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When it comes to modern technological devices, televisions are ones that are practically owned by everyone.
Among the many different impressive things that modern television allows you to do, connecting your phone to it is one of the most convenient features and that is what we will talk about.
A few days ago, when watching a movie on my smartphone, I wondered if it was possible to watch the same content on a bigger screen.
I knew I could connect my phone to my TV over Wi-Fi but what if I don’t have Wi-Fi.
While pondering this thought, I went online to find different ways that I could go about trying to achieve this.
After spending a few hours reading through different articles and forum threads, I was able to find a definitive answer to my question.
To connect your phone to your TV without Wi-Fi you can create a wired connection, use Chromecast or ScreenBeam, wireless mirroring, app-specific screen mirroring, or use third-party software like Kodi.
This article will serve as a comprehensive guide on the different ways to connect your phone to your television without using a Wi-Fi connection.
Use an MHL Adapter, HDMI Cable, and USB Cable for a Wired Connection
One of the simplest ways to connect your phone to your television without Wi-Fi is over a wired connection using either a USB cable or an MHL adapter with an HDMI cable.
To connect your phone to your television over a wired connection:
- Identify if your phone uses a micro USB or a USB type C for charging and use the appropriate cable to connect the phone to either an HDMI adapter or an MHL adapter.
- Using either an HDMI cable or an MHL cable depending on the type of adapter you used, connect the other end to the appropriate port on the back of your television.
- Change the input source on your television and you will be able to view your smartphone’s screen mirrored on your TV.
When using this method, make sure that you check your smartphone for compatibility with HDMI or MHL.
While there are a lot of phones that are compatible with HDMI, there are relatively lesser phones that are compatible with MHL as phone manufacturers are only now slowly releasing support for it.
Use a Lightning Digital AV Adapter for iPhones
If you are using an iPhone, you can connect it to your television using an Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter.
With this adapter, all you have to do is connect the lightning side of the adapter to your iPhone and the HDMI side to your television.
While the Lightning Digital AV Adapter is of top-notch quality, it can be on the slightly pricier side.
You can find similar quality alternatives made by third-party companies for a lesser price on Amazon.
Use a Chromecast and an Ethernet Cable
Another way you can connect your phone to your television is by using Google’s Chromecast device.
Usually, Chromecast requires a Wi-Fi connection but it is still possible to use it to connect your phone to your TV without an active Wi-Fi network.
To connect your phone to your television using Chromecast, follow these steps:
- Turn on your smartphone’s mobile hotspot. Make sure your 4G data is switched on.
- Connect one end of a USB cable to your Chromecast and the other end to a power source to turn it on.
- Using an HDMI cable, connect the Chromecast to your television.
- Once you have connected the devices, download the Google Home app on your smartphone to access your Chromecast.
- Through the Google Home app, connect your Chromecast device to the mobile hotspot hosted on your smartphone.
- Once you have connected your Chromecast to your phone’s network, you will be allowed to stream content from your phone to your television.
You can even stream content from other smartphones by connecting the other smartphone to your mobile hotspot.
Wirelessly Mirror your Smartphone to Your TV
In addition to streaming specific content, you can even mirror your entire smartphone screen using Google Chromecast.
To do this:
- Set up your phone hotspot the same way as in the previous method.
- Open Google Home on your smartphone and go to the Account menu.
- Select the ‘Mirror Device’ tab and tap on ‘Cast Screen/Audio’
- A list of devices will appear. Find and select your TV and you should be able to mirror your smartphone’s screen to your television.
Miracast
Another way to mirror your smartphone to your television is by making use of Miracast technology.
Miracast is a wireless connections standard introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
It allows for Miracast-certified devices like mobile phones and tablets to wirelessly stream and display content on Miracast-capable receivers like TV screens and monitors.
Unlike using Chromecast, Miracast ensures that there are no middlemen devices that your data has to pass through.
To use Miracast, you need to make sure that your smartphone as well as your television support Miracast.
If not, you can buy a Miracast adapter to help you connect your non Miracast enabled device over Miracast.
