Is it possible to remotely view (and control) an iPad?

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Level 1

8 points

Is it possible to remotely view (and control) an iPad?

My mother (88 years old) uses an iPad to communicate with us children, grand-children and grand-grand-children.

She masters this mostly ok but inevitably again and again bumps into situations where she doesn't know what to do or how to react to certain dialogues or popups (typically update-, license- or security-related stuff).

It would be most helpful if she could then call me for assistance and I could remotely view (and ideally control) here device from my PC.

I googled for such SW but haven't found anything convincing, yet. Most products even require to use the same WiFi network which clearly is a no-go in our situation.

Is there any solution or product that could be helpful for our use-case?

Posted on Dec 4, 2021 3:02 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Scott-he-him

Level 5

4,474 points

Dec 4, 2021 4:26 PM in response to mmo18

Hello,

FaceTime could be a great solution for her to screen share while on a FaceTime call but it does not allow remote control. She could share the screen then go back to whatever she needs assistance with. After you would see what she sees to walk her through it.

Share your screen in FaceTime on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

This could be a relevant limitation however.

“If you get any notifications while sharing your screen, others won't be able to see them.”

On a side note, any SF that enables remote control of a device would likely have been designed with enterprise management in mind. These are usually very expensive because of that.

Make sure your mother knows how awesome she is for learning and using new technologies like this. I hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Dec 6, 2021 11:39 AM in response to mmo18

No worries. Apple recently opened up FaceTime to non Apple devices.

Your mother could send you an invite link that would allow you to join via a web browser. You won’t be able to screen share but she still could.

Use FaceTime with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

“You can invite anyone to join a FaceTime call, even people who don't have an Apple device. They can join you in one-on-one and Group FaceTime calls from their browser. You can't create a FaceTime link with Windows or a non-Apple device, but you can join a FaceTime call if someone shares a link with you.”

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Answer 3

Dec 6, 2021 1:13 PM in response to mmo18

Oh no, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t think about the feature from the receiving end. I was just thinking about how to start a session.

Looking at the article, I linked to in my first reply, I think the combination of your mother’s iPad to your wife’s iPhone is the only option.

“Here's what everyone needs

An iPhone or iPad
iOS or iPadOS 15.1 or later”

Sorry to get your hopes up.

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Answer 4

mmo18 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 6, 2021 12:39 PM in response to Scott-he-him

I just tried this several times with my wife's iPhone. While the video connection worked - from my Android phone to the iPhone even better than in the inverse direction - whenever I selected screen sharing on the iPhone the screen on the Android phone remained dark for no apparent reason. Switching back to camera worked again, switching to screen sharing: dark again.

I'll try with my mother's phone when I visit her the next time. Maybe it works with her's, but so far the experience has not been really convincing, yet. The connection setup is also not exactly trivial, so I have my doubts here as well. We'll see...

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