AirPlay Not Working on iPhone 12 Pro Max? Fix

If your AirPlay is not working on iPhone 12 Pro Max, there are a few ways to troubleshoot the problem using the devices involved.

When everything is working properly, you can use AirPlay to send video from your Mac, iPhone, or iPad to an Apple TV or another AirPlay-supported device.

AirPlay is one of the features that makes the Apple ecosystem feel interconnected; with just a tap or two, you can stream audio or video from your Mac, iPhone, or iPad to another compatible device, like a television, Apple TV, or smart speaker.

Most of the time, AirPlay appears effortlessly in the Share menu of your media app, and you don’t need to think much about it. Occasionally, though, it doesn’t work, and it’s not clear why. Here’s what to do if AirPlay is not working on iPhone 12 Pro Max:

1. Make sure AirPlay is Enabled

While you can’t disable AirPlay in the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS, you can disable it on an Apple TV. This is to prevent abuse of AirPlay in certain situations, such as a public presentation.

You can also set up AirPlay on an Apple TV in such a way that only authorized users can see the AirPlay device to begin with. Check out Apple’s documentation on how to manage AirPlay settings to ensure that your Apple TV is ready for AirPlay.

2. Restart your devices

There are generally three devices involved in an AirPlay transaction: the sender, the router and the receiver. Start off by restarting all three of these devices and try again. It’s the fastest troubleshooting step and solves the vast majority of glitches.

3. Update your devices

If restarting your Devices doesn’t work, check both of your Apple devices for pending updates. It might be that one has been updated, but not the other. Temporarily breaking AirPlay compatibility between the two.

4. Make sure Both Devices are on the Same WiFi Network

This is a very common problem where the AirPlay device you’re trying to send to, doesn’t show up in the list of available devices. If they aren’t both on the same WiFi network, they won’t see each other and you’ll find that AirPlay is not working on iPhone 12 Pro Max.

One tricky form of this is where you have a dual-band router. This means you’ll see two WiFi SSIDs for the same router. While usually the router lets all devices on any network speak to each other, having both AirPlay devices on the same band might help.

5. Try a Different Network

While not everyone has this option, if you have access to more than one WiFi network, try connecting your two devices to an alternative network. If that resolves the problem you know that the issue is with the network. If it doesn’t resolve the problem, the issue must be with device configuration. This can save you a lot of time when troubleshooting.

6. Signal Strength and Interference

Let’s say that you’re trying to cast your iPhone 12 Pro Max screen to an Apple TV. Both are in the same room, but the network router is far away. That’s a long, circuitous route for the data to travel. If the router is too far away or there’s an electrical device generating interference, that can cause AirPlay to fail or perform poorly. Check out our article on WiFi signal strength for practical solutions.

You might also want to consider connecting your Apple TV to your router directly via Ethernet to get a much better AirPlay experience.

7. Cut Down on Network Traffic

AirPlay is a high-bandwidth application that relies on good network performance. So if too many other applications and devices on the network are sucking up the bandwidth that can prevent AirPlay from working on iPhone 12 Pro Max or at least from working well.

Older routers or those with poor quality-of-service management can be a problem. Try pausing or disabling some of the network hogs and try again.

8. No Audio? Check Your Volumes

Sometimes it’s the most obvious thing that creates a mysterious malfunction. If you’re getting a picture, but no sound, check that every device you’re using isn’t muted. You should also check if you haven’t accidentally forgot to disconnect from a Bluetooth headphone device. While you’re at it, check if the app (such as YouTube) doesn’t have its own internal audio slider too.

Make sure you haven’t accidentally toggled the silence switch or forgot to switch it back.

9. Make sure your other Device Supports AirPlay

AirPlay is such a common feature these days that it’s easy to forget not all Apple devices out there support it. Macs and MacBooks in particular tend to hang around much longer than iOS devices before being upgraded. A Mac running macOS Mojave 10.14.5 or later should be AirPlay compatible.

10. Check Your Router Ports

AirPlay uses industry standard network ports, but it is possible that your router in particular may be set to block ports needed by the service. This can lead to AirPlay not working on iPhone 12 Pro Max.

So consult your router’s manual to see how you can check which ports are open. You can also have a look at How to Find Open and Blocked TCP/UDP Ports after checking Apple’s list of required ports.

Just Use an HDMI Cable Already
AirPlay is great, but sometimes there isn’t any time to mess around with settings and hardware to get it working. The whole point of AirPlay is to be fast and convenient. If people are waiting for your presentation or the kids are waiting for the movie to start, can you really spend 30 minutes looking for the problem?

When the chips are down, the fastest way to get the picture on screen is to use an HDMI cable. For this, you’ll have to get a Lightning to HDMI adapter.

If you need to be a fair distance from the display, you might be surprised that you can buy long HDMI cables reaching up to 20 meters in length. Just don’t trip over it!