If you’re like most people, you’ve got a WiFi password that’s as long as your arm, and you can’t remember all of it. But what if a guest comes over to watch a video or show photos and wants to use Airplay? Can they do it even if they don’t have your WiFi password?
To use AirPlay without WiFi, you can use an underrated feature of Airplay called Peer-To-Peer Airplay. It uses Bluetooth to mirror your phone even without WiFi.
Read on to learn more about Peer-To-Peer Airplay and other options for mirroring your screen to a TV or another device.
AirPlay lets you broadcast & mirror
AirPlay allows you to broadcast audio and video from your iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV, speaker, or smart TV.
It also lets you mirror your iOS device’s display on a big screen, and you can use this feature to view presentations, watch videos, and much more.
How to use Airplay without WiFi
Peer-to-peer AirPlay lets you connect your iPhone or iPad to your Apple TV without having to be on the same WiFi network. It simplifies home media sharing with friends and eliminates the need for guests to join your WiFi network.
Guests can easily connect their Apple devices to your Apple TV by selecting AirPlay. This means that everyone can quickly share media like photos, videos, and music without connecting to your home network. How cool is that?
To mirror your phone (or someone else’s phone) to your TV without WiFi, follow the steps below:
- Make sure both devices are disconnected from WiFi and ensure that WiFi is still enabled on both devices.
- Connect your iPhone to your Apple TV via Bluetooth by following your iPhone’s standard pairing procedure.
- After establishing a Bluetooth connection to your Apple TV, you should see it in the list of available AirPlay devices. (You may need to restart both devices if you cannot see the device in the list.)
- If your Apple TV prompts you for an AirPlay code, enter the code that should appear on your phone.
- If this is your first time connecting by using peer-to-peer, the process could take several minutes.
Limitations of AirPlay without WiFi
Peer-To-Peer AirPlay does not work on streaming services like YouTube, Netflix, HBO GO, Showtime, etc. Facebook videos can be viewed as long as they are not embedded from another site, such as YouTube.
It’s also not suitable for Android devices, and if your houseguests do not have iPhones or iPads, they won’t be able to use this feature.
If you already have media files like videos, pictures, presentations, or music saved to your Apple device or Mac, you can use Peer-to-Peer to share them with others.
Video tutorial
Conclusion
There are times when WiFi is either unavailable or not desirable (due to security or bandwidth concerns, for example), so having the option to use AirPlay without WiFi via Peer-To-Peer AirPlay is fantastic.
However, some third-party apps, such as Netflix, do not function in peer-to-peer mode, so you may find yourself resorting to the standard HDMI adapter once again to mirror your phone offline.
