How to mirror a Mac to a TV through an Xbox

What you need

The TV itself needs nothing. It only shows the HDMI signal from the console — no smart features, no AirPlay support, no apps. A dumb TV works exactly as well as a new one.

• An Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S connected to the TV.
• A Mac on the same local network as the console.
• An AirPlay receiver app installed on the console.
• Optional: AirPlay 2 speakers (such as Sonos) if you want the sound on real speakers instead of the TV.

Step by step

1. 01

   Install a receiver app on the Xbox The console has no built-in AirPlay, so a receiver app adds it. This guide uses Xaar — full disclosure: Xaar is our app. It is currently in limited release: the Microsoft Store listing is visible to invited accounts, and the landing page has a waitlist. Other AirPlay receivers on the Store follow the same flow.

2. 02

   Launch the app on the console Xaar shows a waiting screen. That means the console is now advertising itself as an AirPlay target on your network.

3. 03

   Open Control Center on the Mac Click the switches icon in the menu bar, then click Screen Mirroring.

4. 04

   Select the console The Mac's screen appears on the TV, and the audio travels with it.

5. 05

   Choose mirror or extended display The same Screen Mirroring menu lets you mirror the built-in display or use the TV as a separate extended display. Mirroring the built-in display is the scenario Xaar is tested with.

6. 06

   To stop Click Screen Mirroring again and disconnect — or just close the app on the console.

If the console doesn't show up

• Same network, really. A Mac on Wi-Fi and a console on wired Ethernet is fine — as long as both are behind the same router and on the same network segment.
• Guest Wi-Fi and client isolation. Both block the local discovery traffic (mDNS) that AirPlay depends on. Move both devices to the main network.
• The app must be open. The console stops advertising itself the moment the receiver app is closed or suspended.

Known limits

These limits come from AirPlay itself and apply to every receiver, not just one app. We would rather say them out loud than have you find out after buying.

• Protected content: streaming apps such as Netflix mark their video as DRM-protected, and macOS refuses to mirror those windows — you get a black rectangle. This is enforced on the sending device and affects every AirPlay receiver. Local files and non-protected players mirror normally.
• Latency: mirroring always adds encode–network–decode delay. Movies, photos, browsing, and presentations are fine; fast-paced gaming from the Mac is not the use case.
• Same network only: there is no way to mirror without a shared local network. The sender and the console must see each other on it.

The movie-night payoff: sound on your Sonos

This flow is why Xaar exists. Play a film from the Mac, put the picture on the TV — and send the audio out to AirPlay 2 speakers instead of the TV's built-in ones. Xaar was developed and tested with Sonos.

AirPlay 2 speakers buffer audio, which would normally put the sound behind the picture. Xaar has a lipsync delay toggle in its menu for this: AirPlay 2 schedules audio playback at exact timestamps, so the bulk of the speaker latency is known from the protocol, and Xaar holds the video back to match. A per-device fine-trim setting covers the fixed output lag of your particular speaker and TV.

Which receiver app?

Several AirPlay receiver apps exist on the Microsoft Store, and they all follow the steps above with the same AirPlay limits. Xaar is ours: a paid one-time purchase with no subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads, and no accounts — and none of the alternatives forwards the audio out to AirPlay 2 speakers. While Xaar is in limited release, you can join the waitlist on the landing page or open the listing with an invited Microsoft account.

FAQ

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