The hardest part of helping someone non-technical usually is not the help itself. It is getting the tools out of the way. You are on the phone with a customer who does not run software for a living, or a friend who freezes when a browser permission dialog appears, and you want to show them what you mean. But the gap between “let me show you” and “I can see it now” is often full of installers, sign-up flows, and choices they did not expect.
This is a practical script for the common case: you are the one sharing your screen to a non-technical guest who just needs to click a link and watch. Using Linkside, you can keep that path short without making them feel like they are failing a test.
If you need the opposite - seeing their screen so you can debug their computer - the other person needs to create the room and click Start sharing from their browser. This post focuses on the calmer version: you host, they watch.
Send them one thing
The whole flow starts with a link. You open linkside.io/app/create, click Create room, and copy the invite link from the session header. Text it, send it in chat, or paste it into email. If the phone is your only channel, read out the 10-character room code from the invite URL and have them open the join page.
That gives you the first sentence of the call:
“I am sending you a link right now. When you click it, you will be in the room with me. Then I will share my screen so you can see what I am talking about.”
A few things to know about the link, so you can answer the questions they may ask:
- It opens in their normal browser. No app to install, no account to create.
- It expires in about 15 minutes of inactivity. If they fumble around in their inbox for half an hour, send a fresh one.
- By default, anyone with the link can try to join. If you want more control, use the waiting room so you approve guests, or set a room password and read it to them over the phone.
What the link does and does not do
For a non-technical guest, the most reassuring thing is often what they do not have to do. They do not create an account. They do not install software. They do not give Linkside an email address or phone number. They enter a nickname for this room, click Join room, and wait.
The screen stream is peer-to-peer first, so Linkside tries to send video and audio directly between your browser and theirs. If a direct connection is blocked by a restrictive network, the session can fall back to an encrypted TURN relay. In both cases, WebRTC encrypts the media in the browser with DTLS-SRTP. Linkside does not record the session, transcribe the audio, analyze the screen, or keep chat logs after the session.
There are still basic operating facts involved: the signaling service knows a room exists, roughly when people join, and how long the session lasts. If a relay is needed, the relay handles encrypted packets and IP-level routing. Neither path gives Linkside the contents of your screen.
What they’ll see, in order
When they click the link, here is the sequence. It helps to describe it before it happens:
- A short form, asking for a nickname. “Type any name. First name is fine.” If you set a password, they will see a password field too. Otherwise, no email and no account prompt.
- A Join room button. They click it once. If you enabled the waiting room, they may see Waiting for approval until you admit them.
- A waiting message. It says the page will update automatically when the host starts sharing. That means they are in the right place.
That is the entire guest flow. The most common stumble at this point is people refreshing the page because they think nothing is happening. Tell them to wait for the screen to appear.
When you click Share
This is the part you are driving. When you click Start sharing, your browser opens a picker asking what you want to share. The choices vary a bit by browser and operating system, but they usually map to three ideas:
- Entire screen - everything on your monitor. Use this for “look at my whole desktop” help.
- Window - one specific app. Useful when you do not want your email or other windows visible.
- Browser tab - one specific tab inside your browser. Useful for “let me show you this page.”
Pick one, then click the browser’s share button. In Chrome and Edge, the browser also shows its own sharing indicator while the share is active.
A useful detail: this picker is the browser, not Linkside. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari each show their own version. Linkside cannot pre-select your tab, hide options, or bypass it. The browser is asking for your approval because screen sharing is sensitive.
For the smoothest host experience, use desktop Chrome or Edge. Firefox and Safari can host with caveats, and Linkside will warn you when hosting support is limited. Mobile browsers are guest-only: they can view a shared screen when WebRTC is available, but they cannot start a screen share.
The microphone moment
If you want to talk in-app rather than over the phone, they click the Mic button in the session toolbar to be heard back. The first time they do, their browser asks for microphone permission. This is the moment a non-technical guest is most likely to freeze.
What to say on the phone, in order:
- “There’s going to be a small dialog at the top of your browser asking about microphone access.”
- “Click ‘Allow’.”
- If they click Block by mistake: “That is okay. We can change it in the browser’s site settings, or we can just stay on the phone.”
This permission is a browser thing, not a Linkside thing. If they deny it, Linkside’s mic button shows Mic blocked, and the fix happens in the browser’s site settings. It is recoverable, but easier to get right the first time. If the phone call is already working, skip the in-app mic entirely.
When something goes wrong, the answer is usually “send a fresh link”
The recovery action is often the same as the start action: open a new room, send a new link. If they get stuck on an old room, accidentally close the tab, or spend too long finding the message, starting fresh is usually faster than explaining browser history.
A few specific failure modes worth knowing:
- “The page just sits there.” First suspect an expired link or an old room. Send a new link.
- “It says my browser isn’t supported.” Ask them to copy the link and open it in their normal browser instead of an in-app browser. If they are hosting, use desktop Chrome or Edge.
- “I clicked Join room but nothing changed.” If you enabled the waiting room, check whether they are waiting for approval.
- “I clicked Share but they don’t see anything.” Make sure you selected a screen, window, or tab in the browser picker, and that you clicked the browser’s share button after selecting it.
Designing the call, not just the share
The unstated argument behind a tool like Linkside is that the call is the product, not the software. The phone is the channel. The link is the bridge. The screen is the answer.
When you stop trying to drag a non-technical person through a workflow built for power users, the call gets shorter, and they hang up feeling more capable instead of less.
If you want to keep this script handy, create a room and walk through it once with someone whose tech comfort matches your target audience. The script you end up with will be better than this one.