How to Start Discord Screen Share and Fix Loading or Black Screen Problems

Discord screen share lets you broadcast your computer or mobile screen or a specific app in real-time within a voice channel. If you don't know how to do this, this guide will help you out, along wth the common reasons why you can share the screen and the fixes.

Part 1. Discord Screen Share on Android & iPhone

If you want to share your screen on Discord when using an Android device, do these steps:

• Step 1.To get started with sharing your screen within Discord, the first thing you need to do is open up the Discord app on your iPhone or Android phone. Then either join a voice call or a voice channel by tapping Join Voice.

  

• Step 2.You may need to enable some permissions once you join the voice channel. This is required to share your screen.

  

• Step 3.To share screen, swipe up from the bottom to open the menu. Then select Share Your Screen.

  

• Step 4.Discord shows some information on the screen. You can select Try It Out. When this screen appears, tap Start Broadcast.

  
  

  You'll then see it turn red. The red color means your screen records and shares with Discord. You can tap anywhere on your device's screen to close this view.

• Step 5.After that, you can see the option that says Stop Sharing. This confirms your screen is now shared on Discord.

  
  

  Now, you can hop out of here, go into any other app, and essentially, Discord will start recording while you are on the call.

• Step 6.When you want to stop sharing, tap Stop Sharing in the voice channel or in the bottom menu. You see a small X inside a box. Select that X and screen sharing stops. You still stay in the voice chat and can talk using your voice. However, your phone no longer shares the screen.

  You also no longer see a red bar at the top of the screen. The missing red bar means your phone screen is no longer recorded.

Part 2. Discord Screen Share on Windows and Mac

Sharing the Discord screen on your Windows or Mac is as easy as on a mobile device. Here are the steps:

• Step 1.Launch Discord on your computer, be it on your PC or on your laptop, and log in to your account. Then, join a server. This method also works for voice channels in a server, as well as conversations or calls with your friends on Discord.

• Step 2.So, join a voice channel or open up a direct chat, start a voice or video call, and then click the arrow pointing to the right.

  
  

  Here, select "Share Your Screen".

  

• Step 3.In the next pop-up window, choose an app, go with Screens, which is the most commonly used option, or select capture devices.

  

• Step 4.Now, this opens the screen share window, where you can select something to stream. For this tutorial, select Screens, choose the screen below, and adjust options such as streaming channel, stream quality, resolution, and FPS, like 15, 30, or 60.

  

• Step 5.Once you are satisfied, click Go Live and start sharing your screen with your channel members, server members, or your chat or call partner on Discord.

  

Part 3. Why Is My Discord Screen Share not working? 15 Reasons

If Discord screen share is not working on your Android, iOS, or PC, one of the following might be the reason for this problem:

1. Missing System Permissions at the OS Level

Discord relies heavily on system-level permissions to capture and transmit your screen. On PCs, this includes access to graphics capture, desktop duplication, and audio routing. If screen recording or app capture permissions are blocked at the operating system level, Discord cannot hook into the display pipeline properly.

This is very common after OS updates, fresh installs, or privacy setting changes, where screen capture access gets silently restricted.

On Android, Discord depends on the system's Screen Recording permission, not just microphone or storage access. If this permission gets denied once or revoked later by the system, screen sharing fails instantly or never starts.

Android sometimes auto-revokes permissions after inactivity, OS updates, or battery optimization changes, which breaks screen sharing without warning.

If you are using an iPhone, Discord relies on iOS Screen Recording, which is controlled by the system, not the app alone. If screen recording permission never gets approved or gets disabled in system privacy settings, Discord cannot broadcast the screen.

iOS does not always prompt again after the first denial.

2. Discord Lacks Administrator Privileges

Screen sharing uses deeper system access compared to normal chat or voice. If Discord runs without elevated privileges, your PC can block capture APIs, especially when you try to share system apps, browsers, or games that already run with higher permissions.

This creates a mismatch where Discord sees the screen but cannot transmit it properly, leading to black screens or instant stream failure.

3. Manufacturer-Specific Android ROM Restrictions

Some Android manufacturers modify how screen recording APIs behave. MIUI, ColorOS, OxygenOS, and One UI apply additional capture restrictions that Discord cannot override. In these cases, Discord technically requests screen capture, but the ROM blocks the video feed at the system layer.

4. Android Battery Optimization and Background Limits

Many Android phones aggressively restrict background activity to save battery. When Discord starts screen sharing, the OS may limit background screen capture services. This causes the stream to stop, freeze, or never appear for other users, especially on Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Realme devices.

5. Android Audio Capture Limitations

Android restricts internal audio capture for privacy reasons. On many devices, Discord can share the screen, but not app audio, or the stream fails entirely when audio capture gets requested.

The problem varies by Android version and device manufacturer, which makes the issue inconsistent across phones.

6. iOS Broadcast Extension Failing

Discord uses an iOS Broadcast Extension for screen sharing. If this extension fails to load or crashes, the screen share starts but never reaches viewers. It often happens after iOS updates, app updates, or partial installs, where the extension does not register correctly.

7. Background App Restrictions

iOS limits what apps can do when not actively in the foreground. If Discord gets backgrounded too aggressively, screen sharing drops or freezes. Low Power Mode increases these restrictions and interferes with live screen broadcasting.

On the other hand, overlays from GPU software, recording tools, FPS counters, or screen capture utilities can intercept the same capture hooks Discord uses. When two apps fight for the same capture source, Discord may lose access without throwing a visible error.

