How to share screen on FaceTime

As a reader of Pocket-lint, I know there’s a good chance you’re the family “techie.” Trust me, I understand the feeling. As the go-to person for tech support in my circles, few things give me a headache more than trying to walk people through troubleshooting an issue on their device over the phone. I’ve always said there’s a reason I went to work in an Apple Store rather than Apple Support. Trying to visualize what the person sees on the other end while explaining what they need to do is frustrating and challenging.

Fortunately, if you find yourself in that situation as I often do, Apple is making some much-welcomed improvements to SharePlay and FaceTime this fall with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia to make remote tech support much easier.

SharePlay improvements

Request, draw, and control

SharePlay, as it currently exists, lets people share their device’s screen via FaceTime. What’s new with Apple’s upcoming fall OS releases is the ability to ask someone to share their screen, draw on it, and request to control it — which are substantial improvements for anyone needing to provide remote tech support to family or friends. For these new features to work, all devices included must be running iOS 18, iPadOS 18, or macOS 15 Sequoia.

At the time of writing, these FaceTime improvements are only available in beta and aren’t yet working as well as they need to just yet. During my testing, I wasn’t able to control any device’s screen remotely. When using macOS, I couldn’t draw on another device either, though I’m confident Apple will have these bugs fleshed out before the public release. Still, until then, these features haven’t been working entirely as intended.

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How to share a device’s screen with FaceTime

Ask to Share and Share My Screen

When on a FaceTime call with someone, you can request them to share their screen by following these instructions:

1. Tap Share.
2. Tap Ask to Share.
3. Have the other person tap Share on their device when prompted.

Alternatively, they can share their screen using these directions:

1. Tap Share.
2. Tap Share My Screen.

After a three-second countdown, you’ll be viewing another person’s screen. There, you can tap to create circles visualizing where a person should navigate themselves and draw arrows, circles, or other iconography with your finger, Apple Pencil, or pointer, depending on your device.

While sharing, there are two new buttons: a magnifying glass and a pointing finger. The magnifying glass adjusts the sizing of the screen being shared to make it easier for the viewer to see. The pointing finger icon requests the other person’s permission to control their device remotely.

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