Thanks to the widespread diffusion of legal streaming services (such as Netflix but also Amazon Prime Video), it becomes even more important to know how to connect your mobile phone or tablet to the TV, so that you can enjoy movies and TV series at the highest quality on the largest screen.Some Smart TVs already have apps to use streaming services, but being able to project anything you see on the screen of a tablet or phone on the TV offers a greater form of control, since the smartphone can become a "remote control" from use while sitting comfortably on the sofa.
In this guide we have collected all the methods for connect your mobile phone or tablet to the TV, via cable or Wi-Fi, for any type of portable device, be it an Android device (Samsung, LG, Huawei, Xiaomi etc.) be it an Apple device (iPhone or iPad).
ALSO READ: Connect iPad and iPhone to TV via Wi-Fi or cable
Via HDMI Adapter
If our smartphone or tablet is compatible with the MHL standard or we have a recent iPhone / iPad, we can connect via a universal HDMI adapter such as the AMANKA 1080P Digital AV Adapter Cellular to HDMI (17 €).
To use it simply connect the USB cable from the phone to the port DATA IN adapter, then connect a generic HDMI cable between the port HDMI OUT adapter and the HDMI port on the back of the TV. By connecting the dedicated power cord (socket Power), we will have the ability to view the screen of our smartphone or tablet on the TV, at the highest quality available.
With this little adapter we won't even have to look for a suitable MHL cable for our phone, as it is compatible with virtually any MHL smartphone or tablet model on the market. In addition to the HDMI socket there is also a VGA output, excellent for connecting old TVs or old monitors.
By connecting an iPhone or iPad to it, the Lightning port will immediately be used to duplicate the screen, so as to view each app on the TV; alternatively we can use Apple's official Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter, on sale for less than 50 €.
Type-C / HDMI cable
On the most recent Android smartphones equipped with a USB Type C socket, we can use a direct Type-C / HDMI cable such as the Syncwire USB 3.1 Type C to HDMI (€ 22).
The cable is very simple to use: just connect the part of the cable with USB Type-C to the charging socket of the smartphone or tablet and the other part of the HDMI cable to a port of the same name on the TV. Without pressing any buttons or configuring any menu item, the screen of our mobile device will be duplicated on the TV, so that you can view your favorite apps or games on a much larger screen.
HDMI-SCART / RCA adapters
If we have an old TV without an HDMI port, we will have to add, to the cable and adapter seen above, an additional adapter capable of converting the signal from digital to analog.convert HDMI signal to SCART, we can use a simple HDMI to SCART converter (20 €).
If our TV is really very old, we can convert the HDMI signal to RCA using a 1080P HDMI to AV Adapter (16 €).
Obviously the final quality will not be comparable to that obtainable with cables and digital adapters, but we will be able to connect the new generation digital devices even on old cathode-ray TVs or the first generations of flat TVs.
Connect mobile or tablet to TV wirelessly
The best ways to connect a mobile phone or tablet to the TV involve using the wireless connection, so you can duplicate the full screen of mobile devices while sitting comfortably on the sofa, without cables in the way.Miracast
On Smart TVs, you can mirror the screen of Android smartphones and tablets using Miracast, already integrated on both Wi-Fi televisions and portable devices.
To take advantage of this function, make sure that the Smart TV and the Android device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, then open the app dedicated to Miracast (on LG it is called Screen Share, on Samsung it is called AllShare); on some TVs we can find Miracast as a menu item and not as a dedicated app.
Enabled Miracast on the TV, we open the app Settings on our Android smartphone or tablet, we look for the menu Wireless screen o Transmit the screen (changes according to the manufacturer) and inside it we press on the name of the TV; in a few seconds the connection will take place and we will get the duplicate screen of the portable device, complete with audio (we will also hear the notification sounds, in addition to the sound of the multimedia apps).
Google Chromecast
Another good way to connect your phone or tablet to the TV wirelessly is to use the chromecast, the HDMI dongle signed by Google useful both on televisions without Smart functionality and on Smart TVs (where it is useful for integrating new functions that are absent).
Connecting it to an HDMI socket on the TV and to the home Wi-Fi network will allow us to receive media streams directly from compatible apps, without having to cast the entire screen of your smartphone or tablet.
If we want to duplicate the screen of the portable device via Chromecast, install Google Home on our Android device, open the app, press the account icon at the bottom right, press the menu Mirror the device, we tap the button Cast Screen / Audio then select the name of the Chromecast present on our home network from the list.
Amazon Fire TV Stick
Another method that we can use to connect a portable device to the TV involves the use ofAmazon Fire TV Stick, which works in a similar way to Miracast.
Once the Fire TV Stick is connected to our TV and to the home wireless network, we press the button Home, let's get to the menu Display and sounds then we click Enable Display Mirroring.
As soon as the Fire TV window is ready, let's take our Android smartphone, let's go to the menu Wireless screen (or similar items) and select the name of the Fire TV among the items present, so as to be able to duplicate the screen.
Apple AirPlay
If we only use iPhone and iPad at home, we can duplicate the screen of Apple devices using AirPlay. If our TV is not equipped with a AirPlay, just connect the Apple TV 4K (€ 219) to the TV.
By connecting the Apple TV Box via HDMI to the TV and via Wi-Fi to the home network, we can use AirPlay within the compatible apps (so as to directly send the multimedia streams) or by duplicating the screen of the iPhone or iPad, by scrolling from the bottom edge or from the top right corner (from iPhone X onwards), by selecting the item Duplicate Screen and pressing on the name of the Apple TV connected on the local network.
Conclusions
As we have seen, various methods are available to connect a mobile phone or tablet to the TV, with any mobile operating system known today (Android, iOS and iPadOS). Wireless methods are by far the most convenient, but the highest video quality can only be achieved with digital (HDMI) cables. If we have an old TV we can still use adapters, so as to connect our smartphones or tablets to it (with a very low quality).If we want to use our Android smartphone as a total multimedia center, we invite you to read our guide on how Use an Android smartphone as a media player for TV.
If, on the other hand, we need to connect a desktop PC or notebook to our TV, we can read our articles on how Connect PC or laptop to TV to watch videos and movies e How to play PC games on TV.
