apple: Explained: Apple’s wireless streaming and mirroring technology Airplay – Times of India

One of the easiest ways available to Apple users to mirror or stream content from their Apple devices to a compatible TV, speaker, or any other Apple device is Airplay. AirPlay is a technology developed by Apple which allows streaming and screen mirroring among Apple devices. It works with both video and audio content that are locally available on the device and online, very similar to Google’s Chromecast. Users can share pretty much everything from music, videos, photos, podcasts and presentations among iPhone, Mac, iPad or iPod touch.
This technology works seamlessly in any Apple device and any other device that has “Work with Apple AirPlay,” mentioned and users won’t even need any extra software to operate it. The first-gen AirPlay was a specific one-to-one protocol that connected only two devices, but Apple introduced Airplay 2 in 2018 which expanded its abilities. With Airplay 2, users can connect their Apple devices to stream audio to multiple speakers simultaneously. Although, it can not support streaming video to several devices simultaneously, yet.

This technology needs both sender and receiver devices to be on the same Wi-Fi network or needs to be connected to the same router through Ethernet. In 2014, Apple released a feature called Peer-to-Peer AirPlay that operated even while using devices that are not connected on the same network or even any network. However, it does not work well in all AirPlay operations.
Devices that support Airplay
You can use AirPlay on all iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod touch models from 2012 or later running on the latest version of their respective operating system. Moreover, you can use AirPlay on iTunes for Windows but that depends on the extent of Windows support. These are some of the sender devices that can stream or mirror from itself to another receiver device. Here is a list of receiver devices that support Apple Airplay.

There is a complete list of devices that are compatible with Airplay on the Apple website. Moreover, you can also identify Airplay compatibility by the “Works with Apple AirPlay” label.
How to stream content
If you are trying to stream content from any of your Apple devices then follow these steps:
Find the AirPlay icon on the app (next to the playback controls). You might have to go to options or the share menu to get it in some cases.
Tap on the AirPlay button and it will show a list of supporting devices around you
Choose the device on which you want to AirPlay the content.
To end the Airplay tap the icon once again and choose the device you are using.
If you are using iTunes on Windows to AirPlay content you have to follow the same instructions. Moreover, if you are trying to stream audio but can’t find an AirPlay button in the app, you can also use the Control Center to initiate AirPlay to support speakers. As mentioned above, if your speakers support AirPlay 2, you’ll be able to stream audio on several speakers simultaneously.
How to mirror content
If you want to mirror your Apple device screen on Apple TV or an AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV, you have to follow the steps given below:
Go to the Control Center on your device and tap on the Screen Mirroring icon. If you are running an older macOS version, click on the AirPlay icon in the menu bar in the Control Center. If you still can’t find the AirPlay icon, head over to the System Preferences, then select Displays and set the “Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available” option.
Clicking the Screen Mirroring or AirPlay icon will show a list of supportive displays around for you to choose the one on which you want to mirror the screen.
If a passcode appears on the AirPlay-compatible screen, enter it on the original device.
Once it starts, select the Screen Mirroring icon for more options, where you can extend your Mac display to your TV.
Drawbacks
AirPlay also has some limitations. For instance, you can use AirPlay only from one app on your Apple device at a time. So you can’t simultaneously AirPlay a movie from the Apple TV app to your TV and AirPlay another song from Apple Music on another speaker.
Airplay is also limited only to Apple devices. However, some tricks and hacks exist for other platforms, they take a lot of time and are usually not worth the effort. If you belong to the Apple ecosystem, AirPlay is the best option to stream or mirror content from your device. Apple has continued expanding its AirPlay feature to make it feel more stagnant and is developing to fulfil the user needs.