How to Cast Roku to Your TV

Casting lets you direct — or cast — the content you were watching on your mobile device to a smart TV using something like a Roku device. Many streaming devices can cast content from your phone to your TV.

On Roku, you can share videos, movies and TV shows from mobile devices. Most mobile devices and tablets support casting. Look for a cast icon in the app. If you see one, it's a good indicator that you might be able to direct that content to your TV screen using a Roku device.

Before attempting to cast videos to a Roku device, you need to make sure that both your TV and the Roku are connected to the same network (casting won't work if the devices aren't using the same WiFi) and are set to be "discoverable" by other devices on that network. This is usually enabled by default.

On other apps where the feature is enabled, you'll usually see a little symbol that looks like a combination of a TV screen and WiFi icon near other functions like closed captioning.

Once you've established that your Roku streaming device and TV are on the correct network and capable of casting, here's the step-by-step guide for how cast, via Roku support:

The channel will launch automatically on your Roku device and your content will begin playback.

During casting, you can control playback with your Roku remote or your mobile device. If you use your Roku remote, you can use your mobile device for another task, to find and begin casting another program, or turn it off completely — all without affecting playback on your Roku device.

In addition to casting, many smart devices are equipped for screen mirroring, a method of sending content to a TV. This feature is similar to casting, but distinct for a couple of reasons.

When you cast a show to your Roku device, it quickly opens the content and allows you to browse your phone as normal after the cast has been sent.

Screen mirroring, however, creates an exact copy of your mobile device's entire screen and sends it to the TV. That wireless display means anything you do on your mobile screen is mirrored and sent to the second screen, as long as it supports screen mirroring.

As such, screen mirroring mode is often less convenient, but it can be useful for sharing media from your phone's native photo and video libraries. It can also be used as a workaround for apps that are lacking a cast function — just make sure to enable screen mirroring in the settings on your Roku device.

In the case of an Android or Windows device, most have a screen mirroring feature that can be enabled right out of the box. For both platforms, you also can use an HDMI adapter to plug the mobile device directly to the TV's video input if you don't want to wrestle with any screen mirroring settings.

If you have an Android device, you can swipe down to activate the Quick Settings menu. If you tap on the Smart View option, you should see a list of devices, such as your TV, that you can click on, enabling screen mirroring mode.

However, iPhones, iPads and Macs don't support screen mirroring, but you can work around this Apple device shortcoming by using Apple AirPlay. Apple AirPlay lets you stream, control and share content from your mobile device to your compatible Roku streaming device.