# What your customer sees

This page walks through a support session from the customer's chair, so you can guide them over the phone. Share it with customers who want to know what to expect.

## The join page

The customer opens your join page (your Blink address followed by `/join`) and sees **Join a support session** with one field for the code.

1. They type the code you gave them.
2. They select **Download the support tool**.
3. The page says **Your download has started** and shows the next steps for their computer.

If something is wrong with the code, the page says so:

| Message | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| That code was not found or has expired. Ask your technician for a new one. | Create a new code. Each code works once and expires on its own. See also [Fix a Support code that does not work](/troubleshooting/support-code-not-working/). |
| Too many tries. Wait a few minutes, then enter the code again. | Wait a few minutes, then try again. |
| Could not reach the server. Check your connection and try again. | The customer's internet connection or network is blocking the page. |

On an iPad the page shows **Use a computer** instead: support works on a Windows PC or a Mac.

The page also tells the customer three things: a banner stays on screen while the session is live, each code works once, and closing the tool ends the session with nothing left installed.

## On Windows

### Start the tool

1. Open the downloaded file from the browser's downloads.
2. If Windows shows a warning, choose **More info**, then **Run anyway**.
3. Keep the tool running while the technician works.

A small Blink window shows the connection status while it connects. If the tool ever asks for a code, the customer types the same code and selects **Connect**.

### The banner

While a technician is viewing a screen, a banner sits at the top of that screen. It reads **Viewed by technician:** followed by the technician's name (or **Viewed by a technician**, or the number of technicians when several are watching). The name shown is set by your administrator (see [Choose the name customers see](/configure/technician-name/)).

The banner has:

- A blinking **Recording** indicator, only when the session is recorded. Without it, the session is not recorded.
- **Chat**: opens the chat with the technician, when chat is available in this session. A dot on it means an unread message. See [Chat with your technician](#chat-with-your-technician).
- **Send file**: sends a file to the technician (see [Transfer files](/use/transfer-files/)). It is not shown once Blink runs as administrator.
- **End**: ends the session.
- **Hide**: hides the banners.

The customer can drag a banner out of the way. With several monitors, each monitor a technician is viewing gets its own banner. The banner is part of the picture you see in the viewer and in the recording (when the session is recorded), so you see exactly what the customer sees.

**Hide** takes every banner down. They come back when another technician joins, or when the customer clicks the tray icon.

### The tray icon

A Blink icon stays in the notification area for the whole session, even while nobody is viewing. Its tooltip says whether a technician is viewing, and shows **recording** when the session is recorded.

- Left-click shows the banners again.
- Right-click opens a menu with **Show banner**, **Chat with technician** (**Chat with technician (new message)** when a message is unread), **Send file to technician...**, **Stop sending** (while a file is going out), **Close command windows** (while a technician has a terminal open) and **Exit**.

### Files and command windows

- Files a technician sends land in the **Blink** folder inside the customer's **Downloads** folder, and the customer gets a **File received** notification.
- When a technician opens a command window (terminal), the banner on the main monitor shows who opened it, together with a **Close command windows** button. That banner stays up while the terminal is open, even if the customer hid the banners.

### Admin prompts

If the technician needs administrator rights, the customer sees a Windows prompt asking to allow Blink to make changes and clicks **Yes**. See [Run as administrator](/use/run-as-administrator/).

## On a Mac

### Start the app

1. Open the downloaded Blink app from **Downloads**. Safari unzips it automatically; in other browsers, double-click the zip first.
2. If macOS won't open it, go to **System Settings** › **Privacy & Security** and choose **Open Anyway**.
3. When macOS asks, allow **Screen Recording** and **Accessibility** for Blink.

### Permissions

macOS blocks screen sharing and remote control until the customer allows them. Blink shows a window titled **Your technician needs permission to see your screen** with two lists:

- **Screen & System Audio Recording**: so the technician can see and hear the screen.
- **Accessibility**: so the technician can use the mouse and keyboard.

