I've Been Waiting for This! AirPlay Mirroring to a Mac (no Apple TV required)
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 3:23PM 
Update: Reflection has been renamed Reflector. It is available for Macintosh and for Windows PCs.
I am so excited for a new Mac app called Reflection! It shows my iPad's screen live on my computer screen wirelessly!
In the past I've used different ways to show iPad's screen on a projector to an audience. I've used a document camera, a Point2View webcam, Apple's VGA adapter with an old-fashioned VGA switch, and an expensive Ephiphan VGA2USB signal grabber.
All of these past methods require iPad to be stationary. In an effort to keep iPad truly mobile, some educators are using Apple TV to mirror iPad's screen to a projector. Read Apple TV in the Classroom - The New Smart Board to learn how iPad and Apple TV offer a cost efficient alternative to expensive interactive whiteboards.
Wireless mirroring to Apple TV is made possible by AirPlay, a feature of iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. It's built into iOS, so there's no software to install. But, this method does require an Apple TV (version 2). If your projector doesn't have HDMI input, then you'll need to use an HDMI to VGA adapter and find a way to use wireless speakers since VGA does not carry audio.
As someone who travels, it's not ideal for me to carry around an Apple TV and VGA adapter and hope that I can set it up on the network at the school or conference. I'd love to use AirPlay mirroring, but I don't want to mess with an Apple TV. What I really want to do is mirror iPad's screen to my laptop. Since my laptop would be connected to the projector, then mirroring iPad to the laptop would allow it to be shown on the projector screen without cables, adapters, or any other pieces of hardware.
Finally a Mac app has been released that does what I've been wanting. Reflection turns your Mac into an AirPlay receiver. AirPlay is what Apple uses to send and receive the video and sound from an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S to Apple TV. With the Reflection app, there is no software to install on the device since AirPlay is built in iOS devices and no Apple TV is required.
Reflection literally takes less than two minutes to setup. Here are the directions provided on Reflection's website:
Download Reflection and copy it to your Applications folder. After launching the app, double-tap the home button on your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and swipe right on the multitask tray until you see the AirPlay icon next to the volume slider. Tap this and select your Mac from the list. Last, toggle the "Mirror" switch…voila!
Mirroring is great for modeling device use by the teacher. This is what I end up doing lots during my workshops. A live demo is much more effective than static screenshots. With Reflection and AirPlay, I'm not tethered to the front of the room using my iPad. I can move around with iPad and even hand it off to others while everyone else can see its screen live on the projector's screen.
Student devices can be mirrored as well. A student can activate mirroring from his device to the Mac running Reflection to instantly share ideas and their work. A student might have a graph made in Doodle Buddy to show the class. Mirror it! Another student might have made a book trailer with PuppetPals HD and wants to play it for the class. Mirror it! Groups of students made ShowMe screencasts to teach the rest of the class how to reduce fractions. There's nothing stopping them from mirroring!
Reflection is also great for making screencasts of what you seen iPad or iPhone's screen. You can use fancy or free software to record what's on the Mac's screen. However, the easiest way may be using QuickTime, which is on every Mac. Read how to record your screen with QuickTime. I foresee lots of tutorials and app reviews being made this way.
How about another use for Reflection? Teachers can monitor what students are doing on their devices. At least three devices can be mirrored simultaneously to one Mac. I don't know the limit because I only had three devices to test at the time. Each device that mirrors shrinks the others on the Mac's screen. So even if you could mirror a whole class set, the screens would be far to small to view. But, certain students who might be on iPad "probation" may be required to mirror to the teacher's computer for monitoring. The teacher's computer wouldn't be projecting--it would just be for the teacher to oversee what's happening on the device.
One more idea for you: With Reflection and Airplay, you can turn an iPad or iPhone into a wireless document camera. Simply launch the Camera app on the device and what's seen by the camera is seen on your computer screen and projector. You can prop iPad off a box or crate or buy or make some contraption and point it at a book, student art, magazine picture, science experiment--anything that shows up on the camera can be projected for an audience.
What else might you need to know?
- Currently only iPad 2 and iPhone 4S support AirPlay mirroring.
- Reflection requires a Mac running OS X 10.6 or higher.
- You can try Reflection for free, but it will shut down after 10 minutes.
- A single license for Reflection is $14.99. It's $49.99 for 5 licenses.
- You can choose to have an iPad or iPhone frame to be displayed around the screen. Or, you can choose to go full screen on the Mac. Full screen doesn't scale to take up the entire display unless you set it to a low resolution.
- When mirroring, rotate the device's screen and it will appear rotated on the Mac as well.
- The Mac and the device must be on the same Wi-Fi network.
- You can set Reflection to require a password from the device before it can AirPlay to your computer. This is important so that not just anyone can suddenly have their iPad show up on your screen.
- Since a device's screen is streamed across WiFi, slower or busier networks may not perform very well, especially when there are lots of moving graphics onscreen.
- AirPlay might not work on your school or organization's network. If it doesn't work, you could set up a computer-to-computer network on your Mac and connect iPad to that network.
- You cannot control iPad from your Mac. Clicking or typing on the iPad in Reflection will do nothing.
- Install Reflection on your Mac connected to your Smart Board or ActivBoard and you'll be able to mirror your device on the whiteboard. However, you cannot control iPad through the whiteboard. The only way to interact with iPad is through its touchscreen or using a Bluetooth keyboard.
- Some apps do not mirror. For example, the Videos app will show only the video over AirPlay and display the controls on iPad's screen. Similarly, PaperPort Notes displays the document over AirPlay, but the app's tools are only visible on iPad. This works the same when mirrored with an adapter as well.
