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HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,666
1,447
Los Angeles, Ca
my parents are clueless when it comes to computers and called earlier today wanting help with pages and pdf files. Instead of trying to explain over the phone how they're in fact in 'finder' and not pages would surely seem to be better resolved if they could share their MacBook screen to my iPhone from their home in California and me in NY.

Aside from FaceTime, how?
 

rzc16512

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2015
170
85
my parents are clueless when it comes to computers and called earlier today wanting help with pages and pdf files. Instead of trying to explain over the phone how they're in fact in 'finder' and not pages would surely seem to be better resolved if they could share their MacBook screen to my iPhone from their home in California and me in NY.

Aside from FaceTime, how?
I use teamviewer all the time. There's even a portable version they can download so you get a onetime connection code to connect and then once they close teamviewer you can't get back in without them opening the portable and giving you the new connection code
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,255
53,002
Behind the Lens, UK
my parents are clueless when it comes to computers and called earlier today wanting help with pages and pdf files. Instead of trying to explain over the phone how they're in fact in 'finder' and not pages would surely seem to be better resolved if they could share their MacBook screen to my iPhone from their home in California and me in NY.

Aside from FaceTime, how?
Another vote for team viewer. I used to help my dad out who lives at the other end of the country from me. To give you an idea of how clueless he was, it took me 10 minutes on the phone explaining how to download the software. Very painful experience. But once I could get on his PC, I was able to assist him pretty easily.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
There's also VNC that could be used for screen sharing/control.
 

willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Oct 31, 2009
10,314
8,198
Here(-ish)
my parents are clueless when it comes to computers and called earlier today wanting help with pages and pdf files. Instead of trying to explain over the phone how they're in fact in 'finder' and not pages would surely seem to be better resolved if they could share their MacBook screen to my iPhone from their home in California and me in NY.

Aside from FaceTime, how?
I use TeamViewer.

If you have a Mac as well, many people forget that the Messages app also has a screen sharing feature.
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20152?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US
 

geta

macrumors 65816
May 18, 2010
1,490
1,217
The Moon
Never heard about TeamViewer and Jump Desktop, but another free solution would be Skype's share screen option.
 

TheAppleFairy

Suspended
Mar 28, 2013
2,588
2,223
The Clinton Archipelago unfortunately
I have used TeamViewer and it's pretty good. I personally use iTeleport Remote Desktop VNC & RDP I think it's running about $25 now, when I first got it VNC and RDP were in separate apps for $25 each. IMHO iTeleport works better and faster than TeamViewer but I think TeamViewer is more than enough for most people who have an occasional need to assist someone.
 

dcpmark

macrumors 65816
Oct 20, 2009
1,026
815
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geta

macrumors 65816
May 18, 2010
1,490
1,217
The Moon
Would this work on my folks MacBook Pro and from my iPhone 6s? Or do they both need to be laptops?

For what i know you can share (in your case, your folks can share) mac screen on your iPhone, but not the other way around. Since Skype is free, give it a try and let us know if\how it worked for you. ;)
 
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