Remote user interface (UI) rendering effects provide increased privacy and efficiency in computer user input systems. In an aspect, an application specifies remote UI effects to be managed and rendered on UI elements separately from the application, such as by an effects component running outside of the application's operating system process. When user input indicates a preliminary interaction with a UI element, the remote UI effect can be rendered without the application's knowledge of the preliminary interaction, hence preserving a user's privacy from the application of preliminary UI interactions.