To mirror your smartphone’s screen to your television using Miracast follow these steps:
- Go to the Settings menu.
- Go to the Display tab and select the Wireless Display option.
- Once you turn on Wireless Display, your smartphone will look for nearby Miracast-enabled devices.
- Once your TV shows up on the screen, select it. A PIN code will be displayed on your TV screen.
- Once you enter this code into your smartphone, you can begin mirroring your smartphone screen to your TV.
Get a ScreenBeam
If your television is not Miracast enabled, you can use a ScreenBeam dongle to achieve the same effect.
This device lets you transform your TV into a device that is recognized by your smartphone to begin mirroring your phone’s screen.
To use the ScreenBeam dongle for screen mirroring:
- Connect your ScreenBeam dongle to your TV either via the HDMI port or the USB port, depending on the variant that you own.
- Turn on your TV and switch through inputs until you see a ‘Ready to Connect’ message.
- Go to the Wireless Display menu following the same steps used in the previous method.
- Under the list of available devices, select ‘ScreenBeam’.
- A PIN code will be displayed on your TV screen. Once you enter this into your smartphone, you can begin mirroring your phone screen onto your TV.
Connect your Phone to a Computer, then Connect Your Computer to a TV Using an HDMI Cable
If you don’t have an HDMI adapter with you but still want to view content from your smartphone on your big TV screen, there is a workaround available for you.
You can use a USB data cable to connect your smartphone to your laptop and an HDMI cable to connect your laptop to your television.
It is important to note however that with this method, you will be unable to entirety mirror your phone’s screen.
You can however use this method to connect your phone to your TV without a Wi-Fi network and view files from your gallery or even open up apps like Netflix or YouTube.
App-Specific Screencasting
Some apps like Netflix and YouTube allow for app-specific screencasting.
This means that while using the app on your phone, you can cast the same content onto a nearby screen if the screen is compatible with those apps.
This is the simplest method as it requires no setup of any kind, your smartphone detects compatible devices on its own.
To perform app-specific screencasting:
- Find the icon on the top right corner of your screen when streaming content on apps like YouTube or Netflix. The icon looks like a small television screen with a Wi-Fi symbol underneath it.
- Once you tap on this icon, you will see all the different screens available around you that are ready for screencasting.
- Select your TV screen to begin casting your mobile phone to your television.
Use Kodi to Access All Your Shows/Movies on Local Storage
If you find connecting over Chromecast tedious, you can try using a third-party app like Kodi to stream content from your phone to your television.
This option works great to watch content if you’re running out of mobile data but still want to watch long movies or TV shows.
To use Kodi to access your favorite content from your local storage:
- Ensure that your phone and Chromecast are on the same network, preferably your phone’s mobile hotspot.
- Open Kodi on your smartphone and search for available devices.
- Once you have found your previously downloaded content, select the Play With option and select Kodi.
- Among the available devices, select your Chromecast device.
- The content from your mobile phone should now appear on your TV screen.
Conclusion
In addition to the methods mentioned above, Apple TV users can also make use of Apple’s proprietary Airplay technology to enable peer-to-peer casting between Apple devices.
Some newer devices also allow for screen mirroring when paired over a Bluetooth connection, which can be done either natively on the TV or by using a Bluetooth dongle.
There is a multitude of ways that you can connect your phone to your TV, it all depends on what technology you have available to you at the given moment.
You May Also Enjoy Reading
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- How to Screen Mirror to Hisense TV? All You Need To Know
- Can An iPhone Mirror To A Sony TV: We Did The Research
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I connect my phone to my TV using a USB cord?
A lot of televisions these days come with a USB port that you can use to directly connect your phone to your TV over USB.
Once you have connected your phone to your TV over USB, a popup will display on your screen asking you how you want to treat the USB connection.
Select file transfer if you want to use the connection for casting your phone screen onto your TV.
How can I connect my Android phone to my old TV without HDMI?
If your TV does not have HDMI support, you can use the USB port on the back to connect your phone to it.
Can you cast with mobile data?
Yes, it is possible to cast with mobile data but it is not advisable because of how data-intensive screencasting can be.