How to Cast IPTV from Your Phone to Your TV (iPhone and Android)

The short answer

If you watch every day, install a player app on the TV itself or on a streaming stick, and keep your phone as a backup. When the app runs on the TV, the TV pulls the stream straight from the internet and your phone stays free. Casting is perfect for a quick show in a room where nothing is set up yet, or at a friend's place, but it adds one more device that can drop the connection.

Casting and mirroring are not the same

There are two ways to put your phone's video on the TV, and they behave very differently:

Always try casting first. Use mirroring only when the app has no cast button.

iPhone: AirPlay is the easy road

On an iPhone or iPad, AirPlay is built in. It works with:

• Apple TV boxes.
• Many recent smart TVs from Samsung, LG and other brands. Look for AirPlay in the TV settings.
• Many Roku devices and Roku TVs.

1. Connect the iPhone and the TV to the same Wi-Fi network.
2. Start the channel in your player app.
3. Tap the AirPlay icon in the player (a screen with a small triangle). If the app has none, open Control Centre and tap Screen Mirroring.
4. Choose your TV. The first time, the TV may show a code to type on the phone.

Some player apps send live channels with AirPlay smoothly. Others only allow mirroring, which is less stable. If the picture stutters, try another player, or install the app directly on the Apple TV, which is usually the smoothest option of all. Apple's own AirPlay guide shows the same steps with pictures.

Why iPhone and Chromecast often struggle

Many people are surprised that an iPhone and a Chromecast do not get along well. The reason is simple: an iPhone has no built-in way to cast to a Chromecast. Only apps that include Google's casting feature show a Cast button, and many IPTV players do not, or support it only partly.

• No Cast button in the app: the iPhone cannot send it to the Chromecast at all, and there is no built-in mirroring to a Chromecast either.
• The video starts, then stops: some live stream formats are not accepted by the Chromecast, even when the app shows the button.
• Movies work, live TV does not: on-demand files are often easier to cast than live channels.

In practice it is hit or miss, and it depends on the exact app. If you have an iPhone and a Chromecast with Google TV, the model with its own remote, skip casting and install a player directly on the Google TV. It has its own app store and does not need the phone at all.

Android: the Cast button first, mirroring second

Android phones work well with Chromecast, and with TVs running Google TV or Android TV, which have casting built in.

1. Connect the phone and the TV to the same Wi-Fi network.
2. In the player app, look for the Cast icon (a rectangle with Wi-Fi waves in the corner) and choose your TV.
3. If the app has no Cast icon, pull down the quick settings and tap Screen cast, Smart View or Cast, depending on the phone brand. This mirrors your screen.

Mirroring works with almost any app. Keep the phone plugged in, turn on Do Not Disturb so your messages do not appear on the TV, and expect slightly lower quality. With a Chromecast or Google TV, you can also mirror from the Google Home app, as explained in Google's help page.

Fire TV devices also accept screen mirroring from many Android phones, but the most reliable way to use a Fire TV is to install the player on it directly. Our setup guide shows how, step by step.

When casting does not work: a quick checklist

• Same network: the phone and the TV must be on the same Wi-Fi network. Guest networks often stop devices from seeing each other.
• Use 5 GHz: mirroring in particular needs a strong, fast signal. Put the phone and the TV on the 5 GHz network when your router offers one.
• Turn off the VPN on the phone: a VPN can hide the TV from the phone, or block the stream.
• Check the router: some routers have a setting, often called AP isolation or client isolation, that stops devices from talking to each other. Turn it off for your home network.
• Restart both: restart the TV device and the phone, then try again.
• Update everything: the player app, the phone and the TV software.
• Try another player: casting support differs a lot from one app to another.

If the picture still stutters, the Wi-Fi itself may be the weak link. Our buffering fixes and our guide to internet speed help you test it.

Does casting use an extra screen?

Casting moves the stream from your phone to the TV, so it normally counts as one screen, the same as watching on the phone. Mirroring also uses one connection, the phone's. But if one person keeps watching on the phone while someone else watches the TV, that is two screens at the same time. Our article on IPTV on several TVs explains how screen limits work.