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Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
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461
I bought a relative of mine an iPad long time ago (it was an iPad Air 2). It’s an elderly person, not far from being 90 years old, who does not know very well how to use the device and uses it only for surfing or YouTube.

The device must be a complete mess (at least it is every time I see it) and of course it probably can’t or shouldn’t be updated, etc.

The problem is that this relative lives far away from me. I’d like to control their iPad from one of my devices, so I can fix stuff for them every time they call me.

But apparently, you need to be in the same Wi-Fi network to be able to do that.

Is there a way to do this without being in the same Wi-Fi network?

That would really help us. Thanks a lot!
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 603
May 30, 2018
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Great question, according to my knowledge and experience, controlling two iPads miles away is impossible.
compared to say a Mac mini and MacBook Air due to sharing privileges are limited.
there might be an app out there like remote control that I am now aware of in 2024.

I know apple support has that capability since they scoped around my iPad in march last year.
perhaps this can be used for th epubicinb the future.

as far as a solution, you can FaceTime them and solve any problems they have.
which might be a nosebleed setting up for them on their end tho.

I hoped this helped
 
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Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
1,750
461
Great question, according to my knowledge and experience, controlling two iPads miles away is impossible.
compared to say a Mac mini and MacBook Air due to sharing privileges are limited.
there might be an app out there like remote control that I am now aware of in 2024.

I know apple support has that capability since they scoped around my iPad in march last year.
perhaps this can be used for th epubicinb the future.

as far as a solution, you can FaceTime them and solve any problems they have.
which might be a nosebleed setting up for them on their end tho.

I hoped this helped

I was assuming there would be apps out there, but to be honest I don’t know if I trust them and I had hoped there would be a native solution.

We facetime sometimes but can you share your screen with FaceTime? That would definitely help. Although it would be much more practical if I could do things myself, because it takes just a fraction of the time.
 
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MBAir2010

macrumors 603
May 30, 2018
6,433
5,920
there
I was assuming there would be apps out there, but to be honest I don’t know if I trust them and I had hoped there would be a native solution.

We facetime sometimes but can you share your screen with FaceTime? That would definitely help. Although it would be much more practical if I could do things myself, because it takes just a fraction of the time.
I never FaceTime last time was 2021.
but I have seen promos on the :apple: site that depicts many people sharing their screen.
 
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Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
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I never FaceTime last time was 2021.
but I have seen promos on the :apple: site that depicts many people sharing their screen.

Thanks, apparently it’s possible these days. I’ll have to see if it’s possible with a super old iOS version too 😆…
 
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Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
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Such app (remote control software) only exist in Apple internal source afaik.

However, if one app can project a cursor over to the remote device as part of the remote assistance, then it also works.

Worst case scenario, use FaceTime and point camera at iPad.
 
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Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
1,750
461
Such app (remote control software) only exist in Apple internal source afaik.

However, if one app can project a cursor over to the remote device as part of the remote assistance, then it also works.

Worst case scenario, use FaceTime and point camera at iPad.

That's probably what I will do, unless a find a suitable software (and then the question is how shady that software is and how data privacy is handled).

Using Facetime could work so I can at least see what's on the screen (it's a super old iOS version so everything is different), but it's still very time consuming explaining an older person where to go, what to press and what to do …
 

Silly John Fatty

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
1,750
461
Hey guys & gals, what about anydesk or TeamViewer? Their homepages say it’s possible to do this, but I couldn’t figure out how. I sent them an email, but never got a response. The person whose iPad I am trying to control and I have managed to share their screen with me, but it would be much simpler of course if I could control the iPad myself (from my own iPad or my Mac).
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,622
10,923
Hey guys & gals, what about anydesk or TeamViewer? Their homepages say it’s possible to do this, but I couldn’t figure out how. I sent them an email, but never got a response. The person whose iPad I am trying to control and I have managed to share their screen with me, but it would be much simpler of course if I could control the iPad myself (from my own iPad or my Mac).
High chance all they say is you can control your PC or Mac from your iPad, but not the other way around. As far as I know, only Apple can remotely assist on your iPad using their proprietary software used by Apple support. Jailbroken iPad maybe possible? But it’s hard to jailbreak that these days.
 
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