Black screen when mirroring your iPhone to a PC

A black picture while mirroring means one of two things. Either the app on your iPhone refuses to be mirrored, which no receiver can change, or the PC is having trouble decoding the video, which a setting fixes. Telling them apart takes ten seconds.

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First, find out which one it is

Go to the Home Screen on your iPhone while mirroring. If the Home Screen shows on the PC and only one app turns black, that app is protecting its video. If everything is black, including the Home Screen, the problem is on the PC.

Only one app is black: protected video

Most film, TV and live-sport apps mark their video as protected. iOS then sends a black picture to anything that mirrors or records the screen, often while the sound and the subtitles carry on. It is the same reason a screen recording of those apps comes out black.

This is a decision made by those apps and enforced by the iPhone. Mirlow does not try to get around it, and neither can any other mirroring receiver. Menus, photos, your own videos, browsers, games and most other apps mirror normally.

Everything is black: turn on Compatibility mode

Mirlow normally asks the PC's graphics card to decode the video. On some graphics drivers that goes wrong, and the result is a black or frozen picture. Open Mirlow's settings and turn on Compatibility mode, which decodes the video in software instead. It uses a little more power and works on practically any PC.

Updating the graphics driver often fixes the original problem, after which Compatibility mode can be turned off again.

The picture freezes or breaks up

That is usually the Wi-Fi rather than the PC. Move closer to the router, or connect the PC by cable, and avoid heavy downloads on the same network while mirroring.

Common questions

Why is a streaming app black when I mirror, but everything else works?

The app protects its video against copying, so iOS blanks it for mirroring and screen recording. It is not a fault in your phone, your PC or Mirlow.

Is there a setting that unblocks protected apps?

No. Mirlow does not bypass copy protection and has no setting that would.

I hear sound but see no picture. What is that?

If it happens in one app only, it is protected video. If it happens everywhere, turn on Compatibility mode in Mirlow's settings.

Does Compatibility mode lower the quality?

No. The picture is the same; the PC simply does the decoding on its processor instead of its graphics card, which uses a little more power.

Try it on your own PC

Mirlow is free and open source, and needs no account.