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Run Draft Buddy From Your iPad or Android Tablet

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We have a new potential method for running Draft Buddy on an iPad and other tablets. I got this up and running in just a few minutes.

We have a new potential method for running Draft Buddy on an iPad and other tablets. I got this up and running in just a few minutes.

While Draft Buddy requires Microsoft Excel, and the iPad version of Excel is not sufficient to run Draft Buddy, due to its more advanced features and back-end programming, we still managed to find a solution to run Draft Buddy on an iPad (old method). That was the case, until the OnLive Desktop free third-party service stopped operating earlier this year.

It looks like we are on track again. Described below is a new method that looks very promising for you guys to use Draft Buddy on your iPad. Props to customer Scott B. who brought this to my attention.

The third-party software I used to accomplish the task is called TeamViewer. It is free. You will need an internet connection.

Essentially installing TeamViewer on your desktop or laptop, connected to your home network, and then the TeamViewer app on your iPad, allows you to control your home computer from the iPad. Your home computer has Excel and Draft Buddy, and voila, you are running DB from your tablet.

Here are the steps I followed:

1. Download and install TeamViewer to my laptop that has Excel and Draft Buddy on it. Indicate simple setup – want to control this computer and it is for personal, non-commerical use.

2. As part of the installation, agree to create a TeamViewer account. Confirm email address. This step may not even be necessary.

3. TeamViewer starts up and presents an id and password, credentials that another computer will need to take control of this computer. Note, I didn’t even have Excel or Draft Buddy open at this point.

4. Start iPad and go to teamviewer.com, and it should prompt you to go to the App Store to install the TeamViewer app. Do that.

5. Open TeamViewer app and it prompts you for id from step 3. Input that, then the password, and your iPad should turn into your desktop/laptop screen. It gives instructions to navigate the app (normal touch controls). Now you have control of your computer that has Draft Buddy.

At this point I was able to open Excel, open Draft Buddy, make setting changes, Compile Cheatsheets and draft some players.

I did find the touch control scrolling on the offense tab a little difficult to go side to side. Up and down scrolling was no problem. It made me see if it is possible to get a mouse for an iPad, and it looks like you can switch the TeamViewer app to register mouse controls instead of touch controls. That might work better.

Speed seemed okay. Similar to the old OnLive Desktop I would guess you need a good internet connection on both ends of this setup for it to work well.

Feel free to try this out and report how it is going. I’m going to keep testing here, and might go to Best Buy and look for an iPad mouse too. Although I don’t have an Android tablet the TeamViewer website indicates they have an Android app and Windows phone app, too.

Using Draft Buddy on an iPad or Android Tablet

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We’ve had the option and discussed using Draft Buddy on an iPad or Android tablet over in the Draft Buddy forum at FF Today since 2012 thanks to a free third-party service called OnLive Desktop.

Understandably, more and more people continue to ask me if they can use Draft Buddy on their iPad. In the past the main concern with this idea was requiring a really strong internet connection at your draft, and the service potentially disconnecting.

This year, I’m having really good success using OnLive Desktop. I’ve connected numerous times and haven’t experienced any issues.

There are a couple caveats, such as it is likely easier and faster to prep your copy of Draft Buddy on your laptop before uploading the file to the OnLive service, and web queries do not work, impacting the Update Projections and MFL Integration features. However, all-in-all this appears to be a solid option for using Draft Buddy at your draft if you really prefer to do it on your tablet instead of hauling a laptop along with you.

Although I was stumped for a while how to pull together a demo video showing what I’m doing on my laptop and iPad, I found some software to do the trick. At the top of this post is a video showing me using the OnLive service (free account), uploading Draft Buddy to that account, and opening and using Draft Buddy on my iPad. Post comments about your experiences or questions if you have them.