Airplay from iPhone to Mac means is to play, share or watch your Apple devices content to Mac. There are reasons you should mirror your iPhone or iPad screen on your Mac. One is that your Mac’s screen is much larger than even the iPad or iPhone.
What is AirPlay?
Apple provides AirPlay support, used to stream content from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to your TV screen. If your TV has AirPlay built-in just like latest Apple tv has then you can stream (old AirPlay or older ios doesn’t let you stream from iPhone or iPad to mac).
After the release of IOS 15 on the iPhone/iPadOS 15 on the iPad, and Monterey on the Mac later in 2021, you should be able to use AirPlay to send content to your Mac from an iPhone, iPad, or other Mac. You can even use your Mac as an AirPlay speaker.
Here’s how we expect AirPlay to work on Monterey and iOS 15. There are also some alternatives that we’ll cover as well.
Mirror iPhone on a Mac with AirPlay – how to
The trending of iOS 15/iPadOS 15 has a feature to mirror your iPhone on a Mac or apple TV. Also it has a big role of Monterey OS, have the ability to AirPlay from an iPhone/iPad to a Mac screen.
The airplay feature announce with the builtin update of latest operating system in late 2021. So the feature doesn’t work with every Mac. Read faq section for mac list.
If your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is older, it may still be possible to share content, but it will be a lower resolution. Set “Allow AirPlay for” to “Everyone” or “Everyone on the same network”.
Until new operating systems are launched, this won’t work – unless you’ve installed the beta (read How to Join Apple’s Beta Program and Try New Software). But when Monterey and Co. arrive, this is how it should work:
- Make sure your devices are on the same Wi-Fi network.
- Open the Control Center on your iPhone. (Swipe from top right on phone without home button).
- Tap on Screen Mirroring.
- At the moment, you will only see an Apple TV or TV with AirPlay, but after updating the software, you will also see your Mac.
- Choose your Mac.
- Now close the Control Center.
- You can now stream from iPhone or iPad to Mac.
How to Stream Content from iPad or iPhone to Mac
While we’re waiting for Apple to update the Mac, iPhone, and iPad operating systems, there are several options for streaming from iPhone or iPad to Mac, however, you need to install the app on your Mac.
There are a few you can choose from, AirServer or Reflector, we’ll look at both below.
Reflector – Mirror iPhone, iPad screen of Mac:
The reflector you can download here has a free 7-day trial or costs £ 16 / $ 14.99. It allows you to mirror your iPhone, iPad to the screen of your Mac (and other devices).
- Download and install Reflector on your Mac (you’ll see a warning message about installing it, but since we know it’s a legitimate app, you should open it).
- If you are only using the trial version, you can click Try Reflector 4. Otherwise, buy the software and enter your license key. (If you’re using the trial version, you’ll see the watermarks that will expire after seven days.)
- You won’t see the interface, but you should see a spotlight icon in the dock and the spotlight options should appear in the menu. However, you don’t have to do anything here.
- With Reflector running on your Mac, go to your iPhone or iPad, open what you want to stream, and tap on the Share icon (the one that’s the square with the arrow coming out of it).
- Choose AirPlay.
- You will now see the Mac streaming option which you will be able to do as soon as you enter the AirPlay code that will appear on your Mac screen.
The AirServer (£ 14.99 / $ 14.99) has a free 14-day trial that also has a watermark – although this time the watermark isn’t as intrusive. You can download it here.
AirServer
- Download and Install – As above, you need to approve the app before installing it as it was not downloaded from the Mac App Store. You may also need to allow AirServer to “Computer Control” in the Security & Privacy settings.
- Again, you won’t see the interface, this time the only hint that AirSever is running on your Mac is an icon in the menu bar that looks a bit like AirDrop or the sharing icons on your Mac.
- Now, if you open your iPhone and iPad and find the thing you want to stream to your Mac, tap the Share icon and choose AirPlay.
- You’ll see your Mac listed as a streaming option again. Tap the icon and streaming will begin immediately – no code required.
Another reason you may want to stream from an iPhone or iPad to your Mac is the ability to watch Netflix, Amazon, or Disney + offline content on a bigger screen. Read How to watch Netflix, Amazon, and Disney + offline on Mac.
F.A.Q – How to Airplay from iPhone to Mac:
You can share your Mac’s screen to your iPad using Sidecar (read: How to use your iPad as a second screen with your Mac), but it doesn’t work the other way around.
However to take full advantage of this feature, consider the list of following Mac, iPhone/iPad.
– MacBook Pro (2018 and newer)
– MacBook Air (2018 and newer)
– iMac (2019 and newer)
– iMac Pro (2017)
– Mac mini (2020 and newer)
– Mac Pro (2019)
– iPhone 7 and newer
– iPad Pro (2nd generation and newer)
– iPad Air (3rd generation and newer)
– iPad (6th generation and newer)
– iPad mini (5th generation and newer)
For more tips on using Apple TV, read How to set up an Apple TV.
jakmac . pl / jak-airplay-z-iphonea-na-maca