Hello,
I have a friend in another state who has asked me to help her customize some things on her phone. We are both VoiceOver users.
About a year ago, we tried to control each other's devices via screensharing on FaceTime, but it wasn't accessible at all. The best I could do was read her screen with VO screen recognition, and I couldn't control her phone at all. We also tried TeamViewer, but that was even worse; I couldn't even use screen recognition.
Has this changed? Is there any way one VO user can remotely control another's phone?
If not, is there a way for me to hear her VoiceOver output over screenshare? She is proficient with VO, so I don't strictly need to perform the gestures for her, but I do need to hear what her screen reader is saying so I can help in real time.
Thanks for any input!
By Kelly, 16 May, 2026
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Facetime
Thought in iOS 18 you could do via face time. If not, you will need to do it via a third phone where you can call and together using your own phone you can tell her what to do. Sad for her, Long live cats.
Re: Facetime
That was the first method we tried. Unfortunately, once the remote session was initiated, my VoiceOver wouldn't interact with her screen, and I could not hear her VO output. Maybe that's gotten better; this was about a year ago. You might be onto something with using another phone, if all else fails. She has a Mac, so we could FaceTime through that. Thanks for the suggestions!
Recording
Another thing you could is send her a voice recording on how you set your phone. She could listen and follow along with the instruction. Similar to a podcast. I find it help when I needed to change settings and make it my own way. Hope this help and I explain. Long live cats.
impossible
This is unfortunately impossible, though I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to do. Apple got it working on the Mac in Tahoe, but only time will tell. Maybe it's coming in iOS 27, but I'm not holding my breath. For now, your best bet is manually instructing her and listening to the phone output while you make the call on another device, or you could also make a recording as has already been suggested.
Podcasts
Thomas did many podcasts on setting up new features, making changes to VO and voices. Showing how to have different voice on particular apps. Long live cats.