How to mirror your iPhone's screen onto a Mac computer, using QuickTime or a third-party program

Ryan Ariano

Jul 9, 2019, 02:18 IST

How to mirror your iPhone's screen onto a Mac computer, using QuickTime or a third-party program

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
There are two ways you can mirror your iPhone onto a Mac.

If you want a bigger iPhone screen, you could buy a newer model - or, you could learn how to mirror your iPhone's screen on a Mac computer.
Using a Mac's QuickTime player, you can easily mirror your iPhone screen on your Mac.
You can also use the third-party app Reflector to optimize iPhone content that is set up for AirPlay to be played on your computer.
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One of the iPhone's greatest assets is its connectivity. Built into Apple products are several ways to easily share what you're viewing or working on from your iPhone to a Mac or iPad.

This can be useful if you want to put a photo album or display an app on your computer, and works really well with video content accessed via your iPhone's apps.

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If you want to use your Instagram mobile app on somebody else's Mac, for example, you can plug your iPhone in and project your Instagram directly on the computer.

Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

You can mirror anything from your iPhone screen onto a Mac.

Because connectivity within the Apple family has been a priority nearly from the beginning of the company's existence, you can mirror your phone to your computer easily using just QuickTime and your iPhone's default operating system.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone XS (From $729 at Apple)

MacBook (From $1,299 at Apple)

How to mirror your iPhone to a Mac using QuickTime

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac using your Lightning to USB cable.

2. Open Quicktime on your Mac.

3. Click on File in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

4. Scroll down to "New Movie Recording."

5. Next to the red record button (bottom middle), click on the down arrow. You should see your iPhone named in this list. If it's not there, try disconnecting and reconnecting your iPhone.

Ryan Ariano/Business Insider

Select your iPhone from the dropdown menu to connect to it.

6. Tap your iPhone.

7. Your phone is fully mirrored on your computer, in the exact shape of your iPhone screen.

If you press the red record button, you can also record a video of your iPhone's screen.

There is another way to broadcast iPhone content on your Mac: Connecting your phone to Reflector 3, a third-party app for your Mac.

While using QuickTime as a mirror will give an exact replica of your iPhone - shape and all, including all apps and gestures you make on the phone - Reflector will optimize content streamed through your iPhone to be displayed on your Mac. It's limited only to content that allows for AirPlay, however, and so it will not reflect your phone in its entirety.

If you want to watch, say, a content-provider app on your laptop, or you want to broadcast a Keynote presentation, this is when Reflector comes in handy.

Note, however, that Reflector is only free for a week - after that, you'll have to pay $15 to keep using it on your Mac. And during your free trial, there will be a watermark on the screen whenever you mirror.