVNC Viewer versus Legacy CompleteView: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRealVNC ViewerLegacy CompleteView
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (15K ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15K — better6
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRealVNC LimitedSalient Systems

Customer experience

RealVNC Viewer

All ratings14,634 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.0%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews1,525 reviews
Positive72.3%
Neutral7.1%
Negative20.7%

Legacy CompleteView

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

RealVNC Viewer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Cursor and screen synchronization issues
  • Incompatibility with certain macOS and iOS versions
  • Frequent disconnections and login problems
  • Keyboard input not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for audio streaming
  • Improve clipboard and file transfer functionality
  • Provide better multi-monitor support
  • Allow customization of keyboard and mouse controls
  • Implement a true touch-based interface

Legacy CompleteView

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

RealVNC Viewer

No in-app purchases

None

Legacy CompleteView

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RealVNC Viewer free?
RealVNC Viewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Legacy CompleteView free?
Legacy CompleteView is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, RealVNC Viewer or Legacy CompleteView?
Legacy CompleteView is rated higher. RealVNC Viewer averages 4.8 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Legacy CompleteView averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do RealVNC Viewer or Legacy CompleteView have ads?
Neither RealVNC Viewer nor Legacy CompleteView shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RealVNC Viewer or Legacy CompleteView?
RealVNC Viewer ships an update every 2 months, and Legacy CompleteView every 3 months. Most recently, RealVNC Viewer was updated on October 27, 2026 and Legacy CompleteView on October 11, 2026.

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