# Live

Source: https://phonebox.dev/docs/api-reference/live

> Create a link that lets a person watch and control a phone in a browser, and how long it lasts.



A live view link opens the phone's screen in a browser, where a person can watch and control it without an account or a key. [Live view and human handoff](/docs/using-phones/live-view) describes the page and how to hand a phone over safely.

## Create a live view link [#create-a-live-view-link]

`POST /v1/phones/{id}/live` needs the `phones:control` scope.

Creates a link for a `ready` phone. The body is optional.

| Field        | Type    | Default | Rules                                                                      |
| ------------ | ------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `expires_in` | integer | 3600    | Seconds until the link stops working, from 60 to 86400, which is 24 hours. |

```json title="POST /v1/phones/{id}/live"
{
  "expires_in": 600
}
```

```bash
curl https://phonebox.dev/v1/phones/ph_7kx2m6q4v3ta/live \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PHONEBOX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"expires_in": 600}'
```

It answers `201 Created`:

```json title="Response: live"
{
  "url": "https://phonebox.dev/live/Rk3vQ8bN2xLm5TyW9pZc4HdJ7aGf6sEu1oVi0XqBnKw",
  "expires_at": "2026-09-29T14:40:00.084Z"
}
```

Anyone who has the URL can control the phone, and every account signed in on it, until `expires_at`. Treat the URL like a password and choose the shortest expiry that works. Phonebox stores only a hash of the link and never writes the URL to activity.

| Error                   | When                                 |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| `400 validation_failed` | `expires_in` is outside 60 to 86400. |
| `413 payload_too_large` | The body is larger than 100 KB.      |

The readiness errors in [Common errors](/docs/api-reference#common-errors) apply too.