Forum Discussion

gimengo's avatar
gimengo
Newbie
2 years ago
Solved

Unable to screen mirror from MacBook to Westinghouse Roku TV

I am trying to connect a macbook on MacOS 13.4.1 to a westinghouse roku tv or a samsung tv with roku stick. Both devices show up when I try to connect to screen mirror but neither of them will connect and it just sits there loading then fails. All devices are up to date and on the same wifi network so I have no idea whats wrong. My brothers phone connected instantly but none of my devices will connect

airplay & screen mirror
Roku TV
  • RokuTakashi's avatar
    RokuTakashi
    2 years ago

    Hi, gimengo 

    Welcome to the Roku Community.

    We acknowledge the concern you have encountered with connecting an iOS device to your Roku TV, and we're here to assist in getting this one working. From here, we'd recommend using the Airplay feature. Apple AirPlay lets you stream, control, and share content from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to your compatible Roku® streaming device. 

    Before you can use AirPlay with your Roku device, check that your Apple device and Roku device are on the same wireless network. Once they are, you can use the steps below to view content on your TV using AirPlay.

    1. On your Apple device, find the video, song, photo, or podcast you wish to share.
    2. Tap or click the AirPlay video icon 
       
       in video apps, or the AirPlay audio icon 
       
       in music and other audio apps.
      • Note: With some apps, you may need to tap or click the Share icon 
         
         before you will see the AirPlay icon.
    3. Select your Roku device from the AirPlay menu.

    Once playback begins, you can pause, fast forward, and rewind from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, or you can use your Roku remote. When you want to stop streaming with AirPlay, you can press Home on your Roku remote.

    For more details and instructions, read the article about using AirPlay with your Roku device.

    We hope you find this information useful, and let us know if there's anything we can do to assist further.

    Best wishes,
    Kash

3 Replies

  • RokuTakashi's avatar
    RokuTakashi
    Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hi, gimengo 

    Welcome to the Roku Community.

    We acknowledge the concern you have encountered with connecting an iOS device to your Roku TV, and we're here to assist in getting this one working. From here, we'd recommend using the Airplay feature. Apple AirPlay lets you stream, control, and share content from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to your compatible Roku® streaming device. 

    Before you can use AirPlay with your Roku device, check that your Apple device and Roku device are on the same wireless network. Once they are, you can use the steps below to view content on your TV using AirPlay.

    1. On your Apple device, find the video, song, photo, or podcast you wish to share.
    2. Tap or click the AirPlay video icon 
       
       in video apps, or the AirPlay audio icon 
       
       in music and other audio apps.
      • Note: With some apps, you may need to tap or click the Share icon 
         
         before you will see the AirPlay icon.
    3. Select your Roku device from the AirPlay menu.

    Once playback begins, you can pause, fast forward, and rewind from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, or you can use your Roku remote. When you want to stop streaming with AirPlay, you can press Home on your Roku remote.

    For more details and instructions, read the article about using AirPlay with your Roku device.

    We hope you find this information useful, and let us know if there's anything we can do to assist further.

    Best wishes,
    Kash

    • stevegoldfield's avatar
      stevegoldfield
      Channel Surfer
      6 months ago

      I have this same problem intermittently. I would note that your "solution" only addresses iOS, which has nothing to do with this problem. A MacBook, like my MacBook Pro, runs on MacOS not on iOS. I don't know if the problem is a bug in Apple AirPlay or whether it is a Roku problem. The procedure to connect goes as follows after initial setup and connection.

      1. Turn on the TV that the Roku device is connected to. I have a Roku Streaming Stick.

      2. Open System Settings. One way to do that is to click on the black apple on the upper left corner.

      3. Select Displays.

      4. In the pulldown menu on the top right, Select Roku Streaming Stick or whatever the name of your device is.

      In my case, I have an external monitor, and I am trying to mirror it to the Roku device attached to my TV. Normal behavior is for both screens (MacBook Pro and external monitor) to both go black for a few seconds. Note that there is a Finder bug which scrambles file icons on the MacBook Pro, but these will return to their normal positions after mirroring is turned off. I have reported this bug to Apple, but they have not fixed it yet. This happens every time.

      I see two kinds of abnormal behavior. Sometimes, the video feed to the external monitor stops. In that case, turning mirroring off and on usually fixes that. This one is intermittent and does not occur often. This can also occur when mirroring is stopped. Again, turning it on and off generally fixed the problem.

      The more serious problem is when AirPlay fails to connect to the Roku. There was a bug several updates ago in which that always happened when the Firewall was turned on. It also helped to have an Ethernet connection in addition to the WiFi connection. That bug, which obviously compromised security, was quickly fixed.

      Since then, I find that AirPlay connects with no issues for a few days. Then it stops connecting for a few days. I am currently in the latter state so I have to watch videos on my monitor instead of on my TV. Both my Mac and the Roku device are on the same network with strong connections. After a few minutes, the MacBook shows a message that AirPlay failed to connect to Roku Streaming Stick. The interesting thing is that the MacBook can obviously "see" the Roku device since the name of the Roku device appears in the dropdown menu in System Settings/Displays. My Mac currently has 939 Mbps download and 717 Mbps upload. (I have fiber into my house and a fast router. The speeds directly to and from the router are probably higher.) My iPhone, which only uses WiFi, has 764 download and 478 upload, and that is likely what the Roku device is getting, too. All are on the same WiFi network.

      I don't believe this can be a setup problem because sometimes it works and they connect and sometimes they don't. That is without changing any settings. I have also logged this bug to Apple, but nothing has been done to fix it to date, assuming that this is an AirPlay bug rather than a Roku bug. I'm running softwear version 14.5.4 build 5944. MacOS btw is Sequoia 15.5.

      • stevegoldfield's avatar
        stevegoldfield
        Channel Surfer
        5 months ago

        I want to add a solution.  My router used something called SmartConnect. My Rolu. Device was connecting it at 5Ghx. I recalled that a Roku support person told me a few years ago that Roku only can use 2.4Ghz. I turned off SmartConnect. My Roku device began connecting again. The router now shows it is connected with 2.4 GHz.