Each has an **Open Settings** button that goes straight to the right place in System Settings. The customer turns Blink on in each list. After allowing Screen Recording, macOS asks to restart the app; the customer clicks **Quit & Reopen** (or **Restart Blink**) and the session carries on.

While permissions are missing, your viewer tells you which ones and offers **Ask the customer again**, which shows the permission window on their screen again.

:::tip
If the switch is already on but Blink still says it is not allowed, an older Blink entry is in the list. Select it, remove it with the **−** button, then open Blink again and allow it when asked.
:::

### The menu bar

The Mac app has no banner. Instead, Blink shows in the menu bar while the session is live, saying who is viewing (or **Waiting for the technician**). Its menu has **Chat with technician…**, **End session**, and **Close command windows** while a technician has a terminal open. A small panel also appears while a terminal is open.

Files a technician sends land in **Downloads** › **Blink**, with a **File received** notification. Sending files to the technician from a Mac is not available.

## Chat with your technician

Your technician can write to you in a chat window while they help you. In a Support session you can also open the chat yourself.

Chat is part of some Blink plans. When it is not available, the **Chat** button, the tray menu item and the Mac menu item do not appear.

### Open the chat

- **Windows**: select **Chat** on the banner, or **Chat with technician** in the tray icon menu.
- **Mac**: choose **Chat with technician…** in the Blink menu bar item.

The window is titled **Chat with** and the technician's name (or **Chat with your technician**). The band at the top shows the technician's initials and name. Until the first message it says **Messages from your technician appear here.**

To write, type in **Message** and press Enter (on Windows, Shift+Enter starts a new line), or select **Send**. **Seen** appears once the technician has read your message, and a line shows when the technician is typing.

### When a message arrives

The chat window never takes over what you are doing:

- **Windows**: the window appears without taking the keyboard focus, and its taskbar button flashes. The **Chat** button on the banner shows a dot, and the tray menu says **Chat with technician (new message)**.
- **Mac**: the chat panel comes to the front and the Blink icon in the Dock bounces once. The Blink menu bar item shows a dot, and its menu says **Chat with technician (new message)…**.

Closing the window does not end the chat or the session. Open it again from the banner, the tray icon or the menu bar.

### Secret messages

Your technician may send you something private, such as a password, as a secret message. It arrives as a card titled **Secret message from** and the technician's name, with the time left before it expires.

1. Select **Reveal**. The text shows for 30 seconds.
2. Select **Copy** to copy it, or **Hide** when you are done.

After that the secret is gone, and the chat shows it as viewed. If you do not open it in time, it expires.

The technician cannot see the secret on your screen: in their view and in the recording, a grey block covers it. They also cannot reveal it for you with their remote mouse. On Windows, a copied secret stays out of the clipboard history, and it is never passed to the technician's clipboard.

To send your technician a secret, select **Secret…**, type it in the **Secret message for your technician** box (it is hidden as you type) and select **Send**. **Cancel** goes back. The chat then shows **Secret message sent**. Your technician can open it once, and it expires if they do not.

### When the chat ends

The chat closes with the session: the window says **The session ended. This chat is closed.** A computer your organization manages with Blink Access can show the chat window too, when a technician writes to you before or during a session; you can answer, but only the technician can start that chat.

## If your technician asks to see through your phone

With Blink View, the technician can see through the customer's phone camera. The phone needs no app:

- The customer opens **view.blink.izt.app** on the phone and enters the code you give them, or scans the QR code with the phone's camera.
- The QR code may appear in a window on the customer's computer titled **Scan this with your phone camera**. **Close** closes it; it also closes by itself once the phone joins.

Nothing is shared until a technician accepts the phone, and **End** on the phone stops it at any time. See [Blink View on the customer's phone](/use/blink-view-phone/).

## How the customer ends the session

The customer is always in control:

- **Windows**: **End** on any banner, or **Exit** in the tray icon menu.
- **Mac**: **End session** in the Blink menu bar item.

The session ends for every technician, and its recording, if your plan includes session recording, is finalized. Nothing stays installed. Files the technician sent stay in the customer's Downloads folder.