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Cast from an Android phone to an Apple TV

Yonto Player casts your own videos from an Android phone or tablet to an Apple TV over AirPlay, in its free app: its Cast button lists AirPlay screens, an Apple TV among them, beside Chromecasts and DLNA TVs. An MKV, or a film with DTS sound, is repackaged on the phone on the way, so it plays on the Apple TV too (what reaches the Apple TV).

Android phones do not come with AirPlay, so sending a video to an Apple TV takes an app that speaks it. Yonto Player casts the videos you own: your Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, video files on a NAS, your own Dropbox or Box, and the videos on the phone itself.

This is not screen mirroring. The Apple TV plays the video itself, and the phone is the remote: pause, seek and stop from the phone’s player.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • An Android phone or tablet with Yonto Player. AirPlay needs no Google Play services, so a phone without them still lists AirPlay screens.
  • An Apple TV, or another screen that takes AirPlay 2. The phone speaks AirPlay 2, which an Apple TV HD and an Apple TV 4K take, and so do many TVs that list AirPlay 2. A screen that has only the older AirPlay is not listed.
  • The phone and the Apple TV on the same Wi-Fi.
  • AirPlay open to anyone on your network. On the Apple TV, AirPlay’s Allow Access setting (in Settings, under AirPlay and HomeKit) has to let in everyone, or anyone on the same network, not only the people sharing its Home.
  • A source of your own in Yonto Player, such as your Jellyfin server or a share on your NAS. Yonto Player provides no content.

Cast a video

Section titled “Cast a video”
  1. Start the video on your phone or tablet.
  2. Press Cast. The list under Play on is filled while it looks for screens on your Wi-Fi, and the Apple TV is under AirPlay.
  3. Pick the Apple TV. If it shows a PIN, or has an AirPlay password, the phone asks for it once and remembers the pairing.
  4. The video carries on there from where it was.
  5. Choose Stop casting to bring it back to the phone at the same place.

What reaches the Apple TV

Section titled “What reaches the Apple TV”

An AirPlay screen takes H.264 and H.265 video, in MP4 or as a live-streaming playlist (HLS). On the phone, Yonto Player goes by the file’s container: an MP4, M4V or MOV file is sent as it is, and a file in another container is repackaged on the phone.

  • From a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, casting asks the server again for what an AirPlay screen plays, up to 4K in H.264 or H.265, and the server converts the rest, unless Let the server convert videos is off for the source.
  • A file in another container, such as an MKV, an AVI or a TS, is repackaged on the phone as it is cast. Its H.264 or H.265 picture is sent as it is, and sound the screen cannot play, such as DTS, is converted to AAC.
  • A picture the screen cannot decode in a file it repackages, such as MJPEG or Xvid in an AVI, is converted on the phone as it plays, to H.264 with AAC sound. The cast starts a few seconds later, and an HDR10 or HLG picture converted this way is tone-mapped to SDR.
  • A downloaded title is cast from the phone without asking the server again, and is repackaged or converted like any other file.

The Apple TV fetches a server’s video from the server itself where it can. A file on an SMB share, one on the phone, a download and anything the phone repackages come through the phone, so keep the phone on the same Wi-Fi while you watch.

What does not work

Section titled “What does not work”
  • Subtitle files and a choice of audio track do not go to an AirPlay screen.
  • Playback speed: AirPlay has none.
  • An MP4, M4V or MOV file whose picture is neither H.264 nor H.265 is sent as it is, and the screen cannot play it. Play it on the phone instead.
  • A phone whose video encoder cannot take the picture’s size cannot cast a file whose picture needs converting. Play it on the phone instead.
  • Copy-protected (DRM) video: Yonto Player plays none, on the phone or on a screen.
  • The Android TV app does not cast to another screen, and the iPhone and iPad app is not out yet.
  • One screen at a time. While you cast, Play on says which screen is playing and offers Stop casting.

If something goes wrong

Section titled “If something goes wrong”

“Couldn’t connect to screen. Check that it is on, and that AirPlay is open to everyone on the same network.” The Apple TV refused the phone. Set its AirPlay access to everyone on the same network, then pick it again under Play on.

The Apple TV is not under Play on. A screen whose AirPlay lets in only its owner or its Home is left out of the list, so first set its AirPlay access to everyone on the same network. Then check that the phone and the Apple TV are on the same Wi-Fi network, not one of them on a guest network, and that the Apple TV is awake and takes AirPlay 2.

“This receiver can’t play this video’s format. (code)” The phone could not convert this video for the screen. Play it on the phone instead.

Troubleshooting lists every message casting shows.

Free or Pro

Section titled “Free or Pro”

Casting is free. Free is the whole player with one source of your own, such as your Plex server or one NAS share. Adding a second source needs Pro, which is one payment, not a subscription.

Cast to a Chromecast, an AirPlay screen or a DLNA TV covers casting to every kind of screen. Yonto Player provides no content. AirPlay, Apple TV, Android, Chromecast, Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Dropbox, Box and DTS are trademarks of their owners, and Yonto Player is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.