How to Mirror Phone to TV Without Wi-Fi?

Phone mirroring is the sharing of your screen with another device in the same location.

It is a great way of showing others your screen without having to crowd around to look at a small phone. Mirroring your phone duplicates the phone’s content to the TV screen. To mirror your screen, you need the monitor/TV to have either built-in technology or an adaptor.

Most modern devices have this technology but it’s usually designed to work when you have a Wi-Fi connection. If you don’t have Wi-Fi, then it becomes a little more complicated to mirror your screen.

It’s not impossible, as there are other methods you can use to mirror your phone. This depends on the device you’re using but it’s a problem that you should be able to solve.

Here we look at alternate methods of screen mirroring without Wi-Fi for both Android and iOS phones. Let’s see how to mirror the phone to a TV without Wi-Fi!

Phone mirroring for Android

These methods are specific to Android phones and smart TV. Even if you don’t have a smart TV, these methods should work if your TV has an HDMI port.

If you have an iPhone, you can skip to the section below.

Using Miracast

Miracast is a very useful technology. It allows users to wirelessly share content between Miracast devices. It connects two devices using Wi-Fi Direct, which allows connection two be made between two devices without the use of a router. The connection is also WPA2 encrypted.

The only setback of using Miracast is that both your phone and TV should be Miracast certified. Most phones after 2012 have this function available.

You can check this by checking in your setting, under the ‘display’ option. A Screen mirroring option might also be available.

If your TV is not Miracast certified, then you can easily get your hands on Miracast receivers and adaptors. The Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter is one of the better ones. Asus’ Miracast Wireless Display Dongle is a good alternative.

Although Miracast connection can work with any device, regardless of brand, it might be easier to buy an adaptor that is the same make as your phone. You just plug the dongle into your HDMI port on the TV and it will receive the signals from your phone.

After both devices have Miracast set on them then you can mirror your phone using the following steps.

• Enable the wireless connection option in your TV, you may have to play around to find it, as every TV brand can have a different option. If you are using an adaptor, make sure the adaptor is on
• Go to your phone’s setting
• Click on the connectivity or display option
• Your phone will either have a screen sharing option or a wireless projections option
• Click it and it will scan for nearby Miracast devices
• When your phone finds the Miracast device. Click to connect
• The device will confirm, and then the screen will be mirrored

Using Chromecast

Chromecast is a Google device that can be used to mirror your phone to a TV without using the internet and is plugged into the back of your TV. It mirrors your Chrome web browser pages from your phone.

This can allow you to stream movies, videos and even photos by dragging them into your chrome tab, which will cast it to the TV. It can stream in 1080p and is mostly smooth and stutter-free.

It is one of the few devices that work on both android and iPhone, although phones other than android would have to download one of its many Chromecast apps.

This method of mirroring requires you to have the latest version of the Chromecast device on your TV and the Chromecast app on your phone to ‘cast’ your device to the TV.

On an Android phone, the app does require the phone to at least have an Android KitKat 4.4 or later. Apps that can be supported by Chromecast are the chrome browser, YouTube and Google slide. It does not support PowerPoint or Keynote.

It costs around $30 and once the device is set up then you can use it to mirror the phone utilizing the following steps.

• Download Google Home on your phone. It is the app that connects to Chromecast. Open the app
• Click the menu button, which appears as three horizontal lines, on the left side of the screen
• Click on ‘Cast Screen/Audio’
• It will scan for nearby Chromecast devices. Click on your device and phone mirroring will start

Using Bluetooth

Many new smart TVs have the screen mirroring feature. It uses in-built Bluetooth to connect to your phone and does not use Wi-Fi.

To check whether your TV supports Bluetooth, you can check the manufacturer’s specifications.

When both devices have Bluetooth on, you can start by connecting the two devices up.

• Click on Input Menu on TV
• Look for ‘Bluetooth devices’ or ‘Screen mirroring’
• Click and look for your android device from the list
• Your phone will let you know that your TV is trying to connect
• Accept the connection
• Choose mirror both devices

If your screen does not have an in-built Bluetooth port, then you can also use a Bluetooth dongle. The dongle connects to the TV and sends out the Bluetooth signal.

You can turn on Bluetooth on your phone and then connect to the Bluetooth signal being sent by the dongle. Pair with the device and then start screen mirroring.

Using an HDMI cable

The easiest and cheapest way to connect your phone to the TV, without the internet, is using a cable. Almost all new TVs have an HDMI and/or USB port. All phone’s also come with a USB charging cable.

You can connect your phone to the TV by using the USB to HDMI cable, or the USB to USB cable, depending on inputs. If you do not have a USB port on your TV, and also don’t have a USB to HDMI cable, then you need to invest in an MHL adaptor. You will then need to:

• Connect the USB to HDMI cable with TV
• Connect the other end of the cable with an MHL adaptor
• The MHL adaptor is connected to the phone through the charging cable. It is important to turn off the charging feature of the phone so that connecting the phone does not automatically start charging itself from the TV rather than sharing screen
• On connecting with the TV, your phone should ask you to share the screen. If this option does not come, then you need to manually disallow the phone to charge. You can do that by going into the settings option and enabling USB debugging on your phone
• Once the phone is linked to the TV, you will be able to mirror your phone without internet

Phone mirroring for iPhone

There are many options available for phone mirroring for Android without internet. This is not the case with an iPhone.

The iPhone has in-built screen mirroring and sharing across all iOS devices, but these use Wi-Fi to transfer the information.

There are only two ways to mirror the screen for iOS devices without Wi-Fi; Apple peer-to-peer airplay and using Apple lightning connector.

Using Apple peer-to-peer airplay

To use peer-to-peer airplay you need the iOS device to be at least a 2012 model or later; it should have iOS 8 running on it. The Apple TV should be Fourth Generation Apple or a Third Generation Apple TV’s Rev.

Having a 7.0 or later software; these will support peer-to-peer airplay. Any device before this can mirror screen but not without Wi-Fi.

If you have the mentioned devices, then you can mirror your phone on your TV using the following steps.

• Since peer-to-peer airplay runs without Wi-Fi, it may not work if any of your devices are connected to the internet. So before playing with this, make sure your phone’s data package is turned off
• Turn on Bluetooth for both the TV and the phone. Without Wi-Fi, the devices use Bluetooth signals to connect
• You need to turn on the Wi-Fi or data package on your phone again. This engages the Peer to peer airplay, even though it does not need the internet to work. So you need the Wi-Fi button on the phone on, but the internet disconnected
• On the Control center, an icon will appear for Screen Mirroring
• If it does not work the first time, try bringing the devices together. If even that does not work, you can restart your iOS device and start again
• When you click on the Screen Mirroring icon, a list of devices will appear, which have your TV. You will be asked for a password that will appear on your TV screen
• Type in the password and your phone will now be mirrored on the TV

Using Apple Lightning Connector

Using an HDMI cable, also called the Apple Lightening Connector, to connect the iPhone to the TV is one of the easier ways to mirror your phone.

It has a drawback of having to deal with wires and also unable to be at a distance from the TV, depending on the length of the wire.

This method does have one major advantage; you can connect your iPhone to any TV, it does not need to be an Apple TV, and can easily mirror your phone on the TV.

Frequently Asked Questions