How to Share and Manage Screens on FaceTime
In iOS 15.1, Apple introduced the SharePlay feature, which added a variety of content sharing capabilities to FaceTime, allowing users to watch movies and TV shows together. Now, in iOS 18 , Apple is expanding these capabilities to include screen sharing and even the ability to give control of the screen to other people during your call. Here’s how to use it.
How to use the SharePlay feature in SharePlay
First of all, the newest SharePlay features are currently only available as part of the iOS 18 (or iPadOS 18) developer beta. More specifically, you’ll need to install at least Beta 2 or later to take advantage of the new features, as Apple only made them available recently.
I recommend installing these betas only on backup devices as they may cause instability on your primary device. If you have a device on which you can install the beta, follow these instructions to install it .
After installing the beta, you can now share your screen on Facetime, but with some caveats:
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The screen sharing feature doesn’t seem to allow you to share your screen with Macs yet. This will likely change in future beta versions.
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Other users participating in the call must also be running iOS 18 (or iPadOS 18) dev beta 2 or later.
Once you meet these requirements, you can start sharing your screen by starting a FaceTime call with someone using a supported device.
Then tap the Share icon, which is located at the top of the screen, next to the Finish button.
Tap Share My Screen and then sign out of Facetime. Your iPhone’s display should now appear on the other person’s device.
When you share your screen, you have two main features at your disposal. First, you can annotate parts of the screen by drawing on the display with your finger or Apple Pencil. This allows you to be specific about areas that you might want the person you’re calling to touch on and could be helpful in technical support.
Secondly, you can try the new remote control option.
How to use the SharePlay remote control feature
To use the SharePlay remote control feature, the person who is not sharing their screen must request control from the person sharing it. Just click on the small hand-shaped icon located in the upper right corner of the general screen (it’s next to the magnifying glass icon). The participant will receive a notification allowing them to approve or reject the management request.
From there, both users can share control of the device. This means you can now directly tell your aunt how to fix problems with her iPhone when she has them. However, keep in mind that there is a slight pause when you transfer control to someone else. We hope this will help avoid unintentional movements on the part of the user who is not in control of the situation. This could also just be a limitation of the beta at the moment. Hopefully future updates will bring a little more clarity.
There are quite a few uses for the SharePlay remote control feature, the most notable of which is helping people resolve technical issues on their devices, as I mentioned above. As someone who has become the default “tech support guy” in my family, I’m thrilled to see Apple making it easier to interact with friends and family devices via Facetime.