Session Collaboration

Collaboration lets you invite other people into a live session you’re already running — they watch or control the same device you’re looking at, in real time. Guests need no VibeView account and nothing to install; they just open a link.

Enabling collaboration

You can also start from Sharing → Share an app → Work on it together, which opens Devices with your app; once you start the session, the Collaborate panel opens. Otherwise, start a session from Devices, then click Collaborate in the bar above the device. The panel says what guests can do and how many your plan allows at a time. Turn on Enable collaboration and choose a role:

• View only — guests see the live stream but can’t interact with the device.
• Can control — guests can tap, type, and otherwise drive the device, the same as you can.

Once enabled, a link appears. Copy it and send it to whoever you want to invite. Collaboration is off by default, and the link is the only way in — nobody can join your session without it. That includes teammates in your organization: one who opens your session page’s own address sees whose session it is instead of the device, with no controls for it, and needs the collaboration link to watch or drive it. The same holds for the API, the CLI and coding agents: a teammate’s credentials can’t take screenshots of your session, read its screen or logs, install on it or send it input. Only you, or an organization admin, can end your session, and an admin’s API credentials can act on it (for example to help with a stuck device).

You can switch the role at any time and copy a fresh link — the new role applies to guests who join with that link. Guests already connected keep the role they joined with; use Regenerate link to disconnect everyone and have them rejoin under the new role.

What guests see

Anyone who opens the link lands directly in the live stream — no sign-in, no setup. The top of the page names the app you opened the session with, with its icon, and says whether they can control the device or only watch; the browser tab carries the app’s name too. A guest who joins while the device is turned sideways sees it the right way up straight away. If you shared it in View only, they watch what’s happening but any taps or typing on their end are ignored. If you shared it in Can control, they can interact with the device just like you can.

Guests with control also get the same device controls beside the device (below it on a narrow screen) that you have on the Devices page: Home, Screenshot, Type text, and — on phones and tablets — Rotate, plus that platform’s own keys (Lock on iOS; Back and Recent apps on Android; the d-pad, Back and Menu on TV). On phone and tablet sessions they also get a light/dark appearance toggle and Set location. View-only guests get none of them.

Guests with control also get the floating bar under the device that share-link visitors get: Rotate, and on a foldable (the iPhone Duo, or an Android foldable such as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold) buttons to fold it Open, Partial or Closed. The highlighted posture follows the device, so when you or another guest folds it, everyone’s bar updates. View-only guests don’t get the bar.

The Collaborate panel shows how many guests are currently connected.

Guests can hear the device too, whether they joined in View only or Can control (guests who can control it can also use its microphone), using the Sound button: the last of the device controls for guests who can control the device, or a speaker button on the device’s corner for view-only guests. See Device audio for which platforms support sound today.

If a guest opens the link after you’ve ended the session, they see a message that the session has ended. If you’ve turned collaboration off or the link has been replaced, they see The host turned off this link. A guest who is watching when you do either sees the same message right away: their video and controls are removed at once. If a guest’s own connection drops and can’t be restored, they see Connection lost with a button to reload and rejoin.

Seeing each other

Everyone in a shared session sees who else is there and where they are pointing on the device screen.

• Each person’s pointer has its own colour and a label. You never see your own pointer drawn back to you.
• While someone is pressing or dragging on the device, their pointer shows a filled circle, so you can tell pointing apart from tapping. A view-only guest’s pointer never shows the circle, because their clicks don’t reach the device.
• On a phone or tablet there is no hover, so a guest shows a pointer only while touching the screen.
• Your pointer is only shared once someone else is in the session.
• Your pointer stays visible a little past the edge of the device screen, so you can point at something right at the edge.
• Pointers line up for everyone whatever the window size, in fullscreen and when the device is rotated.
• On a foldable shown in 3D (the iPhone Duo), pointers aren’t shared while the 3D view is showing.

Who did what

When someone else does something that changes the screen for everyone — pressing Home or Lock, opening Recent apps, rotating or folding the device, setting a location, switching light or dark mode, opening a link, changing display settings or changing the app language — a short note appears at the top of the device area for a couple of seconds, for example “Guest 2 pressed Home”.

Typing and moving around with the arrow keys or the TV remote don’t pop up notes. Instead, that person’s circle shows a small keyboard or remote badge and their row in the people list says typing… or navigating until they stop. What someone types is never shown to anyone else.

To turn these off for yourself, clear Show activity at the bottom of the people list. Your choice is remembered in this browser.

Names

Open the people list (the coloured circles at the top of a guest’s page, or the Collaborate popover for the owner) to see everyone connected and their permission, can control or view only. Your own row is marked You. To name yourself, choose Set your name at the top of the list (once you have a name it shows with a Rename button), type it and choose Save; names can be up to 32 characters. Guests show as “Name (Guest)” — or “Guest 1”, “Guest 2”, … until they set one — and the owner as “Name (Host)”, or “Host”. Your name is remembered in this browser.

Ending access

• Regenerate link — asks you to confirm, then creates a new link and immediately disconnects everyone using the old one. Use this if a link was shared somewhere you didn’t intend.
• Turn off Enable collaboration — disconnects all current guests, including their video, right away and stops the link from opening the session again.
• Stop the session — ending your session ends it for every guest too, since there’s no session left to watch or control.

Guests and session activity

Having a guest connected keeps the session open — it won’t be torn down just because you step away. A guest leaving never ends the session on its own either: a session your coding agent is driving through the API keeps running after a guest who was watching closes the link. But the inactivity timeout is based on actual interaction with the device, not on who’s connected: a session where everyone is only watching (or nobody is tapping or typing) can still time out for inactivity. Moving your pointer over the screen doesn’t count as activity — only actually using the device keeps an idle session open. Guests see an Ending in countdown about a minute before an idle session ends, and it disappears as soon as the session is used again. If you want to end things sooner, use Stop Session.

Limits

The number of guests who can be connected to a session at the same time depends on your plan. If you need a higher limit, contact support@vibeview.io.