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Vistacast
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Setup guide

Five steps, about three minutes. Step three is the one that decides whether the rest works, so it is worth reading even if you skip the others.

  1. Install the receiver on your television

    On a Fire TV, open the Amazon Appstore. On a Google TV or Android TV, open Google Play. Search for Vistacast Receiver and install it. It is free, has no advertising and asks for nothing.

    The receiver only appears on television devices. It will not show up if you search from a phone.

  2. Install Vistacast on your iPhone

    Get it from the App Store. It is free to install and free to use for ten minutes a day.

    In the US App Store the listing is named Vista Media Cast. It is the same app.

  3. Put both devices on the same Wi-Fi

    This is the step that decides whether everything else works. The iPhone and the television must be on the same network: not a separate guest network, and not mobile data on the phone.

    A router that broadcasts 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz as separate networks counts as two networks. Join the same one on both.

  4. Open the receiver on the television

    Launch Vistacast Receiver. It shows a waiting screen and stays there until your iPhone connects. Leave it open.

    The receiver has to be open. It does not run in the background waiting for a connection.

  5. Pick the television and start

    Open Vistacast on the iPhone. Your television appears in the list within a few seconds. Select it, tap Mirror screen, and confirm the prompt that iOS shows.

    The confirmation comes from iOS itself, not from the app. That is the operating system asking permission to record the screen.

If something does not work

The television never appears in the list
Almost always the network. Check that both devices are on the same Wi-Fi and that the phone is not on mobile data. Then look in your router settings for an option called AP isolation, client isolation or guest mode. It stops devices on the same network from seeing each other, and it will prevent discovery entirely. Some networks also block the multicast traffic that discovery relies on, which is common on hotel, campus and office Wi-Fi.
It connects, then stops after a while
If it stops the moment you lock the phone, that is expected: iOS shuts down screen recording when the device locks, and no app can prevent it. If it stops at ten minutes, that is the free tier limit resetting at midnight. If it stops at random, the usual cause is Wi-Fi signal at the television.
The picture works but there is no sound
Check the iPhone is not on silent, and that the app you are mirroring is actually playing audio through the system rather than through its own muted player. Audio comes out of both the phone and the television at once. That is how it works, and it cannot be changed from inside the app.
A streaming app shows a black screen
That will be copy protection. Netflix, Disney+ and similar services block mirroring at the operating-system level, and no third-party app on iOS can work around it. Everything else on your screen continues to mirror normally.

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