In this tutorial, we will show you how to use the new iOS 18 remote control View another iPhone’s screen on your iPhone and control that phone from miles away! This also works with iPads.
Imagine your parents need help doing something on their iPhone or iPad, and no amount of verbal support over the phone or sharing web articles is helping them.
In this case, you can use FaceTime Remote Control to view their iPhone screen and control their device. You can open apps, navigate menus, enable or disable features, and pretty much everything else as if you had that remote iPhone in your hand!
Caution: Similar to services like Apple’s remote control feature Any desk, which is a favorite tool of scammers to gain control of a vulnerable person’s computer or phone. Once they gain control, they wipe out the victim’s bank account or trick them into sending them hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards. It is important to educate your family elders to never allow remote control requests on their phones during Facetime calls from strangers or people claiming to be ‘support staff’.
See also: How to use iPhone Mirroring on Mac to view and control your iPhone
What is required
Both iPhones or iPads must be on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or newer.
iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 are currently in beta. Make sure devices are updated Developer Beta 2 or higher.
Important: During my tests, I found that I could remotely control the iPhone from the iPad (as shown in the iPad screenshot below). However, I cannot control the iPad from the iPhone. When I share my iPad’s screen with an iPhone, the option to launch Remote Control doesn’t appear.
Use the remote control to view and control other iPhone screens
1) open up Facetime app and start a call with the person. It doesn’t matter who calls and who picks up.
2) Once both people are on a FaceTime video call, the person whose iPhone you want to control can start sharing their screen, or if they’re not too tech-savvy, you can send them a request to start sharing their screen. .
- The recipient starts sharing their screen: They tap the Facetime call screen to reveal and tap all the controls Share it > Share my screen.
- Request the recipient to share their screen: Tap and tap the Facetime call screen on your phone Share it > Ask to share. One will receive an alert on his screen. Ask them to tap Share it.
3) Once screen sharing starts, the screen sharing window on your iPhone will be dimmed, and their video feed will also be cut off. However, both people’s FaceTime audio will work, and your video feed will be visible to them. Ask that person Swipe from the FaceTime app Go to their iPhone and go to their home screen. Now, you will see their iPhone screen on your iPhone.
4) Tap their screen sharing window on your iPhone to take up almost the entire screen.
Tip: Drag it aside to hide the video feed and get an unobstructed view of their phone screen. Another person can also hide your video feed from their iPhone screen if needed.
5) Now, you can tap or draw on the screen sharing window, and that tap will appear on their iPhone miles away in near real-time. With these tapes, drawings and your voice, you should be able to guide them to do something on their phone or tablet.
6) However, if they can’t keep up with your taps and highlights, it’s time to take control of their iPhone! To do that, tap An icon showing a finger From the bottom right corner of your iPhone screen. The person will now receive an alert on their iPhone, letting them know that you want to control (share) it. All they have to do is tap allows.
7) Now you can use that person’s iPhone remotely. Swipe through home screen pages, jump inside apps, change settings and more. All of this will appear on their device, and they will be able to see it. During this time, that person may also be using their iPhone, and when they do, you’ll see “that man controls…“message on your screen.
Using the remote control
You can navigate their iPhone through screen-sharing windows just like you would a real iPhone.
- You can go inside apps and sub-menus.
- Touch and hold to invoke the context menu.
- Swipe up to go home.
- Open Control Center.
- Go to the Notification Center.
- Enter App Switcher to force quit apps.
- Tap at the top of the screen to go to the beginning of the list.
- And more…
However, you cannot swipe right from the left edge of the screen to go back. You must use the on-screen buttons in the upper left corner to go back to the previous page. You can also touch and hold the back button to view the path and go back.
Note that you cannot access their Apple Account section, Face ID and Password (this is not visible even during remote control), and some other options for privacy and security reasons.
Zoom in on the screen-sharing window
tap on plus button For a closer look at the screen-sharing window. Next, you can use two fingers to zoom in further. However, note that controlling their iPhone is unavailable when you zoom in. Tap the zoom-out button to regain control powers.
End remote control and screen sharing
Once you’ve fixed their problem, it’s time to finish the remote control. There are a few ways to do this:
- Ask the person to tap off on their iPhone.
- Tap the highlighted one Remote control icon on your iPhone.
Note that screen sharing will continue even after the remote control is turned off. But it is easy to finish.
- Ask the person to return to their FaceTime app and tap Share it button to end screen sharing. The call will continue. Ask them to tap Camera button to resume their video feed if it hasn’t already.
- If they don’t understand how to turn off screen sharing, you can tap Red end button Screen sharing and call to hang up calls from your side. You can always make another call.
On a related note: How to listen to music or watch movies and TV shows with your friends on Facetime