Fix a computer anywhere in South Africa. Nothing for them to install.
Your mother in Gqeberha, a client in Sandton, the shop PC in Polokwane: they open one web page and read you a 9-digit number. You see their screen, talk them through it, or take the mouse with the free Windows app. Every session is end-to-end encrypted, and it is free for home and business, with no "commercial use detected" lock-outs.
- Works on fibre, Vodacom and MTN data and fixed wireless, through home routers and office firewalls, with no VPN or port forwarding. When load-shedding cuts the power, the session reconnects when it is back.
- The person helped sees your name, waits out a five-second countdown and presses Allow. They can stop you at any moment.
- A scam warning before every session: no bank, SARS, SAPS, Telkom or "Microsoft" will ever ask you to share your screen.
Three steps, two minutes
They open a page
acrossview.com/share in any browser, on a Mac, Windows PC or Chromebook. A 9-digit ID appears. For mouse and keyboard control they run the small Windows app instead.
You enter the ID
At acrossview.com/connect, with your name. Their screen shows who is asking and a warning; they press Allow.
You see their screen
Both of you check that the six-digit security code matches. Then talk, point, type, move files.
Built for the people who get asked for help
Small businesses
Fix the shop's point-of-sale PC, a client's payroll software or the office printer from wherever you are, without a per-technician licence.
Family IT department
A parent in another province opens one page. You see what they see and talk them through it on the same call, from Cape Town, Durban or overseas.
Small IT and MSP shops
Address book with online dots, unattended access with a password per PC, two-pane file manager, session recording on the customer's side.
Load-shedding and slow links
On mobile data or a weak fixed-wireless link it drops frames before it drops the connection. When the power goes and comes back, you reconnect to the same ID.
Accountants and bookkeepers
Walk a client through SARS eFiling, VAT returns or their business banking before the deadline without driving over. Their screen never passes through our servers unencrypted.
Meetings included
Video meetings for up to 100 people, recording with AI notes, team chat and webinars, in the same account.
Free, for home and business
- R0 today, for personal and commercial use alike. No licence to count and no paid plan right now.
- Sessions up to 15 minutes without an account; up to 60 minutes with a free account. The person being helped never needs an account.
- Unattended access, the file manager, shared clipboard, several monitors and recording are all in the free Windows app.
Where your data goes
- Support sessions are end-to-end encrypted on the two devices. Our servers relay them but cannot read them, and we never record them.
- Our servers are in Mumbai, India. From Johannesburg that is about 200 ms away: viewing and typing feel immediate; fast mouse work has a slight lag when a session must go through our relay. A South African relay is on our list.
- Connection records (who connected to which ID, when) are kept 180 days. Nothing is stored in South Africa. We have an Information Officer (Amit Goyal). Your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (POPIA), and how we handle transborder flows under section 72, are set out in our privacy notice for South Africa.
Remote access scams in South Africa, and how AcrossView gets in their way
SABRIC counted around 64,000 digital banking fraud incidents in 2024, twice the year before, with losses of more than R1.4 billion, almost all of them through social engineering rather than any break-in at the bank. The remote-access version always runs the same way: a call from "your bank's fraud department", "SARS", "Telkom" or "Microsoft", an urgent problem, and instructions to install a screen-sharing app and read out a code. AcrossView is designed so that this goes wrong for the scammer:
- The person being helped sees the helper's name and a warning in plain words before anything is shared, and must wait five seconds before Allow lights up.
- Mouse and keyboard control is a separate switch on their side, which they can turn off at any time; from a browser nobody can control anything.
- A six-digit security code appears on both screens, so a session that has been tampered with shows itself.
- Our servers keep connection records for 180 days and we work with police on valid requests.
If someone you did not call has asked you to install AcrossView or any other remote-access app, hang up. Call your bank's fraud line first, on the number printed on your card, so the accounts can be frozen. Then report the scam to the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service through its Yima scam-reporting site, and open a case at your nearest SAPS station; 10111 is for emergencies only. SABRIC publishes the banks' own guidance. More in Stay safe from scams.
Questions from South Africa
What happens during load-shedding?
If the computer being helped loses power, the session ends; when the power is back, you connect again with the same ID, and a PC set up for unattended access is reachable again once Windows has started. If the person is on Vodacom or MTN data, the session carries on through the outage and drops frames rather than disconnecting.
Is my data stored in South Africa?
No. Our servers are in Mumbai, India, and nothing is stored in South Africa. The content of a support session is end-to-end encrypted and is never stored anywhere. What we keep, for how long, our Information Officer's contact, and your rights under POPIA and the Information Regulator are in the privacy notice for South Africa.
Can I use it for my business for free?
Yes. There is no personal-use rule and no commercial-use detection, whether you are a one-person IT shop in Bloemfontein or an accounting practice with fifty clients. The only limit is session length: 15 minutes without an account, 60 minutes with a free account. There is no paid plan right now.
Does it work with a Mac?
From a Mac you can share your screen, and see and help a Windows or Mac user, through the browser. Taking the mouse and keyboard needs the Windows app on the computer being helped; a Mac app is on our list.
When can I reach support?
On WhatsApp (+91 70117 27706) or at support@acrossview.com, in English. We are in India, 3½ hours ahead of South Africa, so a message in your morning or early afternoon is usually answered the same day.
Try it now, with nothing to install
Ask the person to open acrossview.com/share, and open acrossview.com/connect yourself. Two minutes from now you will be looking at their screen.