Surely on more than one occasion you have thought how to watch ipad on tv to enjoy the content of your device on a larger screen. Watching the iPad on television is ideal for enjoying our favorite games using a Control command.
It is also especially useful for viewing the images and videos that we have stored on our device, watching videos from YouTube, streaming video platforms... yes our TV is not as smart as we would like.
To see the iPad on television we have two options:
- Using a wire
- Via AirPlay
Cable
Using a cable to watch the iPad on television is the easiest method and, in addition, reduce latency to zero. If you want to enjoy your favorite games on TV without any latency (signal delay), using a cable is the best solution.
Depending on the iPad model, we will need a lightning or USB-C to HDMI cable.
lightning to hdmi cable
If your device has a lightning connection, you need a lightning to hdmi cable, a cable we can buy both in the Apple Store and in Amazon for less than 20 euros.
The problem with Amazon cables is that some manufacturers, claim that the cable is certified by Apple (MFI seal), although it is not true.
If it's not officially certified by Apple (it's hard to tell), the adapter may work initially, but over time, it will probably stop working.
Before choosing one cable or another, it is advisable to read user reviews. O well, pay more than 50 euros that the official cable costs in the Apple Store.
Once we connect the iPad to the television using the lightning to HDMI cable, the image from the iPad will automatically start to display on the television screen, without us having to make any adjustments to the iPad.
With this wire, mirror ipad screen to tv. If we turn off the screen, the broadcast will stop.
USB-C to HDMI cable
If your iPad includes a USB-C port, you need a USB-C cable. USB-C to HDMI. Unlike lightning cables, you can use any available cable, since being a standard, it does not require any type of certification.
Of course, do not opt for the cheapest solution if you want to enjoy content from your iPad in the best possible quality and that, over time, the USB-C part is not damaged, since it is the most we are going to touch to connect it to our device.
Once we connect the iPad to the television using the USB-C to HDMI cable, the iPad image will be mirrored automatically on TV without us having to make any adjustments to the iPad.
Just like if we use a lightning to HDMI cable, if we turn off the screen, the broadcast will stop, so it is not ideal for consuming content from streaming video platforms.
AirPlay
The method more convenient and easy to watch iPad on TV is using Apple's AirPlay technology.
With AirPlay, we can duplicate the screen of our device (keeping the screen on) or send the content in video format to play the content by turning off the screen of our device.
Although AirPlay is Apple's proprietary technology, in recent years it has begun to license it so that other manufacturers can use it in smart TVs.
If we want to use AirPlay we have 3 options:
- Apple TV
- AirPlay-enabled smart TVs
- Amazon FireTV
Apple TV
The best device to enjoy AirPlay functionality is Apple TV, the Apple device that acts as a HomeKit hub and that, in addition, allows us to enjoy any streaming video platform
Being a wireless connection, we will always find some latency if we want to duplicate the screen on television, so it is not ideal to enjoy games where any type of delay can affect the gameplay or user experience.
The cheapest Apple TV that Apple currently offers on the market is the HD model It has a price of 159 euros and has 32 GB of storage.
If you would like to enjoy 4K videos via streaming you will have to pay the $199 which costs the cheapest model, a model that is also available in versions with 32 and 64 GB of storage.
AirPlay-enabled smart TVs
Samsung, LG y Sony offer in high-end models, support for AirPlay. In this way, we can use the main function of Apple TV without buying it.
If you are thinking of renewing your old television and you want it to last you a few years, you should opt for a model that offers support for this technology.
Amazon FireTV
The cheapest option of all those that we show you in this section to be able to enjoy AirPlay to watch the iPad on television is to buy one of the different Amazon Fire TV models.
And I say cheaper, because the cheapest model of Amazon's Fire TV devices is the Fire TV Stik Lite, which costs 29,99 euros, although sometimes we can find it with a discount of 10 euros on its usual price.
Natively, Fire TVs are not compatible with AirPlay; however, we can add compatibility with this protocol using the application Airscreen, an app available for free in the Amazon Fire TV app store.
Send content via AirPlay to a television
Not the same send the image from the iPad to the television than to send the content of a streaming video platform to the television.
When sending the image from iPad to TV, we are mirroring the screen, so if we turn it off, playback will stop.
But if we send the image from a streaming video platform or an application to play videos, we can turn off the iPad screen while playback continues.
Watch an iPad app on TV with AirPlay
- We open the application game or app that we want to show on our television screen.
- We access the control Panel by swiping from the top right of the screen.
- Next, we click on the two overlapping windows.
- Finally, we select the name of the device in which we want to display the image.
Remember, if you turn off the screen, screen mirroring will stop.
Watch an iPad video on TV with AirPlay
- We open the video player or streaming video platform from which we are going to send the content via AirPlay.
- We start playing the content and click on the square with a triangle in the form of waves (this icon can appear anywhere on the screen)
- Then a list with all compatible devices with AirPlay.
- We select the device where we want to see the content.
Once playback starts, we can turn off the screen of our iPad without stopping video playback.
