Whether you want to use your phone as a drawing tablet or just annotate the occasional image, here’s how to draw on a PC with an Android device.


Whether you’re studying from a PDF on your desktop, sharing your screen in an online meeting, or just sketching out some ideas in Photoshop, there are times when you want to be able to draw on your screen and share. with others.


Using a graphics tablet would be an easy solution, but no worries if you don’t have one. Here’s how you can use your Android phone to draw and write on your Windows PC screen.


How to Draw on Your Windows PC with an Android Device

You can configure your phone to work as a cheap alternative to a graphics tablet in artistic applications such as Photoshop. But you can also use it to annotate your Windows PC screen in other ways, which makes it ideal if you’re teaching or giving presentations, for example.

You need a third-party PC remote control app on your Android phone or tablet to draw on your computer screen. For this guide, we’re using two apps: the PC Remote Receiver app on Windows and the PC Remote app on Android. Both are free, although there are options for in-app purchases on the Android app.

After installing both apps, launch them and follow these steps for pairing:

  1. Connect your phone to your Windows PC using a USB cable.
  2. On the mobile app home screen, tap Relate then select the USB icon.
  3. It will ask you to enable USB tethering on your phone, and once done, your two devices will be paired successfully.

If your smartphone and your PC are on the same Wi-Fi network, you can pair them by pressing the Wireless instead of using USB, then choose your computer name from the list.

Sometimes while pairing your phone with the computer, the mobile app shows an error message no matter what pairing mode you are using.

To fix this problem, you must first close the app and then remove it from the Recent menu. After that, force stop the app from your phone settings and reopen it.

Once you’ve paired your phone and PC, launch the mobile app and follow these steps to start drawing on the screen:

  1. Press the Utility tools bottom option, located second from the right.
  2. In the Utility tools section, choose the Blackboard icon, and you can see your PC screen mirrored on your smartphone.
    Utility Tools option on mobile app home screen
    Choose the Blackboard option from the Utility Tools menu
  3. Tap the Pen icon to draw anything on your screen. This is what your drawing will look like on your Windows screen.
  4. Above Pen icon, you can see a cog icon. Tap it to open the Pen Settings menu where you can customize the pen’s size, color, opacity, and sharpness.
  5. By tapping the Gum The icon allows you to erase any part of your drawing. Above that there is also a cog icon which you can use to increase or decrease the size of the eraser by dragging the slider.
  6. If you want to erase everything you have written on the screen, press the Wipe off icon present at the bottom left.
  7. After finishing your work, you can disconnect your phone by first pressing the Me next to the Utility icon, then choosing the icon DISCONNECT option.

Turn your Android phone into a drawing pad for your PC

Using an Android phone to draw on a PC screen is a great budget option for new graphic designers and people who sometimes need to annotate something on their PC. But it’s not a replacement for dedicated gear if you really need it. If you are a digital art professional, investing in a good graphics tablet or an iPad is not something you will regret.