How to cast or mirror your Android phone to a TV

Getting your Android phone onto a TV comes down to two different jobs. Casting sends one app’s video to the screen and turns your phone into a remote; mirroring copies your whole display in real time, menus and all. Both need the phone and the TV on the same Wi-Fi network and a screen that speaks Cast — a Chromecast, a Google TV device, or a Samsung smart TV — and this guide covers each, plus what to try when the connection won’t hold.

Casting vs. mirroring: pick the right one#

The two look similar but work differently, and choosing the wrong one is the usual reason the result disappoints.

When you cast from inside an app — YouTube, Netflix, Google Photos — you tap the Cast button and the TV streams the video directly. Your phone hands off the work and becomes a remote, so you can lock it, reply to a message, or close the app without interrupting playback.

Mirroring copies your entire screen to the TV as it happens. It’s the way to show a photo gallery, a slideshow, or an app that has no Cast button, but it leans harder on your phone and your Wi-Fi. Google notes that some Android devices don’t have the power to give an optimized casting experience, which is why a full-screen mirror can stutter where a plain cast plays smoothly.

	Casting (Cast button)	Mirroring (Cast screen / Smart View)
What appears on the TV	Just the app’s video or audio	Your entire phone screen
Your phone during use	Free to lock or use other apps	Must stay on, showing the content
Best for	Movies, shows, music, YouTube	Photos, slideshows, apps with no Cast button
Quality	Usually smoother	Depends on the phone and the network

What you need first#

Three things have to line up before anything reaches the TV.

• The same Wi-Fi network. Both Google and Samsung are explicit that the phone and the TV or dongle must be on the same network for casting and mirroring to work.
• A screen that supports Cast. That means a Chromecast, a Google TV Streamer or a TV with Google TV built in, or — for Smart View — a Samsung smart TV.
• A steady connection. Casting and mirroring both fall apart on a shaky signal. Google’s advice for improving Android screen casting is to keep the phone and the streaming device close, ideally within 15 feet, and on the same wireless network. If the network itself keeps dropping, fix that first — the same habits that cure Wi-Fi that keeps disconnecting apply to any device on it.

Cast from an app with the Cast button#

This is the everyday method for video and music, and it stays the same across phone brands because the Cast button lives inside the app, not the system menu.

1. Confirm the phone and the TV are on the same Wi-Fi.
2. Open a Cast-enabled app and start playing something.
3. Tap the Cast button — the small rectangle with the Wi-Fi waves in one corner. Google’s guide to casting from Cast-enabled apps warns that it “isn’t located in the same place” across apps, so check the top bar and the player controls.
4. Pick your TV from the list. When the Cast button turns solid, you’re connected.

To stop, tap the Cast button again and choose Disconnect. Because the TV is doing the streaming, you can set the phone down without pausing the show, and that lighter load is also easier on the battery.

Mirror your entire screen#

When there’s no Cast button, or you want to show the phone itself, mirror the whole display.

On a Chromecast or Google TV, use the Google Home app. Open it, tap and hold the tile for your TV, then choose Cast screen (some phones label it Cast my screen). Everything on your phone appears on the TV until you tap and hold the tile again and pick Stop mirroring. Per Google’s steps for casting your Android screen from the Google Home app, this works on Android 8.0 and later, with both devices on the same Wi-Fi network.

On a Samsung Galaxy phone and a Samsung TV, use Smart View. Swipe down from the top of the screen to open Quick settings and tap Smart View, select your TV from the list of available devices, then tap Start now. If the TV asks, enter the PIN it shows or allow access to finish connecting. Samsung’s screen mirroring guide is the reference here; exact labels shift a little by model, but the path — Quick settings, then Smart View — holds across recent Galaxy phones.

Both features are built for showing what’s already on the screen, not for streaming. For a full-length movie, the app’s own Cast button still gives the smoother result.

When Cast won’t connect#

Most failures trace back to the network or a device that needs a nudge. Work down this list before assuming anything is broken.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
TV never appears in the list	Phone and TV on different networks	Put both on the same Wi-Fi — check the network name, not just that Wi-Fi is on
Connects, then drops	Weak or busy signal	Move the devices closer, within about 15 feet, and off a congested band
Smart View won’t finish connecting	TV is waiting for approval	Choose Allow on the TV, or enter the PIN it displays
Nothing casts at all	Out-of-date software	Update the TV’s software and the phone’s software, then try again
Mirroring is choppy	Phone is under strain	Close background apps; an older phone may not keep up

Those Samsung fixes come straight from its Smart View troubleshooting page. If the picture arrives but stutters, the phone is often the bottleneck rather than the TV, and the same steps that speed up a slow Android phone help here too. When a device still refuses after all that, restart both: on a Galaxy phone, hold the Side and Volume down buttons and choose Restart, and power-cycle the TV or dongle by unplugging it for a moment.

When you only need a file on the big screen rather than a live view — a video already saved to the phone, say — it can be simpler to move it to a computer or a USB drive the TV can read. But for everyday watching, the Cast button is the one worth learning: tap it, pick the TV, and put the phone back in your pocket.