Unable to stream video via AirPlay when Apple TV is not connected to internet

[usagora]

Situation is Apple TV and iPhone both have wi-fi on but are in an "ad-hoc" connection to each other (Apple TV isn't connected to the internet at all; iPhone is on 5G data). I can play local videos (e.g. on camera roll) just fine via AirPlay, but YouTube videos won't stream via AirPlay - I just get the spinning-dots loading graphic on the YouTube video ad infinitum. As soon as I turn off Airplay, the video plays on my iPhone.

So it it not possible to stream internet video using AirPlay unless the Apple TV is connected to the Internet? If so, why? If it's playing on my phone, I don't understand why it can't play on my TV/projector via AirPlay.

Unfortunately this is in a classroom where there's no ethernet. I'm going to try to connect the Apple TV to one of their wi-fi networks, but I tried that with my Apple TV at home just now, and--though it worked--the video quality on AirPlay was garbage (only good when the Apple TV was connected via ethernet). But--again--I don't understand why it shouldn't work without the Apple TV having an internet connection.

Also, playing video from my MacBook from YouTube works fine via screen mirroring to the Apple TV, even when the Apple TV is not connected to the internet. However, it plays the video on both the MacBook and Apple TV simultaneously, whereas the iPhone or iPad will say "connected to AirPlay" and only the Apple TV shows the video.

 

[QuentinWilson]

There‘s a difference between Airplay and Airplay Mirroring.

If you Airplay content you tell the receiver (Apple TV in this case) the URL of the content you want played and then the receiver goes and fetches the data directly. The YouTube video or whatever isn‘t streamed from the internet to your iPhone and then from your iPhone to the ATV, instead the iPhone tells the ATV to go load the YouTube video from the internet directly. Local content isn‘t fetched from the internet, for obvious reasons, but it works the same otherwise. Only the URL now points to your local content. After initiating the handoff your iPhone does not continue playing the content, instead it acts as a glorified remote, plus it sends periodic keepalive messages to tell the receiver to continue playing (this is why Airplay on the receiving device will terminate after some time if the source device is turned off, leaves the network, etc). Generally this type of Airplay is exactly what you want to avoid adding additional delay and doubling the load on your local network.

Airplay Mirroring just sends an encoded videostream of what is on your screen to the Airplay receiver. Most of the time this is not what you want, except for very limited circumstances, for the reasons mentioned above, plus it can be clunky in terms of resolution, aspect ratio etc. This is separate from normal Airplay and can also be activated separately (do not Airplay from the app with remote content, pull down control center and hit the Screen Mirroring button). This does not need the receiver to have internet access. Think of Mirroring as using the ATV as a secondary screen - just with added delay.

Tl;dr: Apps that enable true Airplay (not Mirroring) need the Airplay receiver (aka ATV) to have access to the internet if you want to play content from the internet. If that isn‘t possible, download the videos to your iPhone beforehand or try making do with Airplay Mirroring. While you can share your iPhone‘s internet connection with your ATV via Personal Hotspot, from my own experiments I don‘t think you can Airplay while doing this. You can however use Airplay Mirroring or any app on the ATV itself.

 

[usagora]

There‘s a difference between Airplay and Airplay Mirroring.

If you Airplay content you tell the receiver (Apple TV in this case) the URL of the content you want played and then the receiver goes and fetches the data directly. The YouTube video or whatever isn‘t streamed from the internet to your iPhone and then from your iPhone to the ATV, instead the iPhone tells the ATV to go load the YouTube video from the internet directly. Local content isn‘t fetched from the internet, for obvious reasons, but it works the same otherwise. Only the URL now points to your local content. After initiating the handoff your iPhone does not continue playing the content, instead it acts as a glorified remote, plus it sends periodic keepalive messages to tell the receiver to continue playing (this is why Airplay on the receiving device will terminate after some time if the source device is turned off, leaves the network, etc). Generally this type of Airplay is exactly what you want to avoid adding additional delay and doubling the load on your local network.

Airplay Mirroring just sends an encoded videostream of what is on your screen to the Airplay receiver. Most of the time this is not what you want, except for very limited circumstances, for the reasons mentioned above, plus it can be clunky in terms of resolution, aspect ratio etc. This is separate from normal Airplay and can also be activated separately (do not Airplay from the app with remote content, pull down control center and hit the Screen Mirroring button). This does not need the receiver to have internet access. Think of Mirroring as using the ATV as a secondary screen - just with added delay.

Tl;dr: Apps that enable true Airplay (not Mirroring) need the Airplay receiver (aka ATV) to have access to the internet if you want to play content from the internet. If that isn‘t possible, download the videos to your iPhone beforehand or try making do with Airplay Mirroring. While you can share your iPhone‘s internet connection with your ATV via Personal Hotspot, from my own experiments I don‘t think you can Airplay while doing this. You can however use Airplay Mirroring or any app on the ATV itself.

That all makes sense, but I could've swore I got my iPad Air 4 to "Airplay Mirror" a YouTube video to a non-internet-connected Apple TV just the other week. I was using Safari (not the YouTube app) on the iPad and the iPad was sharing my iPhone's internet connection. But now that doesn't work. Only Safari on macOS will allow YouTube to "Airplay Mirror" a YouTube video to a non-internet-connected Apple TV. Is there any way to force Safari on iOS/iPadOS to do "Airplay Mirror" internet content (i.e. content is playing on both device and Apple TV) or is this a limitation in iOS/iPadOS?

To be clear, I AM going to Control Center and selecting "Screen Mirroring" on my iPhone or iPad, and then I go to the YouTube app (or Safari) to play the video, but when I open the video, the phone automatically switches to "AirPlay". Any way around this?

