[macOS] Interacting with a shared screen

When someone else on a call is sharing their screen, you can use the toolbar at the top of the viewing window to understand what's going on in the call and interact with the shared screen.

Note: If you fullscreen this window, you can access the toolbar by moving your cursor to the top of the screen.

Participant Display

In the top left of the window is the participant display. Here, you'll see an overview of who's on the call with you, whose screen you're looking at, and who currently has control over the mouse and keyboard.

When a user has control over the mouse and keyboard, they'll have a colored ring around their avatar:

You can click on the "+" icon to add more people to a call (either by adding them directly, or by copying a link to the call):

Clicking on any user's avatar allows you to request that they share their screen or webcam, or kick them off the call:

Shared Screen Tools

Tuple has a number of tools that allow you to interact with a shared screen:

Remote Control

When the remote control tool is enabled, all of your mouse and keyboard input events will be forwarded to the host machine. The only exception is command-tab (see settings below).

Paint

This tool allows you to draw on the shared screen; your drawing can be seen by all participants. By default, anything you draw will fade away automatically after a few seconds, though this behavior can be changed (see settings below). You can also hold shift to draw a straight line.

Highlight Click

This tool allows you to create a pulsing indicator on the host's screen for a few seconds. Use this mode to quickly draw your pair's attention to something without getting in the way too much.

Text Annotation

This tool allows you to place a text field anywhere within the shared screen, and type some text.

Reactions

Tuple contains a number of reactions you can send while on a call. There are a handful of emojis that can be sent, as well as some bigger, full-screen reactions.

Zoom Tool

The zoom tool allows you to zoom in (and pan around) on a shared screen.

Zooming

When using the zoom tool, there are a number of ways to zoom in and out:

Left click will zoom in; both Option + left click and right click will zoom out
Double click zooms all the way in; double click when zoomed all the way in will zoom all the way back out again
Pinch in (on a trackpad) will zoom in; pinch out will zoom out
Command + scroll wheel / two finger scroll will zoom and out (the zoom direction will respect your "Natural scrolling" setting in macOS)
The zoom buttons in the lower right hand corner of the screen also allow you to zoom in and out

Panning

There are also a few different ways to pan with the zoom tool selected (once you've zoomed in):

Holding space while clicking and dragging will allow you to pan (your cursor will change into a hand)
Using the scroll wheel will pan up and down; if your mouse has a trackball that supports horizontal scrolling, that will work as well
Holding down the scroll wheel (also sometimes called the “third button”) will pan
You can use two fingers to pan (on a trackpad)
Panning can also be toggled on using the pan button in the lower right hand corner

Universal shortcuts

There are a handful of keyboard shortcuts that you can use, regardless of which tool you have selected (the only exception is when you're in remote control mode, since the keypresses would be forwarded to the remote machine):

Command + + will zoom in, Command + - will zoom out
Command + 0 will make the shared screen the same resolution as your native resolution
Command + 9 will will zoom to fit the shared screen into the screen share window

These commands can also be found in the View menu in the menu bar.

Zooming and panning while using other tools

It's also possible to zoom and pan when you have the drawing, highlight click, and text annotation tools selected:

Command + left click will zoom in; Command + Option + left click will zoom out
Command + double click zooms all the way in; command + double click when zoomed all the way in will zoom all the way back out again
Holding command + scroll wheel / two finger scroll will zoom in and out
Holding command + pinching in (on a trackpad) will zoom in; command + pinch out will zoom out
You can hold command and use two fingers to pan (on a trackpad)
Holding space while clicking and dragging will allow you to pan
Command + holding down the scroll wheel (also sometimes called the “third button”) will pan

Caveats

Note that the zoom tool won't appear unless the screen you're viewing can be zoomed in on; if the shared screen is equal or lower to your native resolution, the tool won't be shown.
You're not able to zoom in further than your own native resolution
You won't be able to pan around if you haven't zoomed in

Send Link

This tool allows you to send your pair a URL, which will open automatically in their browser. This can be disabled by the call initiator in their Preferences.

A/V Controls

The shared screen window also contains controls for enabling and disabling your microphone and webcam. You can also change your active audio and camera devices directly from this menu. Lastly, these controls also allow you to easily begin sharing your own screen.

Settings

Stream resolution

The initial Stream Resolution setting is based on the call initiator's preference but can be temporarily modified by the guest during a call.

If you aren't doing a lot of typing or clicking on the shared screen, you should crank this up to get the sharpest image. However, if you want very snappy responses to your keystrokes, then you can get lower latency by reducing the resolution of the video.

Paint persistence

You can choose whether you want drawings done with the paint tool to fade after 2 seconds, or persist until you right click.

Forwarding command-tab

You can toggle whether you want the command-tab key sequence to be sent to the host or not.

A note about fullscreen

Tuple only allows fullscreen when the macOS setting 'Displays have separate spaces' is turned on. You can find that setting in System Preferences > Mission Control:

Or in macOS 13.0+ in System Preferences > Desktop and Dock: