Explaining how to fix a technical problem on a smartphone over a voice call is notoriously difficult. If your parent is struggling to find a specific setting, or if you want to browse an online store together with a friend, verbally describing what is on your screen is frustrating and inefficient.
Apple solved this problem by integrating a powerful feature directly into FaceTime. You can broadcast a live, high-resolution video feed of your exact iPhone screen directly to the other person, allowing them to see exactly what you are tapping and swiping in real-time.
How to Start a Screen Share
To use this feature, both you and the person you are calling must be using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and both devices must be updated to at least iOS 15.1 or later.
- Open the FaceTime app and start a normal video call with your contact.
- Once the call connects, look at the control panel at the top (or bottom) of your screen.
- Look for a specific icon that looks like a rectangular screen with a small person standing in front of it (this is the SharePlay button). Tap it.
- A drop-down menu will appear. Tap on Share My Screen.
A short three-second countdown will begin on your phone. When it reaches zero, the person on the other end of the call will receive a notification prompting them to “Join Screen Sharing.”
How to Navigate While Sharing
Once the broadcast begins, your camera feed will shrink into a small picture-in-picture box for the other person.
Simply swipe up to leave the FaceTime app and go to your home screen. You can now open Safari, the Settings app, or your Photo gallery. The person you are calling will see everything you do on your screen exactly as you see it. (They cannot control your phone; they can only watch).
Privacy Warning: FaceTime is smart enough to automatically hide any notifications or text messages that pop up at the top of your screen while you are sharing, ensuring your private messages remain hidden. However, it will not hide the content of the apps you manually open. If you open your banking app, the other person will see your bank balance.
How to Stop Sharing
When you are finished demonstrating the app or browsing the website together, you can easily end the broadcast without hanging up the phone call.
- Tap the green or purple FaceTime pill indicator in the top-left corner of your iPhone screen (next to the clock) to return to the main FaceTime app.
- Tap the SharePlay button again.
- Select Stop Sharing Screen.
The call will instantly revert to a standard video feed from your front-facing camera.