SharePlay won’t be available at launch with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, or tvOS 15

When Apple unveiled iOS 15 and the other major software updates coming to its popular platforms, one of the many new features coupled with the new software is called SharePlay. With this feature, users will be able to quickly and easily share their screens while using apps like FaceTime. It’s a handy feature, and the expectation was that it would be available at launch. However, that won’t be the case after all.

Earlier today, Apple seeded the sixth betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 (and tvOS 15) to developers. Within the notes paired with the seeded software, Apple revealed that the company will not be launching the SharePlay feature alongside the public release of those software updates. Instead, the company plans on bringing the feature to the platforms at a later date, along with a software update to the operating systems. Apple confirmed the change of plans by actually disabling the SharePlay feature within the sixth betas of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

This means the feature will remain disabled in subsequent beta seeds of the software, too. And Apple isn’t going out of its way right now to say when, exactly, the future software updates will arrive to add the SharePlay feature down the road.

A promotional image displaying a FaceTime video call on an iPhone with SharePlay on Apple TV

Resource: How to share your screen in FaceTime

Apple is making some other changes, specifically for developers. In light of disabling SharePlay in its current state, and in subsequent beta seeds, Apple is offering a different tool for developers to utilize moving forward. From Apple:

SharePlay has been disabled for use in iOS and iPadOS 15 developer beta 6 and will be disabled for use in its initial release this fall. SharePlay will be enabled for use again in future developer beta releases and will launch to the public in software updates later this fall. To continue your development, we have provided a SharePlay Development Profile which will enable successful creation and reception of GroupSessions via the Group Activities API.

SharePlay offers a lot of sharing capabilities for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS users — when the feature launches. It will allow users to share their screen while using FaceTime, create group playlists in Apple Music, watch synced movies and TV shows in the Apple TV app, and more.