How To AirPlay From iPhone Or MacBook To Your TV

There are lots of ways to get content on the big screen, like using a connected streaming device or accessing a built-in smart TV OS. But you can also do so wirelessly by using technology like Chromecast and Apple AirPlay, both of which “cast” (wirelessly send) content from your mobile device or laptop to the TV. It’s great for accessing a movie or show from your streaming subscription on a hotel room’s TV or for listening to music through a TV’s speakers.

It’s easy to use AirPlay on an iPhone or a MacBook to connect to a TV, as long as the display supports AirPlay. The process is nearly identical across iOS devices, and it works similarly with any brand of TV.

To AirPlay content from your iPhone or iPad to a TV, first confirm that both the TV and the iPhone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and make sure that AirPlay is turned on for your TV. To check, go to the TV’s Settings menu and look under Network, Connections and Apple AirPlay & HomeKit, then enable it if it isn’t already. (The menu options might be slightly different depending on the brand of TV.)

Once confirmed, open the content from a compatible app on your iOS device, like Prime Video or Disney+, and select the AirPlay icon at the top right. It will look like a tiny rectangle with an upward-facing arrow. For services like YouTube, tap the cast symbol (a rectangle with Wi-Fi wave lines) and select AirPlay from there. Then, choose what device you want to link if more than one pops up. 

For AirPlaying images from Photos, press the Share button first (the square with the upward-facing arrow), then choose AirPlay from that menu. This may be the sequence with some other apps, too. For music, you’ll find the AirPlay icon (an upward-facing arrow with three arcs above it) within the music playback square on Control Center. 

It’s worth noting that if you plan to AirPlay frequently to a specific TV, you can adjust settings so this happens automatically, as long as your iPhone or iPad has the latest OS. Go to Settings, select General and then AirPlay & Continuity. Under Automatically AirPlay, you have three choices: Never (follow the manual steps noted above every time), Ask (the device will suggest when it thinks you might want to AirPlay and wait for your confirmation) or Automatic (your device will initiate an AirPlay connection without any action from you).

While you can’t AirPlay something like a document or a Safari web browser tab the same way, you can use a feature that’s part of AirPlay called screen mirroring. To do this, swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone screen to open the Control Center window. You’ll see various icons, including one with two overlapping squares. (If it isn’t there, tap the “+” sign at the top left, select Add a Control from the bottom, find that Screen Mirroring icon and add it to the home view.)

Tap it, select your TV, and you might see a pairing passcode if it’s the first time you’re doing this. If so, confirm, and voila, whatever is displayed on your phone, including your real-time navigation movements, will be mirrored on the TV. Select the screen mirroring button again to stop once you’re done.

You can also use this option for streaming video if the site you’re using doesn’t have AirPlay. Flip the phone horizontally and expand or find a full-screen mode button (usually looks like a square outline with four corner angles or four arrows pointing outward). You may have to adjust view settings to get it to look right, and the process may vary depending on the app.

For AirPlaying from your MacBook to your TV, confirm AirPlay is on for your TV and both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, then go to System Settings on the MacBook, General and AirDrop & Continuity (it may be called AirDrop & Handoff). Make sure that AirPlay Receiver is switched to the “on” position.

Open the content you want to stream to the big screen on your MacBook and select the same rectangle-with-upward-facing-arrow icon, or the Share icon if you don’t see it in the playback controls options. Select your TV from the list. As with an iPhone, you may need to enter a pairing passcode.

For screen mirroring from a MacBook, tap the Control Center icon in the top right of your MacBook menu bar (it looks like two overlapping toggle switches) and select the Screen Mirroring icon. Choose your TV from the list, and the content will show up on the big screen almost immediately.

You have additional options with MacBook and screen mirroring. Open the Screen Mirroring menu on your MacBook while it’s in action and select Change. From here, you can choose to cast the entire screen to the TV, have only an active window or app display on the TV, or extend the display so the TV is used as an additional screen. If you’re playing video using screen mirroring, you may also need to adjust the audio output settings for your Mac to switch to the TV instead. Select the Control Center icon, the triangle with three arcs to the right of Sound and choose your TV as the output source.

While Apple AirPlay usually works well, you might occasionally run into errors. I use AirPlay daily to display workouts from a fitness app on my phone to a big-screen TV. It works perfectly 95 percent of the time, but there are occasional instances when it refuses to connect or the connection drops. The simplest solution is to shut everything down and try again. Disable and re-enable Wi-Fi on both the TV and phone, and that may also rectify the connection sync issues.

Some apps don’t permit screen mirroring due to copyright protections or if they contain secure and private information. You might find this with some banking apps, for example. If this is the case, you’ll just see a black screen. The simplest workaround is to connect the iPhone, iPad or MacBook directly to the TV via an HDMI cable. You could also try to access the app from a streaming device like an Apple TV or the smart TV interface itself.

Note that Netflix does not support AirPlay. You can use casting with a compatible TV, though the streamer recently ended casting support for newer TV models. For TVs where it still works, it only works if you have a Standard or Premium plan.