Add a stream
In Design mode, open the scene you want to add a stream to. Cameras and screens show on the screen of the person who turned them on, while exported files and other people’s screens show the plate or the poster. A live show sends its cameras to the audience too (Send to a live show’s audience).
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Open the Stream window
Click Stream in the toolbar. It’s the button right after Video. The Stream window opens, where you pick the source to show.
Clicking Stream in the toolbar opens the window for picking a source. Video: Clicking the Stream button, right after Video in the toolbar, opens the Stream window beside it with its This Device and Connected Devices groups. -
Add a camera
Under This Device, click the camera you want. A stream lands in the center of the view at 640×360 and turns on right away. The first time, your browser or device asks for camera access, so allow it. Until you allow it, cameras show as “Camera 1” and so on instead of their names. This device remembers the camera you pick for each stream and uses it next time too. A stream turned on for the first time opens the camera used last, and keeps that camera from then on. With the picked camera unplugged, it opens the default camera; plug it back in and turn the stream on, and the picked one comes back.
Clicking a camera under This Device places a stream in the center of the view, and the camera turns on. Video: Clicking a camera under This Device in the Stream window places a stream in the center of the view, which shows Connecting for a moment and then the camera picture. -
Add a screen share
Under This Device, click Share Screen. When the screen picker opens, choose the screen or window to show. If you close the picker, the stream stays in place but off.
| Group | What you can pick |
|---|---|
| This Device | The cameras of this computer or tablet, and Share Screen on a device that can share its screen. With no camera, you see “No camera found.” |
| Connected Devices | The phones and computers you connected with Remote, each by its device name. A dot before each name has the color the Remote window shows, so phones of the same kind can be told apart. Every device has Camera, and a device that can send its screen (a computer, or an iPhone or iPad on iOS 27 or later) also has Share Screen. With none connected, you see “Devices you connect from Remote show up here.” |
| In This Document | The sources this project already uses, with the names of the scenes that use them. Pick one to show the same camera or screen in this scene too. When the project uses none, this group doesn’t show. |
Turn it on and off, and change it
Click the stream on the canvas to select it. The Stream panel appears at the bottom of the right panel.
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Turn it on and off
The Source line shows the source and its state, like “Camera 1 · Turned on.” The button below it reads Turn Off while it’s on and Turn On while it’s off. For a source that dropped, it changes to Reconnect. Double-clicking the stream on the canvas also turns it on and off.
Clicking Turn Off turns the camera off and shows the plate, and a double-click turns it back on. Video: Clicking Turn Off in the Stream panel replaces the camera picture with the dark plate reading Off, double-click to turn on, and double-clicking the stream turns it back on. -
Switch to another source
Click Change, then pick a new source in the Stream window that opens. The position, size, and style stay the same, and only the source changes. A source that no stream uses anymore turns off. The same goes when you delete a stream or its scene, or undo.
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Add a poster
Under Poster, click Choose and pick a photo. When the stream is off or has dropped, this photo shows instead of the plate. Exported files and the screens of people watching from a play link show it too. Click Remove to go back to the plate.
Stream panel settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fit | Cover fills the box with the picture and crops what spills over. It’s the default. Contain shows the whole picture inside the box. |
| Mirror | Flips the picture left to right. Turn it on to make a front camera look like a mirror. |
| Match Source Ratio | Keeps the width and sets the box’s height to the proportions of the picture that’s on. It works only while the source is on. |
| Muted · Volume | Muted is on at first. Turn it off, and this device’s camera brings in microphone sound too, asking for microphone access the first time. If you don’t allow the microphone, the picture keeps playing without sound, and it asks again when you turn the stream off and on. Below the Source line, you then see “The microphone isn’t available, so it plays without sound. Allow the microphone in the browser, then turn the stream off and on.” A connected phone’s sound is turned on with Mic on the phone. Volume sets how loud it plays. |
| Radius · Strokes · Effects | The same as for photos and videos. Round the corners with Radius, and add strokes and effects under Stream Style. They apply to the plate and the poster too. |
During a show
When you start a show, every stream on a scene that isn’t hidden turns on and stays on until the show ends. So when you reach a scene with a stream, it’s already there. When the show ends, the streams it turned on turn off, and the editor shows their plates. They turn off when the “End of show” card appears too, and back on when you take the card away and return to a scene. A connected device asks again then, and a screen share source opens the screen picker again. Streams you turned on in the editor before the show stay on after it ends.
The audience screen on the projector shows the stream as it is. People watching from a play link see the plate or the poster in the viewer. In a live show, though, the cameras also reach the audience who joined with the QR or the code and people with the play link open (Send to a live show’s audience).
When you present with Presenter view, a Stream line appears in the top bar of the presenter window. Each source shows its name and state, and the button next to it turns it off or reconnects it. The audience screen never shows the state in words, so check this line to see whether a source dropped.
