Mark Zuckerberg announced the screen-sharing feature on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg/Meta
Sharing your screen during a video call is no longer headache-inducing, at least not if you’re using FaceTime and, soon, WhatsApp.
“We’re adding the ability to share your screen during a video call on WhatsApp,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, announced the new feature in a Facebook post with a photo.
Also: Want to voice chat on WhatsApp? You might be able to soon
The feature was first explored in late May when it became available to Android beta testers. Though it’s unclear when the feature will be widely available for all WhatsApp users, the new post by Zuckerberg hints it could be sooner than later.
As noted during beta testing, the screen-sharing feature would be available during a call by tapping a button on the call control view. The user trying to share their screen will then be prompted to allow permission to WhatsApp to record, display, and share the contents of their screen with the recipient.
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Apple added a screen-sharing capability to FaceTime called SharePlay with iOS 15.1 in late 2021. Using SharePlay is as easy as tapping a button on your Apple device during a video call, but since FaceTime requires the host to be an Apple user, Android users are left with only the ability to join FaceTime calls, not start them.
WhatsApp video calls, in turn, are available to any device with access to the app and an internet connection across Android and iOS. Adding the screen-sharing feature to WhatsApp would reach the app’s more than 2.4 billion monthly users and could become essential for the workplace in countries where it’s the most used messaging application, like India.
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