- The gestures performed on iPad's screen cannot be seen through AirPlay, so your audience cannot see your tapping, touching, swiping, pinching, etc.
There used to be a Mac app that did something similar to Reflection called Banana TV. However, development stopped on Banana TV because Apple kept changing aspects of AirPlay with each new iOS update. The developer couldn't keep up. Hopefully Reflection will continue to work with future updates because it's what I've been waiting for!
Update March 22, 2012
In the last couple of weeks I've used Reflection for several workshops and for screencasting. There are still some bugs to be worked out, in particular how large iPad appears on the Mac screen. I found that the image of my iPad's screen would often freeze on the Mac. That's not a good thing when I am happily demoing an app and I think the audience is following along. I also found that some apps cause Reflection to suddenly quit. Apps that record audio seem to cause the shutdowns. This might not be Reflection's fault. The Sock Puppets, PuppetPals, and i Tell a Story apps also causes the AirPlay connection to drop on an Apple TV.
Released the same week as Reflection is similar software called AirServer. It's very similar to Reflection and the cost is a little less. AirServer has a 7 day free trial.
Update May 7, 2012
AirServer now has a version for PCs! This means Windows computers can be used for wireless mirroring. Read more in my post Wireless Mirroring from iPad to PC Now a Reality.
Reader Comments (17)
Tony V, you are right. This really works well. I tried it with my wife's iPhone 4s and it works slick including turning the phone from portrait to landscape. I give iPod presentations and this will be a great addition. Notice it works with the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s. I own the original iPad and iPhone 4, both of which don't work with Reflection. I did not find 'Reflection' in the Mac App Store, but instead found a different program with the same name. Make sure to use the link in the article above.
Great stuff!
I had a similar app for Symbian smartphones already six years ago, finally we have something like this for the iOS as well.
For these two issues, "no password means that any device on the same network could start mirroring to your Mac while Reflection is running, even if you don't want it to" and "slower or busier WiFi networks may not perform very well",
couldn't you use the WiFi hotspot feature of the iOS?
Like when sharing iPhone's internet connection over WLAN? See eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMV0sA5znI
Amazing! I agree this really really helps at this "intermediate" stage. Been having so much trouble with Apple TV and school/"enterprise" security. This is a good work around. Thanks do sharing !
AppleTV is hardly an alternative to an IWB, what makes these tools relevant is that it can integrate and work with IWB's to enhace with supplemental content. Stand alone appletv or wireless mirroring is not impactful. Most classrooms already have doc cams, yet hardly anyone has realized it is a decent option to display the iPad or other tablet on he IWB.
Hi Tony - wow this is such a great summary - with everyone I know just so pleased this has come out, thanks for putting together such an in depth overview for me to share - love it
I LOVE this. Thank you for sharing. Now when I am running a workshop - I can move around!! I didn't have an Apple TV as they don't sell them in Asia yet.
Love this. Can I get the iPad to show full screen ? Love to see a little bit bigger display. Thank you so much
Another thought – even if the school has macs – it basically relies on a mac being connected to a projector for ipad projection? – this may not be a default scenario?
A spend of a $100 on Apple TV may mean that the teacher doesn’t have to have her mac connected to the projector?
A small diff to is that the cool apple tv interface especially after last week lets you get to podcasts etc etc quicker eventhough I know you can get to them using your browser or itunes etc
I would think having reflection as well as apple tv would be a winner as well?
I reckon don’t give away your apple tvs just yet
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! This is great. I have been needing this exact thing! "Just-in-time-learning" for me, I'd say.
Derek, I agree. If a classroom already has an Apple TV, Reflection won't offer them much more functionality (aside from being able to screencast the Reflection app on Mac). Certainly for those that already have a Mac connected to a projector in their classrooms, Reflection is a very welcome tool.
This looks great, but what can I get that does the same thing for a PC? I'm using an iPad in a PC-only building, & I need an app that will "mirror" what's happening on the iPad (ANY program, like for instance, GarageBand) to my PC which is plugged into a SMARTBoard. That way, the whole class can see what someone is doing on the iPad. ???
Right now there doesn't seem to be a Windows solution like Reflection and AirServer for Mac. When I find one, you can be sure I'll write a post about it!
Thanks so much for this very informative post, Tony! As usual, you go "above and beyond" whenever it comes to explaining new technologies. :-) I was considering purchase of Apple TV, but now, maybe not? I like to be able to be mobile during my workshops and this seems to make it possible, inexpensively.
Just wondering if you've had any further problems with Reflection as mentioned in your update? ("I found that the image of my iPad's screen would often freeze on the Mac.") How often do you find this happening? Also, can you share the fix for that problem?
Thanks!
You bring up AirServer at the end and mention the lack of the free 10 minute trial as a downside. However, people need to know that AirServer charges 14.99 for 5 licenses while Relfection is 14.99 for only one. You lose out on the cool iPad graphic, but I can live with that. I have AirServer now and love it. I present with it often and there is not another device to plug in and set up. I don't need to worry if I brought the remote control to connect to the network. It works really well for recording screen tutorials to,help staff know how to use the device or an app. Get AirServer. You won't be sorry!
How do I add audio recording to the videos I am mirroring
Rose,
When you record a video with Reflection, the audio should be part of it. That is, if you're using a Mac. The PC version of Reflection doesn't yet support audio.
Actually, the PC version of Reflection does support audio, but there are occasional pops, cracks and glitches in the audio. It's not perfect, but it works. I've made a video on YouTube using the Tabletop app and Reflection and it worked, despite those audio glitches that drive me insane. Hopefully they'll iron out the audio problems, but it does work.