How to Use AirPlay to Mirror Your iPhone on a TV

Sometimes browsing photos or watching a video on your phone or laptop isn’t enough. Casting to a TV can be a great way to enjoy content on a larger screen and share it with everyone in the room. With the help of AirPlay, doing it with an iPhone, iPad or Mac is very simple.

AirPlay is Apple’s system for screen mirroring, and it’s supported by a growing number of smart TVs, as well as Roku and Apple TV streaming devices.

Here’s how to use this handy feature and which devices are compatible.

What devices support AirPlay?

To use AirPlay, you’ll need a compatible Roku TV or streamer (the list includes Roku TV, Roku Streambar, and Roku Streaming Stick 4K), an Apple TV streamer, or a 2019 or newer smart TV from LG, Samsung, Sony, or Vizio. Amazon’s newer Fire TV models also support AirPlay, but Fire TV Sticks do not.

Any iPhone or iPad running iOS 4.2 or later has AirPlay built-in. Note that Roku and smart TVs require AirPlay 2 on your Apple devices, which is available with iOS 12.3 or later and MacOS Mojave 10.14.5 or later.

Before you begin, make sure your Apple device and Apple TV are on the same Wi-Fi network.

Mirror your iPhone or iPad

1. Swipe up from the upper right corner on newer iPhone models, or up from the bottom of the screen, to access Control center.
2. Press the Screen mirroring button. (It shows two overlapping rectangles)
3. Select your TV.
4. If prompted, enter the password displayed on your TV.
5. A check mark will appear next to the name of your TV when a connection is established.

Now use your phone or tablet as usual and everything you do will be displayed on your TV. To stop mirroring, go back to Control Center and open the Screen Mirroring section, then select Stop mirroring.

Mirror your Mac screen

1. Click on the Control center icon in the menu bar. It should be next to the time in the upper right corner.
2. Click Screen mirroring.
3. You will see a list of devices available on your network to mirror your screen. Click on the device you want to use. Your screen will flash and a few seconds later it will appear on the TV.

Now everything you do on your Mac will appear on your TV. When you are finished, click the Screen mirroring button in Control Center againthen click the name of the device you are connected to to stop mirroring.