8. Hardware Acceleration Conflicts

Discord uses GPU acceleration for video encoding and screen capture. If hardware acceleration conflicts with your GPU driver or another active app, screen share can fail silently. That issue appears frequently on systems with hybrid graphics, such as Intel plus NVIDIA or AMD setups, where the wrong GPU handles the capture process.

9. Outdated or Broken Graphics Drivers

Screen sharing depends on modern graphics APIs such as DirectX and desktop duplication frameworks. If your GPU driver lacks required updates or contains corrupted components, Discord cannot capture frames correctly, and then you experience a black screen, frozen frame, or a stream that starts and immediately stops.

10. Incorrect Video and Voice Settings Inside Discord

Discord has internal toggles that control encoding, capture source, and audio routing. Settings such as hardware acceleration, video codec selection, and advanced voice processing can interfere with screen capture. If these settings fall out of sync with your system or driver capabilities, screen sharing can fail even though voice chat continues normally.

11. App or Game Capture Restrictions

Some applications block screen capture by design. Streaming services, DRM-protected apps, banking software, and certain enterprise tools restrict capture to prevent recording. When you attempt to share these apps, Discord receives a blank or blocked video feed, even though everything else appears normal.

12. Network Instability or Network Switching

On mobile and PCs, switching between Wi-Fi and cellular data interrupts the screen-sharing stream. Discord does not always recover the session cleanly after a network handoff. Voice may continue, which makes it appear as a screen-share-only failure.

13. App Version Incompatibility on Mobile

Older Discord app versions may not fully support newer Android or iOS screen capture APIs. When the app and OS fall out of sync, screen sharing breaks partially or entirely, or the loading takes forever.

14. Corrupted Discord Cache or Partial Updates

Discord updates frequently in the background. If an update interrupts or cache files are corrupted, screen sharing modules may fail to load correctly, and in some cases, the share button appears functional, but it never transmits the screen.

15. Device Hardware Limits on Low-End Phones

Screen sharing on mobile uses real-time video encoding. On older or lower-end phones, the hardware encoder may fail to handle screen capture, audio, and network transmission at the same time. This causes dropped frames, black screens, or streams that stop after a few seconds.

Part 4. How Do I Fix Discord Screen Share? 8 Solutions

Although there are many reasons for the Discord screen share to fail, there are some solutions you can try to fix them all.

1. Restart Discord Completely

First, restart Discord completely on your Android or iOS, but and this does not mean just closing the window on your PC. Discord still runs in the background even after you exit it on the desktop. To fully shut it down, right-click the Discord icon in the system tray near the clock at the bottom right and select Quit Discord. Once it is closed, reopen Discord and try screen sharing again.

If that does not work, restart your entire PC. Sometimes small system glitches cause Discord to act up, and a full reboot clears them out.

2. Check Your Internet Connection

Next, check your internet connection. If your connection is unstable, Discord struggles to start screen sharing. Do a speed test, and if it runs slow, restart your router. Unplug it, wait about ten seconds, then plug it back in.

You can also try to use another network.

3. Run Discord as Administrator

On a desktop, run Discord as an administrator. This gives Discord the necessary system permissions to function properly. Close Discord completely, then right-click the Discord shortcut and select Run as Administrator.

If a pop-up asks for permission, click Yes.

Once Discord launches, try screen sharing again.

4. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration

If that does not fix it, turn off Hardware Acceleration in Discord settings, or if you are using Discord on a browser, disable it through the browser settings.

This feature exists to improve performance, but in some cases, it causes the opposite effect, especially if your GPU does not handle it well.

To disable it, open Discord, go to Settings at the bottom left, scroll down to Advanced, and find Hardware Acceleration. If it is enabled, turn it off. Discord prompts you to restart, so go ahead and do that. Once it reopens, try screen sharing again.

5. Clear Discord Cache

If the Discord screen share is not working on Android, clear its cache. To do this, open app settings, then select Discord, go to Storage, and tap Clear Cache.

To clear them on Windows, either clear the browser cache, or for the Discord Windows app, press Windows plus R on your keyboard, type %appdata%, and press Enter. Find the folder named Discord, then locate the Cache folder and open it.

This opens a folder with many files. Select all of them and delete them. After that, restart Discord and check screen sharing again.

6. Update Graphics Drivers

Screen sharing relies on your GPU, so outdated or corrupted drivers cause problems. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, open GeForce Experience, go to Drivers, and check for updates. In case you have an AMD card, open AMD Adrenalin Software and update the drivers there.

If you use an Intel GPU, go to Windows Update or Intel's website and install the latest version. After updating, restart your PC and try screen sharing again.

7. Check Discord Server Status

If nothing works so far, check whether Discord has server issues. Sometimes the problem is not on your end. Visit discordstatus.com to see if Discord servers are down. If there is an outage, you can only wait until Discord fixes it.

8. Reinstall Discord Completely

The final resort is to reinstall Discord completely. Open the Control Panel, go to Programs and Features, find Discord, and uninstall it. Restart your PC, visit Discord's official website, download the latest version, and install it fresh. On Android or iOS, uninstall the app from the Apps section and reinstall it from the Play Store or App Store, and this should resolve the Discord screen share failure issue.

Part 5. FAQs of Discord Screen Share

Conclusion on Discord Screen Share

In this guide, you've learned about the Discord screen share feature and how to use it on your Android, iOS, or desktop. We've also discussed the reasons why these features fail to work and what the key fixes for this problem are. Hopefully, you can now share your entire screen or app on Discord without further trouble.