At some point, we’ve all wanted to project our phone screen onto our TV . Whether it’s to watch photos and videos, give a presentation, or even play a game on a larger screen, knowing how to cast your smartphone screen to a TV can be very useful.
There are several methods to do this and as long as you also have a smart TV you don’t even need third-party apps, it’s all integrated into Android and iOS.
So here’s everything you need to know about casting your phone’s screen to your TV, whether you’re an Android or iPhone device, using wireless connections or, in the “worst case”, an HDMI cable .
Cast screen to TV from Android wirelessly
To cast the screen of an Android smartphone to a smart TV (i.e. a television connected to the Internet) it is important that the phone and TV are connected to the same Wi-Fi network . It may seem trivial, but without a common network you will not get anywhere.
- Turn on your TV and make sure it is connected to the internet
- Swipe down from the top of your phone to pull down the quick settings menu
- Look for a button called “ Cast ,” “ Smart View ” (on Samsung Galaxy), “ Screen Mirroring ,” or something similar. Different manufacturers use different names , but the concept is always the same.
- If all goes well, after a while a list will appear with all the devices available to cast the screen , among which there should be the TV in question. Just tap on it and in a few seconds the connection is made.
If the name of your smart TV does not appear, check in its settings that Miracast or Google Cast support is enabled (they are different protocols, but serve the same purpose). Usually there is a menu dedicated to casting the screen from a smartphone.
Unfortunately, again, support varies from brand to brand, so we can’t say for sure where it is or what it’s called.
If your TV really doesn’t have any options for this, perhaps because it’s too old, the fastest way is to buy an Android TV box . Fire TV Stick , Chromecast , and in general all Android TV / Google TV devices support screen mirroring, using the method we just described.
The performance of this method is very variable , because it depends on many factors (TV, phone, network, content to be transmitted, etc.). It is likely that the videos will not be at maximum resolution and that even the phone interface itself may appear a bit grainy, due to compression artifacts . In fact, fluidity is favored over quality and unfortunately there is no way to intervene on either of them manually.
Cast Screen to TV from iPhone Wirelessly
Many of the considerations already made for Android apply to iPhone, with one difference: the protocol used. In the case of iOS, AirPlay is used , which must be supported by the smart TV to which you want to transmit the screen.
The good news is that many TVs support AirPlay (look for it in your TV settings), the bad news is that if they don’t, there are no alternatives other than buying an external box, which doesn’t necessarily have to be an Apple TV (a cheap Fire TV Stick will also work fine , but via third-party apps).
If your TV supports AirPlay, casting your iPhone screen is easy. All you need to do is:
- Open Control Center on iPhone (swipe down from top of right half of screen)
- Tap “Mirror Screen” (the icon with two rectangles next to each other).
- Select compatible TV.
AirPlay generally performs better than Google Cast/Miracast, but again, there is no one-size-fits-all formula, and your experience can vary . In short, not even AirPlay can transmit a 4K video at maximum resolution and without lag . For those who always want the maximum resolution, the only certain solution is the cable .
