Your father is stuck on a phone setting three cities away. Explaining over a voice call is hopeless — but on a WhatsApp video call, you can simply show him your screen, tap by tap, live. That is screen sharing: a live view of your phone or computer screen inside a WhatsApp call, built for exactly these moments — walking family through an app, showing a document or photo, going through a shopping cart together, or presenting something to colleagues.
This guide gives the current steps for Android, iPhone, Windows and Mac, explains how audio sharing works (it changed in 2024, and old guides still get it wrong), and covers the safety rules — because everything on your screen, passwords included, is visible to the people watching.
First, the Two Rules That Never Change
Rule one: video calls only. WhatsApp’s own help text states plainly that screen sharing is not available during audio calls. If the Share option is missing, check first whether you are actually on a video call — this one detail explains most “screen sharing not working” complaints.
Rule two: keep WhatsApp updated. WhatsApp’s guidance is to use the latest version of the app and the latest version of your phone’s or computer’s operating system; if someone on the call is on an old version, they may see a prompt to update before sharing works. Note what WhatsApp does not publish: any specific minimum version for screen sharing. Sites listing exact version numbers (“Android 10+, iOS 15+”) are inventing them and contradict each other — ignore those figures and simply update.
Screen sharing launched in August 2023, announced by Mark Zuckerberg, rolling out in phases on Android, iOS and Windows Desktop at the time — alongside landscape mode for video calls. It works in one-to-one and group video calls alike.
Share Your Screen on Android or iPhone (Current Steps)
The menu path was rearranged after launch, so if older guides told you to look for a Share icon in the main call bar, that is only half the story now. The current flow:
- Start (or join) a video call.
- Tap the three-dot (More options) icon in the video controls.
- Tap Share screen.
- Your phone shows a system warning that you are about to start recording/casting with WhatsApp. Confirm it — Start now on Android, Start Broadcast on iPhone.
- Choose what to share: – Share one app → tap Next → pick the app. Only that app is shown. – Share entire screen → tap Share screen. Everything is shown.
- To finish, tap Stop Sharing — you stay on the call; only the sharing ends.
On some app versions the Share icon still sits directly in the call bar instead of behind the three dots — if you see it there, tap it; the steps after that are the same. While you share, the other participants’ video feeds appear below your shared content, so the conversation continues around what you are showing.
Choose Share one app whenever you can. It is the single best privacy habit this feature offers: notifications, other chats and anything outside that one app never appear.
Share Your Screen on a Computer (Windows and Mac)
In the WhatsApp Desktop app, start a video call, then:
- Windows: click the Share icon in the call controls, choose a specific window or your entire screen, and click Share. One official practical note: make sure the window you want to share is not minimised, or the others cannot see it. Stop with the “Stop screen sharing” icon.
- Mac: click Screen sharing in the video controls, choose the screen, and click Share. To stop, click Stop sharing inside WhatsApp — or, if you have switched away from WhatsApp, click the purple icon in the macOS menu bar and choose Stop sharing.
WhatsApp shares a window or the whole screen on desktop — claims about sharing an individual browser “tab” come from other apps’ guides, not WhatsApp’s own steps.
What about WhatsApp Web in a browser? Old guidance says Web cannot make calls at all — that is outdated. Meta brought native voice and video calling to WhatsApp Web in July 2026, and since October 2026 even guests without a WhatsApp account can join a call from a browser via a call link and share their computer screen (our guest-calling guide, linked below, covers that feature). The Desktop app remains the classic, full-featured route: if the Share option is missing in your browser session, switch to the Desktop app.
Yes, They Can Hear It Now: Audio Sharing Since 2024
If you read an older guide saying “viewers can see your video but not hear it,” you are reading launch-era information. At launch in 2023, audio for shared content (YouTube, games and the like) genuinely was not shared. That changed with WhatsApp’s 13 June 2024 calling update, which added screen sharing with audio — announced specifically for watching videos together: share your screen, and you can share the audio too. The current help text no longer carries the old “audio is not available” line.
