Remote control lets the person watching a shared screen click, scroll and type on the computer that is being shared.
How remote control works
Remote control turns on automatically when a screen share starts. There is no approval step.
Control always runs one way: the person watching controls the computer being shared. When you share your screen, your guest can control your computer.
To control your guest's computer, your guest must join from the Nearo desktop app and share their own screen. A guest who joined from the web cannot be controlled, because they have nothing to share.
Remote control ends automatically when the share stops.
Who has control at any moment
To prevent conflicts, Nearo always prioritizes the person whose screen is being shared.
When you move your mouse or type on your keyboard, only you have control.
When you stop using your mouse and keyboard, the other person can control your screen again.
Control switches automatically based on activity, so two people never control the screen at the same time.
Controlling a shared screen
While remote control is on, you use your own mouse and keyboard on the shared screen: moving, clicking, right-clicking, scrolling and typing.
Copy and paste work between the two computers, in the Nearo desktop app and in the web app. Only text is copied.
Basic editing and text-movement shortcuts, such as copy, paste, undo and select all, work. Shortcuts that switch or close apps, such as Alt+Tab or Cmd+Tab, are not sent to the shared computer.
Typing starts working after you click or scroll on the shared screen once.
In the web app, what you type goes to the shared computer only while your mouse pointer is over the shared screen. Keys you press while typing in chat are not sent.
On an iPad or phone, a floating toolbar in the bottom right of the shared screen gives you touch controls and an on-screen keyboard. See Using a shared screen on an iPad or phone.
ℹ️ If you see "Remote control disabled" in the top left corner of the shared screen, the person sharing has turned control off. You can still watch and move your pointer, which the person sharing sees in red, but you cannot click, type or draw.
What the person controlling cannot do
To keep your windows where you put them, Nearo ignores some actions from the person controlling your screen.
Clicking a window's title bar, its edges or its corners does nothing, so the person controlling cannot move or resize your windows. Dragging a title bar and double-clicking it to maximize are ignored too.
Everything else works, including clicking inside windows, scrolling and typing. Your own mouse is never affected.
When you share one window, the person controlling also cannot minimize, maximize or close it, and what they type goes only to that window.
Showing clicks without clicking
Click Animation lets you point things out on the shared screen. Each click shows a ripple on both screens, and nothing is clicked on the shared computer.
In the Nearo desktop app, use the Remote Control | Click Animation switch in the controls bar, the dark gray strip along the bottom of the call window. It shows while you are watching a share, after the Notebooks icon if your app has one (only the tutor's app does).
In the web app on a computer, click the Click animation button next to the pencil. The pencil is a small button in the bottom right corner of the shared screen. If the video tiles are at the left or right of the shared screen, these buttons are in a panel under the tiles instead. Click the same button again (it now reads Stop click animation) to go back to controlling the screen.
Click Animation is not available on an iPad or phone.
Click Animation is only available while remote control is on.
Turning on drawing turns Click Animation off, and the other way round.
While Click Animation is on, your typing is not sent to the shared computer.
Turning off remote control
If you want to keep sharing your screen but stop the other person from controlling it, click the mouse-pointer button in the Nearo desktop app. It shows only while you are sharing. In the full window it is in the controls bar, after the Notebooks icon if your app has one (only the tutor's app does). In the small floating window, it is in a small row of buttons under the video tiles. The button is gray while the other person can control your screen and turns blue when remote control is off.
Your guest sees "Remote control disabled" on the shared screen. They can still watch and point, but cannot click, type or draw.
Turning off remote control also clears your guest's drawings from the shared screen. Your own drawings stay.
Click the mouse-pointer button again to turn remote control back on at any time.
Allowing remote control on a Mac
On a Mac, remote control needs the Accessibility permission. Without it, your share starts with remote control off and your guest sees "Remote control disabled". On Windows, no extra permission is needed.
Click the mouse-pointer button (see above for where it is). Your Mac opens its own permission prompt.
Allow Nearo under Privacy & Security → Accessibility. You may need to restart Nearo.
Click the mouse-pointer button again.
💡 The screen-choosing window, which opens when you click Share Screen, also shows a yellow warning with a Grant permission button when this permission is missing. Sharing still works without it; only remote control is affected.