Facebook has enabled its screen sharing feature for Messenger on mobile devices, allowing you to share your phone or tablet screen when you call a friend one-on-one, in a group chat, or while participating in even bigger conversations through Messenger Rooms.
Right now, you can share your screen (or images from your camera roll, or your Instagram feed, or whatever you like) with up to eight people in group chats or up to 16 people in Messenger Rooms. However, Facebook says it is working to expand the feature for up to 50 people in Rooms. The update is available on both Android and iOS.
To share your screen, first make sure you have the latest version of Messenger installed. Then during a call, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the call options. Then click “share your screen”, “start sharing”, and then “start streaming” (presumably Facebook is giving you so many warnings not to start sharing anything by mistake). After that, you can browse as you like on your phone or return to the call to stop the transmission.
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It is definitely a welcome feature. Video calls have been the saving grace of the pandemic, allowing you to connect with friends, family, and colleagues, and screen sharing is especially helpful. You can catch up with loved ones by flipping through the photos on the camera roll of a recent trip, or discuss the details about a work project with a coworker.
While screen sharing is already available on various video chat services, including Skype and Zoom, Messenger works particularly well on mobile devices, so having the option on iOS and Android is definitely a huge improvement.
