If Airplay is not working on your Samsung TV, it can be due to a number of reasons ranging from human error to device incompatibility to network connectivity issues.
In this article, I am going to guide you through troubleshooting this issue and getting Airplay to work on your Samsung TV in no time, whether it’s Samsung TV series 6, 7, 8 or other models.
This troubleshooting guide will cover getting Airplay on iPhone, iPods, iPads and Macs to work with Samsung TVs in 2024.
If that sounds like what you are looking for, let’s begin right away.
Airplay Not Working on Samsung TV
If Airplay is not working at all on your Samsung smart TV or it freezes while trying to use, you can fix it by checking your Samsung TV compatibility, your apple device and smart TV connection, restarting the TV and apple device, troubleshooting network issues and updating firmware/software.
1. Check if Your Samsung TV Supports Airplay
Before now, Airplay only allowed sharing from Apple to Apple device i.e from iPhones, iPads or Macs to Apple TV.
Later, Apple extended the compatibility of Airplay with Airplay 2 which allows you to connect your Apple devices (iPhones, iPads or Macs) to devices from other brands.
In other words, you can use Airplay on Samsung tizenOS TV (without Apple TV).
However, not all Samsung smart TVs supports Airplay 2.
Below is a list of Samsung tizen OS smart TVs that are compatible with Airplay 2 (from Apple website).
- Samsung FHD/HD 4, 5 Series (2018)
- Samsung QLED 4K Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9 Series (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Samsung QLED 8K Q9 Series (2019, 2020)
- Samsung The Frame Series (2018, 2019, 2020)
- Samsung Serif Series (2019, 2020)
- Samsung UHD 6, 7, 8 Series (2018, 2019, 2020)
So, if Airplay is not working on your Samsung TV, then it probably doesn’t support Airplay 2.
If your Samsung TV model is not in the list above (especially if it’s created before 2019), then it most likely doesn’t support Airplay 2.
NOTE: If your Samsung smart TV is a more recent model and it’s not among the list above, you can still proceed to check if it supports Airplay by following the procedures highlighted in the next step.
2. Check Your TV Input Source & Turn On Airplay
So, let’s say you’ve checked your Samsung TV model and it supports Airplay 2 but Airplay is still not working, the next thing you want to check is your input source.
To use Airplay on your Samsung TV, make sure your input source is not HDMI or any other one. Instead, turn on Airplay so it can receive stream signal from your Apple device.
To turn on AirPlay on Samsung tizenOS smart TV, follow the steps below:
- On your TV remote, click on the Home button
- You will be shown a menu, scroll till you find the Home Dashboard, you will see the ‘Airplay‘ option, click on it.
- After clicking on AirPlay, you will see the AirPlay screen which displays the Wi-Fi name, the TV name and AirPlay and HomeKit Settings.
- Click on the AirPlay and HomeKit Settings
- From there, turn on Airplay.
NOTE: If you can’t find the Airplay option, then your Samsung TV model probably doesn’t support Airplay 2 (check the list in the previous section to see the compatible models). For now, you cannot use AirPlay on older Samsung TV.
You can also contact Samsung TV support to confirm if your model is not in the list above especially recent models.
3. Connect Your Apple Device and Samsung TV Properly
Once you are sure your Samsung smart TV model supports Airplay and you have turned it on appropriately as highlighted in the previous section, the next thing you want to do is to connect your Apple device and Samsung TV the right way for Airplay to work.
In this step, the most important thing to note is that both your Apple device and your Samsung TV must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
To connect your Apple device to your Samsung tizen TV via AirPlay, follow the procedures below:
For iPhone:
- Connect your iOS device and Samsung TV to the same Wi-Fi network.
- On your iOS device, swipe up from the bottom of your screen to access the Control Centre, tap AirPlay or Screen Mirroring.
- Tap the name of the device you want to stream the content to (if your Samsung TV supports Airplay, has Airplay turned on and also connected to the same network as your iOS device, you will find the name of your TV among the available devices here).
- You might be required to enter a code that is displayed on your Samsung smart TV screen
For Mac:
- Click on Airplay icon (you will find it on the right side of your Mac computer menu bar)
- Click on your TV name you wish to stream the content from the list of options
- Click on Mirror Built-in Display to mirror your Mac’s native resolution on your TV.
- Click on Use as Separate Display to have your Mac extend your Desktop and treat your TV as an addition display.
NOTE: Not all iOS or Mac devices support Airplay 2.