A screen share source opens the screen picker when the show starts, to ask which screen to show. When the picker can’t open right away, as when you start from the phone remote, the presenter window shows “Click the audience window to choose the screen.” Then click the audience screen once. This click doesn’t advance the scene.
Send to a live show’s audience
Click Live in the editor’s top bar, then Go live to start a live show, and present: the cameras that are on appear on your audience’s screens too, in the same places. Both the audience who joined with the QR or the code and people with the play link open receive them. Screen shares are never sent, so the audience sees their plates or posters.
Sound goes only with a camera whose Muted is off in the Stream panel. On the audience’s screens it starts muted and plays once they tap Unmute beside “Live · presenter’s name” at the top center, so a room full of phones doesn’t ring out all at once. If that line has faded away, tap the screen once: the line comes back, and the scene doesn’t advance.
While you show a scene without a camera, neither that camera’s picture nor its sound goes out. A camera that couldn’t be sent goes out again the next time you start presenting. When you present with Play in This Window, the Live dialog shows “Your camera is going to the audience.” while cameras go out, and “Couldn’t send your camera to the audience.” appears once if one can’t be sent. In full screen, neither the line nor the message shows.
This service’s administrator sets the quality the audience receives; it starts at 480p. The cameras reach the audience through Cloudflare’s relay server and aren’t stored there.
| When | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| An administrator turned it off | When an administrator turns off sending streams to the audience for this service, no camera goes out. |
| The month’s limit is used up | Once what goes to audiences reaches the service’s monthly limit, or the monthly limit of the account that owns the project’s team, cameras sent and viewers joining or reconnecting from then on get the plate or the poster. Viewers already receiving one keep watching, and cameras go out again the next month. |
| The live show is paused | After 30 minutes without a show, the live show pauses and sends no camera. When its host starts presenting, the live show resumes and the cameras go out again. |
| Five cameras or more | A live show sends up to four cameras at a time. A fifth camera, and any after it, isn’t sent. |
| An app from before this feature | The desktop, tablet, and phone apps send and receive cameras from the version that brings this feature. Before that, presenting from the app sends no camera, and the audience watching in the app sees the plate or the poster. Update the app from the store once the new version is out. |
| A player embedded in a web page | A player embedded with an iframe in a blog or another web page doesn’t follow the live show, so it shows the plate or the poster. |
| Following a play link without going live | If people follow you only through Share live with viewers, without going live, their screens follow your scenes but show the plate or the poster in place of the camera. To send the camera too, go live from Live. |
Bring in a phone’s camera or another computer’s screen
Bring the camera of a phone or the screen of another computer you connected with Remote into a stream. This works in projects saved in Studio, while the laptop and that device are both connected to the internet.
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Connect the device
Connect your phone as a remote, as in Phone remote. To bring in another computer’s screen, connect that computer from its browser the same way. On that computer, open s.show/remote and enter the pairing code.
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Pick the connected device
Click Stream in the toolbar. When the device’s name shows under Connected Devices, click Camera below it. The dot before the name has the color the Remote window shows for that device. To bring in a computer’s screen, click Share Screen.
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Turn it on from the device
When the phone shows “Turn on the camera?”, tap Turn on. The phone’s camera appears in the stream on the laptop. It starts with the back camera and the mic off. A computer shows “Send your screen?” instead. Click Choose a screen and choose the screen to send. Tap Cancel, and the stream on the laptop turns off. If the phone refuses the camera permission, the stream reads No permission. Allow the camera on the phone and tap Turn on again, and it picks up from there.
Tapping Turn on on the phone brings the phone’s camera into the stream on the laptop. Video: Clicking the phone’s Camera under Connected Devices in the Stream window brings up Turn on the camera? on the phone, and tapping Turn on there brings the phone’s camera into the stream on the laptop. -
Handle the sending device
The phone shows the video it sends and the Flip, Mic, and Stop buttons. Flip switches between the front and back cameras. To let the phone’s sound through, turn on Mic, and turn off Muted on the laptop too. To stop sending, tap Stop. The stream on the laptop turns off too. During the show, Camera at the bottom of the phone sends again, and that stream picks it up. A stream you turned off on the laptop doesn’t pick it up. Reloading or closing the editor on the laptop stops the phone’s sending too. When you turn the stream back on or start the show again, the phone asks “Turn on the camera?” again. Tap Turn on. The remote buttons keep working while it sends.
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Switch devices during a show
In the presenter window, click Change on the Stream line and choose This Device or a connected device. The source then comes from the device you chose, without stopping the show. This computer remembers the choice for your next show, too. Change shows when a connected device can send that source, or when the source comes from one. For a screen share source from this device, that takes a connected computer that can send its screen. Connected devices in the list carry the Remote window’s color name, like “iPhone · Safari · Pink.”
Choosing the phone from Change in the presenter window switches the camera on the audience screen to the phone’s. Video: In the presenter window’s Stream line, choosing the paired phone from Change switches the camera on the audience screen to the phone’s, and the line shows the phone’s name.
