[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.

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: