Setting up a first session: who shares, who connects, and what each side needs

The most common first-time failure is not technical. It is that both people think they are doing the same thing, when the two sides of a remote session have genuinely different jobs.

The two roles

The row people trip on is the code. It belongs to the phone whose screen is being shared, and it is typed into the other one. Half of all "invalid code" reports are the two devices doing each other's job.

Setting up the sharing phone

1. Install the app and open it.
2. Start a session. Android shows a system dialog asking permission to capture the screen. This is not the app's dialog — no app can style or bypass it — and it appears every session by design.
3. Choose one app rather than the entire screen if you are on Android 14 or later and only need to show one thing.
4. If this phone will also be controlled, enable the accessibility service. Settings → Accessibility → Installed services. Read the warning; it is telling you the truth about what you are granting. This is not needed if the other person only needs to look.
5. Read out the code. Digit by digit, and check the other person reads it back.

Setting up the connecting side

Much less to do, which is the point. Either the same app on another phone, or a browser on a computer — a big screen and a real keyboard make everything easier, and nothing needs installing. See controlling a phone from your computer.

Thirty seconds of preparation on the sharing phone

1. Turn on Do Not Disturb. Removes the biggest category of accidental disclosure in one switch.
2. Close what you do not want seen, including in the recents screen.
3. Plug in, or start with a decent battery. Sharing is demanding — see what a session costs.
4. Exempt the app from battery optimisation if the session will be longer than a couple of minutes, or the system may stop it mid-call.
5. Get on Wi-Fi if you can. The sharing phone's upload determines quality for both of you.

The five-minute test, before you need it

Do this once, calmly, rather than discovering the gaps during a real problem:

1. Run a session between the two devices and confirm the picture arrives.
2. If control is needed, confirm a tap actually lands. Video without control is the most common surprise.
3. Lock the sharing phone's screen and see what happens. Some setups continue, some stop; better to know now.
4. Leave it running for five minutes without touching anything. If it dies, that is battery optimisation, and now is the time to fix it.
5. Write down where the accessibility switch lives on that phone. You will want it later, and finding it under pressure is unpleasant.

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