Why some mobile phones does not support screen mirroring?

On my Youtube channel, I have posted a video that shows how to mirror your mobile screen onto LED or LCD TV which is equipped with Wi-Fi and Miracast. To clarify what is Miracast, it is a hardware device built into your TV. If your TV is equipped with Miracast, then you don't have to use any additional dongles like Google ChromeCast to cast your mobile screen onto the TV. Please note that the Miracast feature and Google Chromecast may work differently.

I got lots of comments asking questions like whether the TV is smart, whether the TV is used as a monitor with a CPU, is there any dongle connected to the TV, whether it requires internet, etc.  To clarify all these questions, it is a basic LED TV with Wi-FI and Miracst enabled. No internet, no dongle connected and it is not a smart TV.

The most important question I am trying to clarify here is why some mobile phones do not have mirroring options.

First, you need to understand that screen mirroring works on a Wi-Fi network.  That means there will be a Wi-Fi network set up between your mobile phone and your TV. There is no intermediate Wi-Fi router. There will be an active connection between your phone and TV. This will not allow you to connect to any other Wi-Fi network for the internet. You have to completely rely on your carrier provided mobile data. It may incur a lot of data usage. So, some mobile manufacturers disabled this option from the design itself. This is the case with single-band Wi-Fi-enabled mobiles.

But the newer mobile phones from different manufacturers support dual-band Wi-Fi.  That means simultaneously you can connect to the TV and to another WI-Fi network for the internet. You do not have to rely on your mobile data. Most of the MI Redmi phone supports the dual-band Wi-Fi and they support screen mirroring out of the box.

The solution for those who do not have a screen mirroring option is to use apps or third-party mirroring devices like Google Chrome cast, Miracast, or even Amazon stick. You can also use specific MHL cables which are similar to HDMI cable. Each app may work differently and some apps may require root mobile phones.





How to install Apps in Android TV

As Android TVs are becoming famous, it's obvious to know whether it will allow us to install apps on Android TV the way we do it on Android mobile and to know how to install the apps on TV. The same version of a particular app may not support all the TVs and you might not get all the apps available for Mobile. But certainly, there are plenty of apps for various purpose and it can be installed on Android TV.

There are two ways to install an app on Android TV. Please note that this procedure is specific to MI Android TV. A similar procedure can be used for other Android TV.

Install using .apk file

The first option is to install it from a .apk file. The apk file has to be downloaded and copied into a USB using a computer. Insert the USB drive into TV, go to the location of the apk file inside the USB drive. Open the selected apk file, it will ask you to enable or trust the 'third party app' installation. If you have not done this before, got to settings and enable it. Please note that it may be a security violation if you install it from an unauthorized source. Before installing an app from an unknown source, understand the consequences, and proceed. 

Install using an App Store

The second option is to install from Android TV-specific App Store. The App Store has to be installed using the first method - apk installation from USB.

There is one App store called AptoideTV. It has all the major apps which are more than enough to get all the required apps for your Smart TV 

AptoideTV

Download the apk for AptoideTV-3.2.5.apk from the below link. Copy it into a USB drive and insert it into your TV. Browse to the location, where the apk is present and click on the apk file. It will ask you to enable the Third-Party App installation.


Once the App Store is installed, you can use it like any other App Store. Browse or search for an app from different categories and install. 

Check out this video which shows how to install the Chrome App on 32 inch MI TV 




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