If you followed all the steps above correctly, your Airplay should be working on your Samsung TV by now.
If after doing all these, Airplay is still not working on Samsung TV, move to the next troubleshoot step.
4. Turn Off and Restart the TV
If Airplay is still not working on your Samsung tizenOS smart TV, restarting the TV can help fix the issue.
Your Samsung TV might be having difficulty connecting with your Wi-Fi network making it impossible to connect to Airplay.
In that case, you want to reset the TV.
To do this:
- First, turn off the Samsung TV.
- Proceed to unplug it and leave it unplugged for a minutes or two.
- Then, turn it back on and try steps 1-3 discussed earlier.
This should help to reset your TV network and should be able to connect to Airplay.
5. Restart Apple Device
Other than your TV, the network connectivity issue could also be from your phone or Mac.
So, try restarting your Apple device first (you can do this at the same time you also restart your TV).
This should fix any connectivity issue coming from the phone also.
6. Troubleshoot Network Issues on Your iPhone/Mac
If you are trying to connect your TV to your Airplay and your iPhone won’t connect to your Wi-Fi, then reset the network setting on your iPhone.
NOTE: Resetting your network setting will delete all the networks you’ve connected to in the past, and you will have to re-enter the password when you try to connect to networks you’d previous saved prior to resetting your network setting.
That said, you can reset your network settings on your iPhone by following the procedure below:
- Open the Settings, click on General
- Click on Reset, then click on Reset Network Settings
This should fix the issue with your iPhone not connecting to your Wi-Fi and you should be able to connect your iPhone and then stream via Airplay on your Samsung smart TV.
For your Mac, you can troubleshoot your Mac network issues by following this guide.
7. Remove All Paired Airplay Devices from TV
If you had previously paired one Airplay device to your TV and you are trying to connect another Apple device, then connection issue might arise especially if your previously connected device is also connected to the same Wi-Fi you are trying to use for the Airplay stream.
For example, if you had previously paired your iPhone to your Samsung TV via Airplay, and now you are trying to connect your Mac instead, you might have network issues.
Normally, the issue shouldn’t arise if your iPhone (as in the example used above) isn’t connected to the same Wi-Fi you are trying to use for your Mac and Samsung tizen TV.
Irrespective, you can try to remove your previously paired devices from the list of devices in your TV.
If it still doesn’t connect to your second device, try connecting back to Airplay from your previously paired device. If the connection is successful, then the issue is with your second device.
Otherwise, if the connection fails again on the device you had just removed, then you know the issue is either from your Samsung TV or your Wi-Fi router.
8. Restart Network Router
Another reason why Airplay might not be working on your Samsung TV is if there’s an issue with your router.
In that case, start by restarting your router and connecting your Apple device and Samsung TV to it again as explained earlier.
Couple this with Network settings reset on your iPhone, Mac network settings troubleshoot and TV device list reset, you shouldn’t have any problem again with connecting your Samsung smart TV to Airplay.
9. Try a Different Network
Another thing you can do is use an entirely different network.
This could be looking for another Wi-Fi source (could be your router or any other network source) and see if it fixes the issue.
10. Update Software/Firmware on TV and Apple devices
Finally, you should check your iPhone, Mac or TV and see if there is any pending software/firmware update.
If there is any, try to download and install the update.
- To update your Samsung TV software, go to Settings, click on the Support tab and select Software Update.
Finally, click on ‘Update Now’.
You can also update your Samsung TV manually using a USB drive.
Once installed successfully, try the whole process again.
Bottom Line
If Airplay is not working on your Samsung tizenOS smart TV, it can be caused by a number of issues ranging from compatibility issue to human error to to network issues from your Apple device, your Samsung TV or your network router/Wi-Fi.
In summary, do the following if AirPlay is not working on your Samsung TV:
- Check if your Samsung smart TV supports AirPlay 2
- Turn on AirPlay on your TV and check your input source
- Connect your Apple device and Samsung TV the right way
- Restart your TV
- Restart the Apple device you are trying to connect from
- Troubleshoot network issues
- Remove all paired devices on your TV
- Restart your router
- Try a different network
- Make sure your TV and apple device have the latest software
By following the troubleshooting steps above, you should be able to fix the issue and get your Airplay working on your Samsung smart TV.
If you found this guide helpful, don’t forget to drop a feedback. Let me know what issue you experienced and which of the troubleshooting procedure highlighted above fixed it for you.
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