“I pressed something and now it’s all gone.” If you’ve ever tried to fix a parent’s phone over the phone, you know how hard it is when you can’t see what they see.

If you both have iPhones, there’s a much easier way. During a FaceTime call, your parent can share their screen with you, and with iOS 18 or later you can even control their iPhone for them, with their permission.

Plain talk: screen sharing

Screen sharing lets the other person on a video call see exactly what’s on your screen, as it happens. They can’t change anything unless you give them control.

What you need

  • Both of you have an iPhone (or iPad) with iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later. Check in Settings > General > About.
  • A one-to-one FaceTime call between you.
  • A decent Wi-Fi or mobile signal.

Step 1: Your parent shares their screen

Talk your parent through this while you’re on the FaceTime call:

  1. Tap the screen once to show the call controls.
  2. Tap the Share button (it looks like a person in front of a screen, or a square with an arrow, depending on the version).
  3. Tap Share My Screen. After a short countdown, you’ll see their screen.

They can now go back to the Home Screen or open the app they’re stuck in. You’ll see everything they see.

Step 2: Ask for remote control (optional)

If talking them through it isn’t working:

  1. On your iPhone, tap the remote control button on the shared screen.
  2. Your parent sees a request. They tap Allow, then Continue. (If they tap Don’t Allow, screen sharing simply carries on.)
  3. You can now tap and swipe on their iPhone from yours.

For safety, the person in control can’t change the Apple Account or Face ID settings, use Apple Pay or erase the device. Apple notes they may still be able to make payments in other apps, which is one more reason to allow remote control only for family you trust. Your parent’s own taps always take priority, and they can tap Stop at any time.

Step 3: Stop sharing

Either of you can end it at any time:

  • Your parent can tap Stop at the bottom of the screen-sharing window to end remote control, and tap the screen-sharing icon at the top, then Stop, to end sharing.
  • Ending the FaceTime call ends both.

Try this

Practice once when nothing is wrong. Ask your parent to share their screen and show you their photos. When a real problem comes up, the steps will feel familiar.

If your parent has an Android phone

Android phones don’t have the same built-in remote control, but you can still see their screen:

  • Google Meet: start a video call, then ask your parent to tap the More or three-dots button and choose Share screen.
  • WhatsApp: during a video call, ask them to tap the share screen button.

Then talk them through each step while you watch.

Safety tip

Explain this rule to your parent clearly: only share your screen with family, on a call you started or were expecting. Scammers pretending to be tech support ask people to share their screen or install “remote support” apps. Real companies don’t call out of the blue to do this. See our guide to tech support scams.

Other ways to help from afar

  • Set things up in person first. Our one-afternoon setup checklist covers text size, contacts, scam protection and backups.
  • Add yourself as a recovery contact on their Apple Account, so you can help them get back in if they forget their password.
  • Give them a paper cheat sheet for the things they do most.

Your iPhone, Plainly Explained is written so your parent can look things up on their own, in large print, between calls.