Using your smartphone as the second monitor

[Yincognito]

This is more of an informative topic - didn't know where to post it, in Other Software & Customization or Tips & Tricks, so I posted it here since it involves another app.

One can use his smartphone as its 2nd monitor by using a free software like SpaceDesk (or, less likely, by using one of its alternatives). It works over the USB/C cable or WiFi, as long as its service executable is fully allowed in the firewall on the computer side (if that's the case and over WiFi communication is desired). This way, the skins won't take space on your primary monitor and can be placed on the smartphone instead. Didn't fully test potential lags or controlling issues, but so far it behaves nicely on my system (sorry for the photo's quality, it's night here ATM, my phone didn't have enough battery for a blitz and I forgot to turn on the light in the room):

20240302_183523.jpg

Above, I used my old phone as the 2nd monitor. The resolution can be set through the SpaceDesk options on the phone, so that stuff isn't distorted. The SpaceDesk software has 2 parts, one installed on the computer (the "server" part), the other one installed on the phone (the "viewer" part). Obviously, using the phone is just my preference, other devices can be used as "viewers" as well. The interface is very simple, on both the server and the viewer side, and as long both devices are connected to the same local network (if done over network) or to the same USB/C cable (if done over USB cable) it should work right away, after a click or two. For the record, my old phone's microUSB 2.0 cable didn't work for this, probably because it can't do video transfer / casting, so I connected the phone over WiFi (a cable connection ensures the maximum performance in terms of lag and image / video quality). Further adjustments like duplicating the main display or extending it can be configured via the Settings > System > Display options in Windows.