Amazon’s Fire TV devices are streaming devices that let you watch digital content directly on your TV. In addition to the built-in support for Amazon Prime, you can install many apps on it like Netflix, TED, BBC, etc.
However, there are certain limitations to it. To get started, you need to install apps on it to watch content from other streaming sites. That takes up space on the Fire TV Stick, which has limited storage, around 11.6 GB. So basically you can’t install as many apps as you want.
Second, you need an internet connection for those apps to work. Sure, you can download stuff on the Fire TV Stick, but again, that’s going to take up space. An alternative exists when you mirror your phone or laptop to the Fire TV Stick.
How to mirror Android phone to Fire TV? It’s easy to do because the Fire TV Stick supports the Miracast standard. And it works smoothly if your android phone also support it.
Before we get started, let’s understand Miracast and its role in Fire TV.
What is Miracast?
Before that, an HDMI cable was needed to mirror a laptop or phone to a TV or projector. As times change, wireless technologies are born to replace wires.
Miracast is a Wi-Fi technology standard that connects two compatible Miracast devices and allows you to mirror one device (sender) to another (receiver). It transfers audio and video from one device to another.
Miracast is a technology built into the chip inside Miracast-enabled devices such as dongles, streaming devices, phones, and laptops. The cool thing about Miracast is that it’s found on affordable devices and dongles. Most smart TVs have built-in support for Miracast. So you may not need a Miracast key or stick to mirroring content.
Miracast devices use Wi-Fi Direct technology to connect. While they also work on Wi-Fi routers, they are not a necessary part of the connection. Wi-Fi Direct creates a direct connection (hotspot) between devices.
Supported Miracast Devices
Miracast technology first debuted in 2012 with Google adding support for it starting with Android 4.2 Jellybean. But things changed with Android 6.0 Marshmallow when Google stopped supporting Miracast. Google’s stock Android devices lack support for Miracast. However, other manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei, Samsung, etc. still support Miracast on their Android smartphones through software tweaks.
On laptops, you can use it with Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11. However, not all laptops support this feature and you should check your machine’s specifications. my laptop to see if it has Miracast enabled.
You’ve probably guessed its fate on iOS devices—they don’t support Miracast. So you can only mirror iPhone, iPad and Mac on Apple devices like Apple TV using mirroring feature called AirPlay.
Mirroring from Android to Fire TV Stick
To mirror content, you need compatible Android and Fire TV devices.
Supported Android devices
Since the Fire TV Stick uses Miracast technology to mirror the phone’s content to the TV, all Miracast-enabled devices (mentioned above) work well with the Fire TV Stick. Therefore, except for stock Android devices like Google Pixel, Xiaomi Mi A1, etc., all can mirror with Fire TV Stick.
Fire TV supported
Screen mirroring does not work on Amazon Fire TV (3rd generation) and Fire TV Cube. While Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K also doesn’t support screen mirroring, you can get the help of third-party apps to mirror your screen. Other Fire TV devices work fine.
Method of connecting phone to Fire TV
When you bring your Android phone and compatible Fire TV device with you, connect them to the same Wi-Fi network to mirror the content. Once that’s done, you need to enable mirroring on your Fire TV first, then connect your phone. Here are the steps for both.
Enable Mirroring on Fire TV
Step 1: On your Fire TV, go to Settings, then Display & Sound.
Step 2: Select Enable Screen Sharing.
Step 3: Your Fire TV will enter search mode and will start searching for nearby devices.
Alternatively, press and hold the home button on your Fire TV’s remote until you see options. Select the Mirroring option. That allows you to quickly enable mirroring on your Fire TV.
Connect your Android phone to Fire TV Stick
The Miracast feature on Android devices varies in naming and location. When Fire TV is in search mode, you need to enable the feature on your phone to connect them.
On devices running MIUI, you will find the Wireless Display feature. To enable it, you need to open Settings on your phone, select More and select Wireless display. On phones running a newer version of MIUI, you can simply search for Wireless Display and toggle the same switch. Your Fire TV’s name will then appear in Wireless Display preferences. Tap it to start mirroring on your TV.
On some devices like OnePlus, you will need to enable Cast option from different parts of the Settings app. You can search for Cast in the Settings app, then tap the three-dot icon and turn on Enable wireless display. Then your Fire TV name will appear there and tap on it to connect.
Similarly, the feature is called Smart View on Samsung Galaxy phones, and it’s present in the quick settings below the navigation drawer. Huawei prefers the Wireless Projection name to be accessible under Device Connections in the Settings app.
Troubleshooting Screen Mirror not working on Fire TV
If you have compatible devices but cannot mirror your Android phone to your Fire TV Stick, you should change the Wi-Fi band (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz) on both devices. The settings will show up on your phone in the Wi-Fi section of the Settings app. Switch to the 5 GHz band on your wireless network. Newer Android devices seem to have this setting disabled. If that’s the case, you’ll have to change the band from your router settings.
Due to restrictions put in place by Google, stock Android devices do not allow you to mirror your phone to your TV except with Google’s Chromecast device. However, you can cast your content to the Fire TV Stick using third-party apps on those devices.
Difference between Mirroring and Casting
When you mirror your phone, you’re essentially projecting the exact same content from your phone’s screen onto your TV. It’s like a big screen for your phone screen. You can view notifications, check settings, read messages, etc while mirroring your phone. Whatever you do on your phone will reflect on your TV.
But when casting, you’re just projecting a video, image, or audio file from your phone onto the TV. Only your content is mirrored, not your entire screen. Cast gives you the ability to control your media from your phone. So your phone acts as a remote for standalone video streamed from your phone on TV.
How to mirror from stock Android device to Fire TV
As mentioned above, you can’t mirror stock Android and you’ll have to cast it to the Fire TV, which doesn’t have native support for media casting.
To do that, you’ll need to install the Cast to TV app on your phone. After you install the app, open it and your Fire TV will appear automatically provided you are connected on the same Wi-Fi network. Click it to connect. Then select the content that you want to cast to your TV. You can stream both local and online content.
I tried it on a Pixel phone running stock Android and it worked fine. However, casting is slow as it takes longer than the casting available in Chromecast or screen mirroring in Fire TV.
Restrictions on Fire TV Mirroring
Some problems come with mirroring as well. For instance, when you mirror your phone to the TV, the screen needs to be on for the entire duration. That tends to drain your phone’s battery. Second, you can’t do anything else on your phone. If you’re mirroring a movie from your phone, exiting the app will also close the content being mirrored on your TV.
Furthermore, some streaming apps do not support screen mirroring.
Oh, Google!
It’s sad to see Google going down the same path as Apple by locking down their ecosystem. We understand that Google wants people to use Chromecast devices, but that doesn’t mean they turn off Miracast. Thanks to third-party apps, you can still enjoy Miracast on Android devices that don’t support Miracast. However, the experience was not very smooth.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