The plate and states
When a stream isn’t on, its plate shows in its place: a dark panel with a video glyph and the object’s name in the middle. In Design mode, one more line below tells its current state. If you added a poster, the poster shows instead of the plate, and on a short object only the glyph shows.
When you open the project again, every stream is off. Opening a document never turns a camera on by itself. The state also shows on the Source line of the Stream panel and in the presenter window.
Below the Source line of the Stream panel, one line tells who sees the plate. Pick a camera in an editor that can send cameras to the audience, and it reads “Exports see the plate. In a live show, the audience is sent the camera.” A screen share, and any stream elsewhere, reads “Viewers and exports see the plate.” While the project has streams, the same line shows under Share live with viewers in Play Settings too.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Turned off | The source is off. It also reads this when a connected device taps Cancel in “Turn on the camera?” or “Send your screen?”, or Stop while sending, or when a computer stops sending its screen from the browser’s own stop-sharing bar. The plate reads “Off · double-click to turn on.” | Double-click the stream, or click Turn On. A connected device asks again on that device. A device stopped with Stop or the stop-sharing bar can also send again from that device, and the stream picks it up. |
| Connecting… | It’s waiting for a permission prompt, for the camera to get ready, or for a connected device to answer. | If a permission prompt is open, allow it. For a connected device, tap Turn on in “Turn on the camera?” on that device. |
| Turned on | The picture is showing. | To turn it off, click Turn Off or double-click it. |
| Paused by the browser | The browser paused the picture for a moment because you minimized the window or moved to another tab in Safari. | It resumes by itself when you come back to the window. |
| Lost | The camera was unplugged or taken by another app, this device’s screen share was stopped, the connection to a connected device dropped, or that device closed its remote page. The plate reads “Lost · reconnect from the panel.” When the devices can’t reach each other, “The phone and this computer can’t reach each other” shows too (venue Wi-Fi). | This device’s camera keeps trying to reopen for a while, and opens at once when the camera is plugged back in. A connected device comes back by itself when that device returns or sends again. If it still reads Lost, click Reconnect. |
| No permission | The browser or device didn’t allow the camera, or the source can’t be used on that device. It also reads this when a connected phone refuses the camera permission. The plate reads “No permission · allow the camera in settings” or “No permission · screen sharing is unavailable here.” | Allow the camera in the browser or device settings, then click Turn On. For a connected phone, allow the camera on the phone and tap Turn on again. It picks up from there. For screen sharing in the tablet apps, see the tips below. |
| Connected in another window | Another editor window open with the same account is handling the connected device. | Close the other window. This window takes over, and the connected device asks again on that device. |
| An internet connection is needed to connect | The source comes from a connected device, but the internet is down, or Remote isn’t available here, as in a local file in the desktop app. | Connect to the internet, and turn it on in a project saved in Studio. |
| Pick a device to send from | The source comes from a connected device, but no device is picked for it on this computer. You see this when you open a project here whose device was picked on another computer or browser. | Click Change and pick a device under Connected Devices. During a show, pick it from Change in the presenter window. |
| Stream isn’t available here | An administrator turned off Stream for this service, or this is a desktop or tablet app from before Stream. The toolbar has no Stream button, and Turn On doesn’t work. | In an app, update it from the store once a new version is out. If an administrator turned it off, streams show as their plates or posters until it’s turned back on. |
Video is never kept in files or on servers
Exported PDF, PPT, HTML, and video files, thumbnails in the scene list and in Studio, and the screens of people editing with you always show the plate or the poster. So do the screens of people watching from a play link, except for the cameras a live show sends its audience. Exporting to SVG or Lottie leaves streams out.
The video is never stored on SSHOW’s servers. A connected device’s video goes to the laptop directly or through a relay server, and the cameras a live show sends its audience reach them through Cloudflare’s relay server. The relay servers don’t store the video either. Otherwise, this device’s camera and screen show only on this device.
Tablets · offline · venue Wi-Fi
The Android tablet app uses the camera only. In the web editor (Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox), the Mac and Windows desktop apps, and the iPad app on iPadOS 27 or later, you can use both the camera and screen sharing. In the Android tablet app and the iPad app on iPadOS 26 or earlier, the device doesn’t open screen sharing, so the Stream window has no Share Screen, and a screen share added on another device shows “No permission · screen sharing is unavailable here.”
This device’s camera and screen work without the internet. Even in a local file in the desktop app or with the internet down, this device’s camera and screen sharing turn on. A connected device needs the internet. Without it, Connected Devices shows “An internet connection is needed to connect.”
If the phone won’t connect on venue Wi-Fi. Venue Wi-Fi often keeps devices from connecting to each other. When “The phone and this computer can’t reach each other” appears, try connecting the laptop to the phone’s hotspot. The laptop and the phone both need the internet.
Shortcuts on this page
| Turn a stream on or off | Double-click |
|---|---|
| Resize in proportion | ⇧+drag a corner |
| Undo what you added | ⌘Z |
| End the show and turn off the streams it turned on | esc |
Updated 10/25/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.