It just seems odd to me with how advanced iOS and iPadOS are now that they wouldn't be able to handle this whereas macOS can.

 

[QuentinWilson]

Tbh I don‘t know why it would do that - when I verified that constellation yesterday I disconnected my ATV‘s Ethernet cable so it has no internet, then connected it to my iPhone‘s Personal Hotspot. Then I played a Youtube video on the iPhone and switched on Screen Mirroring. That worked no problem, video played on both devices. Only difference is I used the Youtube app, not Safari.

 

[usagora]

Tbh I don‘t know why it would do that - when I verified that constellation yesterday I disconnected my ATV‘s Ethernet cable so it has no internet, then connected it to my iPhone‘s Personal Hotspot. Then I played a Youtube video on the iPhone and switched on Screen Mirroring. That worked no problem, video played on both devices. Only difference is I used the Youtube app, not Safari.

Well, the ATV in question here has zero connections to the internet - it's not connected to my iPhone's "personal hotspot" nor any wi-fi or ethernet network. When I open a mobile browser (Safari, FireFox, Chrome, etc.) on my iPhone or iPad, and view a video on youtube.com, the video will play on both the iPhone/iPad and the TV on the page, but as soon as I click the "full screen" button, I get this:

But the video never plays (I just get the spinning loading circle on the TV). However, this does NOT happen using a browser on my MacBook Air. It continues to mirror the video on both the MBA and the TV, regardless of whether it's playing on the page or in full screen mode.

On the YouTube app on iPhone/iPad, the video won't play in either full screen or non-full screen mode. As soon as I click on a video, I get this:

And the loading ring just goes on forever on both the phone and ATV - video never plays. As soon as I stop mirroring my iPhone, the video instantly plays on my iPhone.

So I'm still stumped why this only happens on my iPhone or iPad but not on my MacBook.

 

[Abazigal]

Situation is Apple TV and iPhone both have wi-fi on but are in an "ad-hoc" connection to each other (Apple TV isn't connected to the internet at all; iPhone is on 5G data). I can play local videos (e.g. on camera roll) just fine via AirPlay, but YouTube videos won't stream via AirPlay - I just get the spinning-dots loading graphic on the YouTube video ad infinitum. As soon as I turn off Airplay, the video plays on my iPhone.

So it it not possible to stream internet video using AirPlay unless the Apple TV is connected to the Internet? If so, why? If it's playing on my phone, I don't understand why it can't play on my TV/projector via AirPlay.

Unfortunately this is in a classroom where there's no ethernet. I'm going to try to connect the Apple TV to one of their wi-fi networks, but I tried that with my Apple TV at home just now, and--though it worked--the video quality on AirPlay was garbage (only good when the Apple TV was connected via ethernet). But--again--I don't understand why it shouldn't work without the Apple TV having an internet connection.

Also, playing video from my MacBook from YouTube works fine via screen mirroring to the Apple TV, even when the Apple TV is not connected to the internet. However, it plays the video on both the MacBook and Apple TV simultaneously, whereas the iPhone or iPad will say "connected to AirPlay" and only the Apple TV shows the video.

I believe it’s a problem with the youtube app. It doesn’t let you mirror a video from your iOS device to the Apple TV. Instead, what happens is that it will attempt to launch the youtube app on the Apple TV and stream the show from there, which fails because your Apple TV isn’t connected to the internet.

I don’t have a solution (even youtube in safari browser doesn’t seem to work around this), except to use a wired HDMI connection when you want to output video to the big screen. Maybe there is a third party youtube app which works? I am not sure.

 

[usagora]

I believe it’s a problem with the youtube app. It doesn’t let you mirror a video from your iOS device to the Apple TV. Instead, what happens is that it will attempt to launch the youtube app on the Apple TV and stream the show from there, which fails because your Apple TV isn’t connected to the internet.

I don’t have a solution (even youtube in safari browser doesn’t seem to work around this), except to use a wired HDMI connection when you want to output video to the big screen. Maybe there is a third party youtube app which works? I am not sure.

No, the YouTube app isn't even installed on the ATV in question. A wired connection defeats the whole purpose of using the ATV, so that's a no-go.

 

[QuentinWilson]

I verified this again and sadly you‘re correct. If I disconnect my ATV from all networks and do ad-hoc Mirroring it will not work. It tries to switch to normal Airplay and gets stuck without a connection. If I let the ATV join the Personal Hotspot WLAN however, then it will work, so apparently the ATV can use the iPhone‘s internet connection even if said iPhone then initiates Mirroring. So this is a somewhat clunky but possible workaround if you‘re using the iPhone‘s 5G data for playing the Youtube video anyway.

 

[usagora]

I verified this again and sadly you‘re correct. If I disconnect my ATV from all networks and do ad-hoc Mirroring it will not work. It tries to switch to normal Airplay and gets stuck without a connection. If I let the ATV join the Personal Hotspot WLAN however, then it will work, so apparently the ATV can use the iPhone‘s internet connection even if said iPhone then initiates Mirroring. So this is a somewhat clunky but possible workaround if you‘re using the iPhone‘s 5G data for playing the Youtube video anyway.

Yeah, it's annoying for sure. The ATV in question is within range of a wi-fi network, but I'm not sure if the connection will be robust enough for video to play smoothly. Even if it works, I wish we didn't have to rely on it.

At least normal screen mirroring on the phone itself (local apps or files) and webites works fine even without the ATV having an internet connection. It's only Internet video that's the issue. I may try contacting Apple support to see if there's any way to disable AirPlay streaming and instead stick with pure mirroring for videos, just like it works using macOS with ATV.