Two honest qualifications. Audio behaviour can still vary by device and operating system, so a video audible on one phone pairing may be muted on another. And a video from a streaming app like Netflix may still show a black picture to viewers — in launch testing this was traced to the streaming app’s own copyright (DRM) protection, not to a WhatsApp setting, so it is the one thing the 2024 audio update does not fix.
The same June 2024 update standardised group video calls at up to 32 people on every platform — mobile, Windows and Mac (desktop had previously been lower) — and added Speaker Spotlight, which highlights whoever is speaking, plus a newer call codec for clearer audio on poor connections and older devices. All 32 people on a group call can see your shared screen.
The Scam That Starts With ‘Share Your Screen’
Now the part of this guide that matters most, in WhatsApp’s own words: “the information displayed on your shared screen, including usernames and passwords, are visible to the person you’re sharing with.” Everything means everything — notifications popping up mid-share, messages, banking details, and the OTP codes that arrive by SMS while your screen is live.
The protections, stated accurately:
- Screen sharing is end-to-end encrypted, and WhatsApp states it is never recorded by WhatsApp — nobody outside the call, not even WhatsApp, can see or hear what you share.
- But encryption does not protect you from the people on the call. Any participant can take a screenshot or record the share with their own device tools. If the person is not saved in your contacts, WhatsApp itself reminds you, in one-to-one calls, to share only with people you trust.
Security researchers have documented a live scam pattern built on exactly this feature: a caller pretending to be from your bank (or “WhatsApp support”) pressures you to start a video call and share your screen, then watches you open your banking app or reads the OTP that appears — and empties the account. No bank, and no WhatsApp official, will ever ask you to share your screen. Never share your screen with an unknown caller, for any reason. Share with family and known contacts, prefer Share one app over the entire screen, close sensitive apps and silence notifications before you start, and remember you can tap Stop Sharing at any moment — you stay in full control throughout.
What WhatsApp has not documented, so no guide should promise: whether opening View Once media during a share is blocked or shown, and what happens to your own camera feed while you share (other participants’ video tiles staying visible below your screen is what the official text confirms).
Audio, the 32-person limit and Speaker Spotlight above come from WhatsApp’s June 2024 calling announcement, covered at the time by BetaNews; the screen-sharing steps and privacy wording follow WhatsApp’s current Help Center text.
Also read: WhatsApp Guest Calling: Join a Call Without an Account · WhatsApp Chat Lock: Hide Private Chats With a Secret Code
FAQs
Q: Can I share my screen on a WhatsApp voice call? No. WhatsApp states that screen sharing isn’t available during audio calls — you must be on a video call. If the Share screen option is missing, this is the first thing to check, before anything else: switch the call to video (or start a video call instead), then look under the three-dot menu in the call controls.
Q: Will the other person hear the video playing on my screen? Yes, normally — since WhatsApp’s June 2024 update, screen sharing carries audio too, a feature announced for watching videos together. Before that update it did not, which is why old guides disagree. Behaviour can still vary by device and operating system, and videos from DRM-protected streaming apps such as Netflix may show viewers a black picture regardless of audio, because that block comes from the streaming app itself.
Q: Is screen sharing private? Can WhatsApp see what I share? The share is protected with end-to-end encryption and is never recorded by WhatsApp, so nobody outside your call — including WhatsApp — can see it. The real exposure is inside the call: every participant sees everything on your screen, including passwords and OTPs, and any of them can screenshot or record it with their own tools. Share only with people you know, prefer sharing a single app, and never accept a screen-sharing request from an unknown “bank” or “support” caller — that is a documented scam pattern.
Q: How many people can see my shared screen in a group call? Up to 32 — group video calls hold a maximum of 32 people on every platform (mobile, Windows, Mac and, since July 2026, WhatsApp Web), and everyone on the call can see the shared screen. During the share, the participants’ video feeds sit below the shared content so you can keep talking while you present.