Does Screen Mirroring Use Bluetooth Or Wi-Fi?

Screen mirroring can come in handy when you’ve stored media on your phone and want to view it on a large screen–for example, when showing photos to family and friends. Mirroring usually works wirelessly and can work with Wi-Fi. But can it work with Bluetooth?

Screen mirroring uses Wi-Fi. You cannot mirror your screen through Bluetooth as it doesn’t have the bandwidth to reliably stream heavy media such as videos. Wireless screen mirroring technologies use Wi-Fi to create a reliable peer-to-peer connection between the device and the screen.

Read on to learn why screen mirroring does not use Bluetooth.

I’ll also show how screen mirroring works and discuss different ways to mirror your screen even when you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection.

Why Can’t You Screen Mirror Using Bluetooth?

You might find yourself in a situation where the only connectivity option you can use is Bluetooth.

However, you can’t use Bluetooth to mirror your screen.

Bluetooth isn’t fast enough for screen mirroring.

Modern wireless screen mirroring technologies chiefly use Wi-Fi Direct, transmitting data at speeds of up to 2 GB/s.

In contrast, data sharing rates with Bluetooth top out at 50MB/s.

Screen mirroring with Bluetooth would be unreliable.

The experience would probably be marred by significant delays, especially when sharing heavy media such as high-quality photos and video.

If you’ve tried sharing files with Bluetooth, you know how slow it can be.

It can take several minutes to share a video file.

You can imagine how frustrating that speed would be when trying to mirror something.

How Does Wireless Screen Mirroring Work?

There are different wireless screen mirroring solutions out there. Although they come with different brand names, they all use the same underlying principle.

Wireless screen mirroring works by creating a direct peer-to-peer connection between a device and the device being used as a screen.

Wi-Fi Direct is the technology used to create the link. No existing Wi-Fi network is necessary.

Since wireless screen mirroring relies on a direct connection between two devices, there’s no need for the devices to be connected to a shared network.

Once the connection is made, data is shared from your phone or tablet to the television screen. This process is typically reliable.

Wi-Fi Direct is a fast connection standard; you shouldn’t experience any lags during the mirroring.

Modern wireless screen mirroring is typically a hassle-free process.

You don’t even need to be connected to the internet unless you want to stream something you don’t have on your phone or tablet.

You Don’t Need Internet Connection for Wireless Screen Mirroring To Work

If you are mirroring media that you’ve stored locally on your phone or tablet, you don’t need to be connected to the internet.

The data will be shared directly from your phone to the screen.

You also don’t need to be connected to your local wireless network.

This is one reason why modern screen mirroring is highly reliable.

If you’re connected to a local network, there may be other devices using the network.

This could reduce available bandwidth and affect the quality of your screen mirroring.

You only need to be connected to the internet if you’re streaming something from the internet.

This could be the case if you’re watching movies on streaming platforms such as Netflix and you can’t access them directly on your television.

Different Methods of Wireless Screen Mirroring

Nowadays, there are many options if you want to mirror your screen to a bigger one.

It’s possible to mirror using different communication technologies and from various devices, including laptops.

Below is a list of the methods you can use to mirror your screen:

Using Miracast on most modern Android and Windows devices.
Using the Google Chromecast device.
Using Airplay on Apple devices.

I’ll go over each of the methods below.

Using Miracast on Most Modern Android and Windows Devices

Miracast is a ubiquitous technology in most modern Android and Windows devices.

It’s built on the Wi-Fi Direct standard, enabling fast and reliable data transfer between connected devices.

If you have a laptop or tablet that runs Windows 10, or a smartphone with Android 4.2 or higher, you should be able to use Miracast.

With the above devices, you can effortlessly mirror your device’s screen to other screens.

You don’t need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network or connect the devices using a cable.

Moreover, you don’t need additional hardware.

However, your television still has to support screen mirroring.

Most smart TVs do. You can check whether your TV supports screen mirroring by hitting the “Source” button on your remote.

You should see the Screen Mirroring option next to options like HDMI and TV.

Using the Google Chromecast Device

With some Google devices, such as the Pixel range of phones, you can’t use Miracast.

If you want to cast your screen, you must buy a Chromecast device manufactured by Google.

The Chromecast allows you to mirror everything on your phone, just like you would with the Miracast technology that’s available on other Android phones.

Additionally, it allows you to cast content from specific apps instead of mirroring everything on your screen.

So, with a Chromecast, you can have a YouTube video from your phone playing on the big screen as you text.

While casting, only content from a specific app appears on the television screen.

Screen mirroring allows every action you make on your phone to be replicated on the television screen.

Using Airplay on Apple Devices

Airplay is the Apple version of Miracast.

It’s a connection technology found on modern Apple devices.

It allows you to wirelessly mirror your screen to an Apple TV or a smart TV that supports Airplay.

Most modern devices allow Airplay to work by creating a direct connection between a device and the screen.

In the past, both the screen and the device had to be connected to the same network for Airplay to work.