Connect Your iPhone to Your TV

Do you want to turn your iPhone into a mobile theater system? You can quickly connect almost any iPhone to a TV to display your videos, pictures, music and more. Read this article to learn how to connect your iPhone to your TV.

10 Second Summary

  • HDMI: Plug an AV Adapter to your phone. Connect the adapter to an HDMI cable. Plug the cable into your TV. Turn on your TV and switch to the correct input. More ↓
  • Analog: Plug a VGA or AV Adapter into your phone and TV. Connect your audio, if using VGA, and set the input. ↓
  • AirPlay and Apple TV: Make sure that your devices are compatible. Turn on the TV and Apple TV unit. Connect your iPhone to your home network. ↓

Steps

HDMI TVs

  1. Purchase an HDMI cable and an Apple Digital AV Adapter. These can be found online or at an electronics store. The adapter will allow you to connect and HDMI cable to your iPhone, which will then connect to the TV. You can only connect an iPhone 4 or later.
    • The iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5, 5c, and 5s use a different connector than earlier versions. You will need a Lightning Digital AV Adapter.
    • You will need both the HDMI cable and the adapter in order to connect the devices. These are rarely sold in the same package. HDMI cables range wildly in price, but you will not notice much, if any, difference between a cheap one and an expensive one.
  2. Connect the adapter to your phone. Plug the AV Adapter into either the 30-pin connector or the Lightning connector on your phone, depending on the model. Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the port on the adapter.
  3. Connect the HDMI cable to the TV. Plug the other end of the HDMI connector into an available HDMI port on your TV. HDMI ports can typically be found on the back or on the side of the TV. Your TV may have more than one port.
    • Pay attention to the label of the port you are using so that you can easily switch to the correct input on your TV.
    • Connecting via HDMI will send the audio through the HDMI cable as well.
    • If your TV doesn’t have an HDMI port, see the next section.
  4. Turn on your TV and switch to the correct input. Depending on which iPhone you have, you will see different things.
    • The iPhone 4 will not mirror the display on the TV. Instead, apps that play music, pictures, and video will appear on your TV, but you will not see your menus or games.
    • The iPhone 4s and all of the iPhone 5 models will mirror their displays, showing everything on the TV that you see on your phone.
  5. Charge your phone while streaming. Apple adapters come with a second 30-pin or Lightning connector that allows you to plug your charging cable in. This is especially useful if you are streaming a lot of video, as playing video quickly eats up battery.[1]

Analog TVs

  1. Purchase the correct adapter. If your TV does not support HDMI, you can connect your iPhone using an analog connection. Depending on your iPhone model, you have a few different choices.
    • iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s – Apple Composite AV Cable. This cable plugs into your 30-pin connector and allows you to connect to the composite port on your TV. This is a three-prong connector, typically colored red, white, and yellow.
    • iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s – Apple Component AV Cable. This cable plugs into your 30-pin connector and allows you to connect to the component port on your TV. This is a five-prong connector, typically colored red, blue, green, red, and white. This will offer a better picture than Composite, but not as many TVs support it.
    • iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5, 5c, and 5s – Apple Lightning to VGA Adapter. This cable plugs into your Lightning connector, and allows you to connect to the VGA port on your TV. The VGA cable looks like an older monitor cable, and has screws on the side to secure it. The VGA cable is sold separately.
  2. Connect the adapter to your iPhone. Plug the adapter or cable into either the 30-pin connector or the Lightning connector, depending on your model. If you are using the VGA adapter, connect one end of the VGA cable to the adapter and secure it with the side screws.
    • The VGA adapter can only be inserted in one direction. Do not force the connection, or you may bend the pins.
  3. Connect the cable to your TV. Look for an available port to match your cable. Be sure to connect plugs to their correct colors on the TV if you are using Composite or Component cables. If you are using a VGA cable, make sure that it is secured with the screws.
    • When plugging in component cables, make sure that the correct red plug goes in the right socket. There is a red plug bunched together with the blue and green plugs, and a red plug that goes with the white one. The three colored plugs transmit video, while the other red and white plugs transfer audio.
  4. Connect your audio (if using VGA). If you are using the Lightning to VGA adapter, you will need to connect your audio separately. This is because the VGA cable does not transmit audio signal. You can connect an audio cable from your headphone jack to a speaker system, or use the second Lightning port on the adapter to connect to a home theater system.
  5. Turn the TV on to the correct input. Make sure the input matches the connector that your iPhone is attached to. Depending on which iPhone you have, you will see different things.
    • The iPhone 3G and 4 will not mirror the display on the TV. Instead, apps that play music, pictures, and video will appear on your TV, but you will not see your menus or games.
    • The iPhone 4s and all of the iPhone 5 models will mirror their displays, showing everything on the TV that you see on your phone.
  6. Charge your phone while streaming. The Composite and Component cables come with a USB plug that can be attached to a wall charger or a computer in order to charge the iPhone. The VGA adapter has a second Lightning port that you can use to connect to a charger.

AirPlay and Apple TV

  1. Check that you have a compatible devices. You must have an iPhone 4 or later. Your Apple TV must be second-generation or newer.
    • Second generation Apple TVs were released late 2010. If your Apple TV is older, it will not support AirPlay.
    • Ensure that both devices are updated to the latest version of iOS. This will ensure the highest-quality stream.
  2. Turn on your TV and the Apple TV unit. Make sure that the TV is set to the input that the Apple TV is connected to. You should be able to see the Apple TV interface.
    • Check the Settings menu of your Apple TV to make sure that AirPlay is turned on.
    • If you are using your Apple TV for the first time, this article will show you how to set it up.
  3. Connect your iPhone to your home network. In order to stream your iPhone to the TV screen, your iPhone and Apple TV need to be on the Join a Wireless Network from Your iPhone.
    • If you are running iOS 8, you will not need to be connected to the same network as the Apple TV. You can connect directly to the Apple TV instead, which is great for sharing vacation photos on your friend's TV
  4. Stream everything on your iPhone running iOS 7 or iOS 8. If you’d like to stream your whole iPhone screen to the Apple TV, swipe up from the button of the screen on your iPhone to open the Control Center. Tap the AirPlay button and select your Apple TV from the menu that appears. Your iPhone screen will now appear on your TV.
    • To access the AirPlay button on iOS 6, tap the Home button twice to open a list of your recent apps. Swipe from left to right to open the brightness menu. Tap the AirPlay button and select your Apple TV from the menu that appears.
    • This option is not available for iPhone 4 users. You must have an iPhone 4s or newer.
  5. Stream specific content to your TV. If you’d rather just stream a specific video or song to your TV, start the media on your iPhone and then tap the AirPlay button. This button is located next to the “Next” button on your playback controls. Pressing the button will send the video or song to your Apple TV screen.[2]
    • When the content is streaming on the TV, you can use the controls that appear on the iPhone to start and stop playback, skip to the next track, and more. If you are streaming pictures, swipe your iPhone screen to move to the next picture.
  6. Decide if you want to enable mirroring. Mirroring will show your display on both screens. If mirroring is not enabled, the display will only appear on the TV. Mirroring is especially useful for giving presentations, or for playing iPhone games on your TV.[3]
    • To turn on Mirroring, toggle the Mirroring switch so that it turns color..
    • Mirroring is not available on the iPhone 4.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-connect-your-iphone5ipad-4ipad-mini-to-your-tv-7000019519/
  2. ↑ http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20100713-285/how-to-get-started-with-apple-airplay/
  3. ↑ http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/07/ios-7-video-tip-where-is-apple-hiding-airplay-mirroring/
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