If you're looking for alternatives to AirPlay from Apple for Android, the first thing you should know is that, as it is a proprietary technology of Apple that does not license to third parties, it is impossible to use it in devices that have not been manufactured by Apple, be it an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod or Mac.
In other words, if you have an Apple TV, you cannot use this Apple communication protocol. if you don't have an apple device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac). You don't have to keep searching the internet as you can use AirPlay on an Android smartphone, there is no possible method to do it.
What is AirPlay
Let's start from the beginning. AirPlay is a wireless communication protocol (without cables) that allows stream audio, pictures, and video from an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac to an Apple TV. Until a little over a year ago, Apple has not licensed this technology to other manufacturers.
Apple has licensed this technology to smartphone manufacturers (Smart TV) Samsung, LG and Sony as well as a television manufacturer that only sells in the United States. These manufacturers only offer AirPlay support on their televisions not on their mobile phones.
The Cupertino-based company has also licensed the use of this technology for a few years to some speaker manufacturers smart, Sonos being the best known manufacturer. Outside of the smart TV and speaker ecosystem, there is no other product on the market that supports AirPlay.
Alternatives to AirPlay
Once we are clear about what AirPlay technology is and how it works, it is likely that you have come to the conclusion that in Android we have similar communication protocolsAmong which Google Cast, Miracast and DLA stand out, the latter two being the oldest and least used today, but offering practically the same functionality.
If your TV supports AirPlay, so is Google Cast and Miracast and DLNA, so trying to find applications that do not exist to use AirPlay from your Android smartphone does not make any sense, what we have to do is use the protocols available in Android.
If you want to send images or videos to the screen of your television or Android Box, you can do it using these protocols or using any of the applications available in the Play Store for these purposes, applications that work exactly the same as AirPlay.
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Google's AirPlay is called Google Cast, an exclusive Google protocol which is also available on some smart TVs, Android BOXs, and smart speakers.
The operation of Google Cast is the same as AirPlay: allows us to send an image of the device to the screen of the device compatible with Google Cast or the audio if we are talking about a speaker with this communication protocol.
Don't confuse Google Cast with Chromecast. Chromecast is a device that mixes Miracast and DLNA technology in one device and uses the Google Cast protocol. Chromecast is not a communication protocol per se like Google Cast, AirPlay, Miracast or DLNA.
Miracast
The Miracast communication protocol hit the market to become the Ideal replacement for HDMI connections but wirelessly. This protocol allows us to send content wirelessly in Full HD quality with surround sound, while both AirPlay and Google Cast allow us to send content in 4K quality.
While when we share content from our smartphone through Google Cast or through AirPlay (if it is an Apple device), the screen of the device can be turned off since the equipment continues to work in the background.
This does not happen with MiracastThis being one of the main buts of this protocol, although to show content in video format that does not last long or to show photographs, it will always be better than using a cable connected to the television.
DLNA
DLNA is one of the first communication protocols to hit the market for share content between different devicesEven so, today it is still widely used, mainly to share content from computers.
This protocol is used to remotely access stored content on other devices that are connected to the same network, be it a smartphone, external hard drive, NAS, computer ... In the case of the smartphone, we have to open the application and keep it open in the background.
Using a cable connected to the TV
If your TV is a few years old and you have no intention of updating it in the next few years to use the latest technology available to share content remotely, the quickest and easiest solution is use a cable connected to the HDMI port of our television.
Depending on the smartphone model, if it has a USB-C connection, at Amazon we can buy any USB-C to HDMI cableSince the USB-C connection is not only used to charge the device, it is also capable of transmitting audio and video together.
If your terminal is older and still uses a micro-USB charging port, you can buy a cable, also on Amazon, from micro-USB to HDMI, but first you have to check if your device is compatible with the OTG function, otherwise, you will never be able to project the image of your smartphone on the TV.
Use a cable is the cheapest solution and practically the only one that eliminates any type of lag that we can find in other wireless communication protocols that I have talked about in this article.
In this way, if what we want is to enjoy the games of our Android terminal on a larger screen, use the cable to eliminating lag is the best option.
Using a computer connected to the smartphone
If you have a computer near your television, equipment that you use to watch movies or access the different streaming video platforms, you can also turn it into a Google Cast receiver via the AirServer or 5KPlayer apps, the latter is free but it does not offer us the same quality that we can find in AirServer.
By adding support for Google Cast with these applications, we can send content from our smartphone directly to the computer connected to the TV, to watch videos we have recorded, photographs or play games on a much larger screen.
