Reply With QuoteI use an old Apple TV box and that works fine when screen mirroring for my iPhone and iPad. The unit is no longer supported by Apple but works well. If fact I have 3 of them on my TV’s
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Screen mirroring is not something I have done much of. I have an iPhone 13 and want to screen mirror to a tv that is not smart so an interface with HDMI out is needed. I don’t have WiFi in the house and that’s not about to change, my DLNA network is hardwired so I don’t need WiFi, and I get unlimited mobile data.
So l am hoping someone will be able to give me some advice. If I use an Apple TV box will it work without internet connectivity? I just want to do WiFi direct mirroring. Are there any better options? Tia.
I use an old Apple TV box and that works fine when screen mirroring for my iPhone and iPad. The unit is no longer supported by Apple but works well. If fact I have 3 of them on my TV’s
B
I managed to guy an Apple TV 3 from a friend but alas it will not work without WiFi. I have followed many online guides and no matter what I do it refuses to connect without WiFi (or a network to be more precise).
I set up an old router and connected it to that, then connected my iPhone to the router and it works, I can screen mirror perfectly. The problem with that of course is that in this configuration my iPhone relies on the router to provide access to an ISP and doesn’t use mobile data, thus streaming isn’t possible. I hoped this may somehow help me to get the Apple TV to work as peer to peer when the router was off but still no.
I’m not entirely shocked that it doesn’t work but thought I would add an update.
Can you not have your phone as a wifi hotspot and connect the apple tv to that?
At some point you're either going to have to invest in WiFi - even for just one room - or just use a hdmi to lightening adapter.
I'm out of my depth here but possibly making your own VPN would work but 100x easier to just use WiFi or a cable.
Well WiFi isn’t an option. I have no use for it apart from screen mirroring. Im sure not wasting £30 a month on it. My 5G giffgaff sim costs me £15 a month and does everything I need. I just hot spot the tv to watch the odd film on prime. I was simply hoping I could throw prime to the tv from my mobile because the interface is easier. I’ll just get a wireless keyboard and mouse for the tv for £25, just a shame I’ll have it laying around when not in use I don’t like clutter, I like minimalist rooms.
Using a hotspot as ISP for an Apple TV box doesn’t work, Apple recognise it as a hotspot and shut down most functions of the box.
Shame apple locks it down
In your ope ing post your said your network is hardwired-- can't you just put an ethnet cable into a cheap switch so apple doesn't see it as a hotspot?
My Apple tv boxes are both plugged in by ethernet.
I have my network connected via a stacked hub that was left over from a previous project. It has ample capacity and bandwidth capable of handling all but the most elaborate of home networks. Perfect for my NAS, PS3, BluRay player and free view boxes to share data room to room. It lacks a wireless component however but that is simple to rectify. It wouldn’t be possible to use a phone as both access point and DLNA node simultaneously, well not without weeks and weeks of producing custom code that would likely be buggy and may not work at all.
The reality is it’s not worth spending hours trying to get it working in order to save 2 minutes of time twice a month when searching for a film on prime or a program on catch up tv channels. It would be the IT equivalent of penny wise pound foolish.
I have an app called Katan that allows me to connect to a local network and DLNA my phone content on the network if I use my old wireless router as an access point (not without a few niggles may I point out). Again however it doesn’t allow for me to use that and mobile data simultaneously so my phone becomes redundant as an ISP gateway.
Last edited by Mrbarry; 13th September 2022 at 06:57. Reason: Addition
WiFi and a isp provided connection are not the same thing.Originally Posted by Mrbarry
You could simply buy a 4G modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint box & put the sim into it each time you want to watch a movie.
Or buy a amazon fire stick and tether it to your iPhone via WiFi, I last did this ~9months ago when we had a isp outage, I don’t recall any restrictions on the fire stick, obviously should it have changed or you can’t get it to work you have amazons return policy to fall back on.
This could be nonsense but can’t phone just use own sim and WiFi with suitable router (w/o isp).
If you mean buy a cheap access point then add that to the wifi tether of the iPhone then technically I believe so but the issue is around what device other clients would connect to, you’d have no control over it as you’d be repeating the same ssid/pw combo.
You might be able to have a different ssid/pw to the uplink of the phone but that would require more ‘boxes’ or ‘boxes’ with multiple wifi radios to allow the tether to phone & the client facing radios to be separate, way to complex for this situation.
There are some modem/fw/router/switch/accesspoint boxes that allow a usb 4/5G dongle but I’ve no idea if they work with a tethered phone.
I get the differences between ISP, WiFi, access points and the rest of it, I have done a lot of network configuring over the years, it’s just the difficulty of connecting to a mirroring device whilst still using my mobile data that is proving difficult. I’m sure there are simple and cheap devices you can buy that would work perfectly, I have yet to meet one that’s the problem. Apple TV box would have been a nice solution and for what it cost was worth a punt. If only I wasn’t too mean to pay for WiFi or TV packages hahaha. Onwards as they say…
As a side note, Apple restrict a lot of their functions if you connect via a hot spot, like updates, you can not update iOS via a hot spot or mobile data only via a conventional broadband connection. They insist it is to preserve your mobile data but in reality I don’t see what business it is if theirs how you choose to consume your own data. When your device become out of date too far or a serious security update is released they remove the restriction until you perform the most recent update before imposing it once again.
I visit my mum and my in-laws every Saturday and I do my app updates on their WiFi I must admit.
Last edited by Mrbarry; 13th September 2022 at 10:04.
I have just tested (limited by my 3.5Mb/s 4G speed) & my fire tv connected without issue to my iPhone via wifi tether (other than buffering) certainly well enough that I recommend you get a fire device & test yourself.
Thank you that is appreciated. I will order one and give it a go. It’s not a lot of outlay if it doesn’t work.
What model do you have incidentally? I know there are a few.
I have a old fire tv don’t do them any more, just two points I don’t believe you can mirror the iPhone, you are just using the iPhones 5G over wifi, so you’d need to already use prime or apple tv or netflix etc, I’m sure you got that but I mention it just in case.
The other is if you go for the fire stick you may need a hdmi extension so it’s not stuck behind the tv in a wifi black hole.
As I expected really.
I don’t use Apple TV subscription for their streaming services, only Prime and Disney. We pay for Disney for my daughter who lives with my ex but we have a log in, rare we watch it. My wife insists on paying for Prime despite me saying it’s a waste of £8 a month. We can watch both on any of our smart TVs but it’s a pain navigating via the tv remote. Screen mirroring would have been a nice easy solution.
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