App of the Week: AirDroid

If you were one of the many people who was upset when PushBullet unveiled its new business model, this week’s App of the Week is for you.

Like PushBullet, AirDroid allows Android users to mirror their phone’s notifications on their PC. It also allows people to read and respond to SMS messages while on their computer, as well as move files between the two devices. For anyone that has used an iPhone and Mac combination since the release of Messages, and come to rely on the convenience of that combination and then switched to an Android smartphone, AirDroid is a godsend.

The advantage of AirDroid compared to PushBullet is that it is both a better experience than PushBullet, and features a fairer business model.

One of the wilder features of AirDroid is one called AirMirror. This allows the user to control their Android smartphone from their computer. On Mac, it’s possible to take advantage of this feature without rooting your smartphone — the AirDroid team says it’s working on bringing this feature to its Windows client. While it’s not a feature most users will take advantage of, it’s something that speaks to the overall fit and polish of AirDroid.

To start using AirDroid, you’ll need to grab the mobile app from the Google Play Store, as well as one of the desktop clients — available on Windows, OS X and Linux — from the company’s website. Alternatively, it’s possible to use a web client, but I think the desktop client is definitely the way to go.

AirDroid is free to use, however a premium tier starting at $1.99 per month grants the user a variety of perks, including the ability to go beyond the monthly 200MB remote data quota. Other paid features include the option to link up to six different Android devices to a single AirDroid account, among other things.